In celebration of the 100^th anniversary of the Connecticut State Park system, the Friends of Sherwood Island State Park received a grant from the State Historic Preservation Office of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development to conduct an archaeological survey of some of the historic sites known to have existed on Sherwood Island. Norwalk Community College (NCC) professor Ernest Wiegand was hired to conduct the survey. NCC's Archaeology as an Avocation Program alumnus and Yale archaeology graduate Dawn Brown assisted in the fieldwork and historic background research.

The goal of the survey was to locate and investigate two of the early historic Sherwood family houses that existed on the island as well as to discover any evidence of prehistoric Native American occupancy. The findings from the survey would form the basis for a proposed historic trail system, providing educational and personal enrichment for park visitors. The trail would include signage informing the visitor about the historic importance of each of the sites and/or structures identified. It was also proposed that recovered artifacts might be used in public presentations and exhibits at the Sherwood Island State Park Nature Center.

The first explored site was the Arthur Sherwood homestead, which was built at some time between 1868-1879. Arthur was the grandson of Daniel Sherwood, who was the first of the Sherwood family to settle on the island. Daniel Sherwood built a house there in 1787 after receiving two acres of land as a wedding present when he married Catherine Burr. Mr. Joseph Elwood Betts, a longtime resident who is related to the Sherwood family, remembered summers spent as a young boy visiting relatives at the Arthur Sherwood house and was able to pinpoint the site's location north of the Pavilion. Here, exposed on the surface, were several fieldstones that were part of the house foundation. Mr. Betts has also authored a booklet, The Sherwood-Elwood Connection, which provided an excellent introduction to the history of the Island. State Archaeologist Nick Bellantoni and Debbie Surabian of the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture conducted a ground-penetrating radar survey of the house site and the immediately surrounding area to detect anomalies that may have been buried structural remains and/or features.

Excavations included a shovel test pit survey in the area surrounding the house foundation. While some 18^th century artifacts were recovered, the majority of the recovered materials were related to Arthur Sherwood and his family's tenure and, later, to the use of the area as a picnic ground. Several of the test pits revealed that the land around the house, which was demolished in the late 1930s, had been subject to disturbance. The discovery of a crushed shell roadway was the most significant feature discovered during the survey. A larger excavation block was opened up at the approximate center of the back wing of the house and revealed the upper portion of the foundation as well as a possible door step. Most of the artifacts from this area were nails and window glass from the house, and were probably deposited in part during the demolition of the house. The recovery of two Native American potsherds and several pieces of quartz lithic debitage attests to the occupation of the site by Native Americans at some point during the Woodland period.

A second historic site was the Folly Farm site, located at the northern end of the Island. Originally the house of Silas B. Sherwood, it later was occupied by Moses Sherwood and still later by non-Sherwood family owners until its removal in the 1960s. Maps, photographs and documentary evidence indicated that not only was a house present, but support structures including a barn, a large shed, a corn crib, and a windmill. Remains of the corn crib and the shed were exposed on the surface of the site, and our work included uncovering several large fieldstone slabs associated with the shed. Construction and domestic artifacts were found throughout the site.

The third site was the Sherwood Point site, located between the Pavilion and West Beach. It was on this beach that NCC Archaeology Club member Barbara Tyburski found a fragmentary semi-lunar knife (or ulu) on the beach over twenty years ago. As the artifact was not abraded by wave action, it was felt that it had only recently been eroded from the land above the beach. Therefore, it was thought that there may be additional evidence of Native American occupation during the Late Archaic period (c. 2500-3000 BC) in the area landward from the beach. Although only a few possible pieces of quartz debitage were recovered, the survey showed that intact soil layers exist in this portion of the park, approximately 20-30 centimeters below grade. The buried topsoil layer in one portion of the site also contained historic materials from the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries.

As of this writing, the field investigations are complete and a report detailing the study will be presented to the Friends of Sherwood Island State Park this fall.

The Friends of Sherwood Island State Park received support for the archaeological testing from the State Historic Preservation Office of the Department of Economic and Community Development with funds from the Community Investment Act of CT.