Archaeological Investigations at Yourhaney Plantation (38GE18)

230However, very few plantation houses dating to the early 18 th century have been excavated in areasaway from the densest population areas such as Georgetown, Charleston, and Goose Creek. Thishouse appears to have been wood framed with a lath and plaster chimney.Other features at the site, both architectural and non-architectural contained some fragments ofdaub – some with stick or lath impressions. This indicates that other buildings may have beenwattle and daub. A quantity of brick was also found, particularly in the clay extraction pit (Feature208). This brick may have possibly been used to line the firebox for the plantation house.A later building (Structure 4) was constructed and, in fact, intrudes into an early 18 th centuryfeature (Feature 24), which appears to have functioned as a yard root pit. This building appears tohave been built as early as the late 18 th century and was occupied or used past the occupation ofthe plantation house, into the mid 19 th century. This building could have been primarily used bytenants operating the ferry after Robert Alston’s death in 1795. Structure 6 is presumed to be amuch later building, perhaps dating to the early 20 th century.Again, working under the assumption that the trading post is at 38GE18, once the trading postwas closed, the plantation aspect of the property continued and flourished up until the end of the18 th century or into the early 19 th century. It is possible that, with the introduction of tidal riceagriculture in the late 18 th century, and the prosperity of plantations on Waccamaw Neck andfurther down the Pee Dee River, plantations such as that at 38GE18 went into decline. With thedeath of Alston in 1795 it is quite possible that there was no interest in continuing a primary oreven seasonal residence on the property.As previously mentioned, the excavations at 38GE18 found no direct evidence that the 1716Indian trading post was located at the site. Given it’s short span of use (minimally 1716-1718) it isquite likely that direct evidence would be nearly impossible to find. The historical research andmaps indicate that the most likely location for the post is at 38GE18. William Waties located thepost at a place called “Uauenee (or the Great Bluff)”. Over the years the location has beenreferred to as “Yourhaney” (1747), “Whinny” (1749), “Youhany Ferry” (1768), “Euhany” (1772),and “Yahany Ferry” (1825). Also, Faden’s 1780 revision of DeBrahm (1757) map (Figure 7)shows several Indian place names, including “Youre Hene”, along this portion of the Great PeeDee River indicating the importance of the area to the historic Native American population.Interestingly, only one possible historic Native American sherd from the Ashley series was identifiedin the ceramic collection. However, the densest area of Native American occupation was locatedoutside of our study area and it is entirely possible that, along with multiple occupations fromearlier residents, a historic Native American settlement or camps are located at the site.It was hoped that the OCR dates for Yauhannah Bluff would assist us in identifying the 1716trading post. It was unsuccessful, but this does not necessarily mean that the trading post did notexist here. As previously discussed, OCR dating is a fairly controversial dating method and shouldbe viewed with caution.The subsistence analysis found an abundance of maize in the historic component, suggesting that itwas a dietary staple and, perhaps a cash crop. The presence of a peach pit suggests that it couldhave been a cultivated yard tree.