Archaeological Investigations at Yourhaney Plantation (38GE18)

ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT YOURHANEY PLANTATION18538GE18 appears to have been occupied by wealthy planters from perhaps the 1720s up throughabout 1795. Afterwards, the property was leased to tenants to run the ferry. Based on ceramicsrecovered at the site, the most intensive occupation was after about 1740. The ceramics suggestthat the main house was abandoned by 1820, but this is based on the end of the manufacture ofcreamwares, the most numerous ceramic type on site. While not nearly as numerous, pearlwareexists on site as well, which was being manufactured as early as 1780. The presence of bothcreamwares and pearlwares indicates that the primary occupation could have ended by 1795 –the year of John Alston’s death.John S. Otto (1984: 65-69) used decorations on cream colored wares to measure wealth. Heconcluded that a dominance of transfer printed wares occurred in planter contexts, while otherdecorations dominated lower status collections. However, his collections were primarily 19 thcentury, and the ceramics from Yauhannah Bluff are primarily 18 th century. Transfer printed waresreached their height of popularity between 1790 and 1840, and therefore can not be considereda good indicator of wealth at Yauhannah Bluff since 1790 is near the end of the period ofoccupation. In addition, Miller’s (1980; 1991) work on ceramic pricing also deals primarily withlater assemblages. Godden (1979) provides some wholesale pricing information on “blue andwhite” vessels or porcelain. In 1706 the East Indian Company valued a plate at about a shilling,“but they fetched at auction between eleven pence and two shillings”, which suggests that pricesdoubled at retail (Godden 1979: 114). Beginning in 1755 the price for the same vessel wasabout 0.0.3 English pounds and by 1760 it increased to one shilling. The fall in price wasprobably due to the increased competition among traders and the large amount of porcelainflowing into England. Prices rose again in 1766 to 0.2.6 English pounds. By 1777 the price was0.3.4 English pounds. This is more expensive than English wares such as white salt glazedstoneware or, later, creamware, and more expensive than locally produced American wares (seeTrinkley et al. 1995).Although creamware was produced as early as 1762, it was not widely available to the massesuntil the 1770s. In Virginia, even the wealthiest and most fashion-conscious residents do not seemto be choosing creamware until after Wedgwood’s royal marketing of the late 1760s, and it wasnot until 1771 that a wealthy rural Virginia planter could report that it was much in use among hispeers (Downman 1771). In contrast, delft and white salt glazed plates were probably purchasedbefore 1770, although they continued to be produced thereafter. The introduction of creamwareinto the colonial market was an important watershed. Prior to that time, there was great variabilityof imported tablewares for sale including pewter, porcelain, white salt-glazed stoneware,Whieldon ware, slipware, and Delft. After 1770 creamwares nearly replaced other low costceramics. However porcelain continued to be a luxury throughout history, but creamware seems tobe what many, especially middling, colonists wanted on the eve of the American Revolution (Martin1994: 178).The proportion of porcelain to other wares has been shown to illustrate wealth at other sites inSouth Carolina and knowing that it was considered a luxury throughout history suggests that it maybe an appropriate yard stick. However, there is another important factor that may be at work. Inlooking primarily at 18 th century planter contexts (Table 23), by far the site containing the mostporcelains was Broom Hall in the Goose Creek area. In fact, porcelains accounted for nearly thesame percentage as earthenwares, which tend to dominate most collections. Porcelains onlyaccounted for about 2% at Yauhannah Bluff.