Archaeological Investigations at Yourhaney Plantation (38GE18)

200Figure 51. Magnetic north view of chimney base at Structure 2, with clay extractionpit (Feature 208) in the background.In discussions with other historic archaeologists working in the state, no one has found as chimneysimilar to this. Perhaps the closest parallel was a slave house dating to the late 18 th century at theSpiers Landing site in Berkeley County. It, however, only had corner posts and was thought tohave been cribbed with horizontal logs or sticks (Drucker and Anthony 1979).According to Carl Lounsbury (1994: 74) wooden chimneys were common in the South during the17 th and much off the 18 th century. In fact, they were probably the most common chimney type.While some were built with logs or splints stacked horizontally, others were fabricated with cornerposts and had wattled infill. Both chimney types were usually daubed on the inside to provide aprotective coating. It is possible that the Spier’s Landing chimney was actually wattled, rather thancribbed and in fact, some daub was found at the site.Carson et al. (1988: 119-122) provide a reconstruction drawing of an “ordinary beginners” housedescribed in a 1684 pamphlet entitled “Information and Direction to Such Person as are inclined toAmerica”. The description in the pamphlet was interpreted as a conventional Chesapeake hole-setframe house, with the addition of a timbered chimney based on archaeological evidence from RiverCreek. Kelso (1984: 75) also illustrates a timbered chimney on a circa 1660-1710 chimney fromUtopia house in the Chesapeake. The reconstructed house chimney from Carson et al. (1988) isquite similar to the one at Yauhannah Bluff, but of course the house at 38GE18 was probablyconstructed a little later and is located in South Carolina (Figure 52a). A reconstructed house at theGodiah Spray settlement in Maryland may closely approximate the house at Yauhannah Bluff. Thehouse built on the property is depicted as typical for the late 17 th century (Figure 52b).