Selected Digs' Photos

May 14-15, 2013 Strong-Howard House Windsor CT

On May 14 and 15, 2013, excavations were undertaken at the Strong-Howard House in preparation for a restoration of the house. The floor of one of the additions had been pulled up, offering an opportunity for the Windsor Historical Society to find out what treasures lay in the soil under the floor boards. The two bottles that were found are thought to be from around 1850. In addition were found a button, bones, bottles, smoking pipes and a musket ball. The original house was built around 1758 by Windsor merchant John Strong. Nathaniel Howard, a West Indies trader who married into a wealthy East Windsor family, had the home from 1772 to 1837, according to the historical society.

There is also an article about the dig in the "Reprints" section of this website, which you can access by clicking Strong-Howard House Archaeology.

Digs: Site Activities

Selected Digs' Photographs

This section contains images from excavations which have been reported in news publications, and are thus public knowledge. While the images have been taken primarily by Ken and Bonnie Beatrice of the FOSA Outreach committee, they will where available be supplemented by images from those publications.

It is, of course, impractical to show selections of images from most excavations; so this is but a representative sample. Viewers are encouraged to examine both our Newsletters and our Newspaper Articles pages, the latter of which includes newspapers and other print media for additional examples.

Please click on any photo-icon to access and "walk" through the gallery.


August 30, 2013 - end of summer 233 High Street East Hartford CT
Beginning August 30, Nick Bellantoni, assisted by a number of FOSA volunteers, began excavations of a property at 233 High Street in East Hartford, CT. Steve Bielitz, owner of Glastonbury Restoration, a company that specializes in preserving and restoring period buildings, said he dismantled a home there that was built around 1740 and invited Bellantoni to survey the land for historic artifacts. The property is now owned by Goodwin College, which also agreed to the archaeological dig, and is slated for campus expansion. The excavations are continuing at this writing (October, 2013). There are also several images which appeared in the October 3, 2013 Journal Inquirer which can be accessed by clicking any of the photos below (the Journal Inquirer and its captions are no longer available).

The following images are part of magazine articles, which are accessible by clicking the image icons.

August 23, 2019 - final day of excavations - Thomas Lee Site, East Lyme, CT


August 26, 2019 - Excavations for charcoal hearths and colliers' houses, Blackledge Falls, Glastonbury, CT
A group from the Historical Society of Glastonbury, along with several expert archaeologists, set out to look for colliers' (coal-makers) artifacts from approximately 200 years ago, on Aug. 19 and 20. The dig, which was planned by State Archaeologist Brian Jones before he passed away in June, 2019, was unique, because it was interdisciplinary. Dr. Nicholas Bellantoni (formerly Connecticut's state archaeologist) and members of the Friends of the Office of State Archaeology (FOSA), under the direction of Scott Brady, worked with historical society guests, along with UConn geography professor Dr. Will Ouimet and several of his students. The plan was that Ouimet's group would examine the charcoal hearths, while Bellantoni and others would excavate the foundation of a home of colliers and workers. Ground-penetrating radar, in part, led to the site and helped define where the hearths are. "You're looking at the surface here, and you're looking down into the ground. It gives you a display that we interpret," said, Debbie Surabian, with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and the State Soil Scientists of Connecticut and Rhode Island, working in cooperation with the state office of archaeology.