Fanthorp Inn State Historical Park (41GM79), Grimes County, Texas: Archeological Excavations, 1983-1989

Abstract

This report summarizes archeological investigations conducted by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department at Fanthorp Inn State Historical Park from 1983 to 1989. This work was necessary to accompany architectural restoration of the inn as it appeared during the period between 1850 and 1867. Since restoration was completed, Fanthorp Inn State Historical Park in Anderson, Grimes County, has been run as an interpretive site representing a transportation and communication center of the mid-nineteenth century. The archeological excavations were intended to evaluate the areas impacted by the architectural restoration and to determine the appearance of the grounds during the mid-nineteenth century. Attempts were made to locate and identify several outbuildings shown on an 1850 map of the inn, but only the kitchen was located in this manner. Also, areas of ground disturbance such as the locations of the septic system and utility trenches were investigated archeologically. As currently configured, the grounds are made up of the L-shaped inn building, a barn that houses restrooms and a display, a parking lot, fences and paths, the kitchen as represented by a stabilized foundation, and one cistern that has been rebuilt to its original appearance. This report, by Prewitt and Associates, Inc., summarizes the excavations from 1983 through 1989 and provides analyses of diagnostic artifacts (i.e., bottles and jars, pressed glass, other tableware glass, lamp chimney rim sherds, flaked glass, transfer-printed ceramics, marked ceramics, smoking pipes, marked spoons, coins, arms and ammunition, dolls, marbles, and artifacts believed to be associated with African American religious practices). In general, the assemblage reflects a typical nineteenth- and twentieth century site in southeastern Texas.