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sat down. Diners then helped themselves and filled their plates with all the food available atone time, requiring larger plate sizes (Lucas 1994:82). Thus, the inexpensive, largeWhiteware plate recovered is what one would expect for the hotel context. Plain whitedishes were also an advantage to owners <strong>of</strong> boardinghouses and restaurants because matchedsets in tableware were becoming popular by the end <strong>of</strong> the nineteenth century, and plainwhite dishes could be replaced without worrying about mismatched tableware. This platecame from Levels 1–2 <strong>of</strong> the backhoe excavation in the northern part <strong>of</strong> the site.The undecorated refined wares seem to make up an overwhelming majority <strong>of</strong>ceramic remains from the site (Table 3). However, it has already been mentioned above thatsome <strong>of</strong> these sherds no doubt belong to the shell-edge category, reducing the percentagefrom perhaps 62% to 50%. For the Dining group, another 4% <strong>of</strong> the undecorated sherds mustbe subtracted from this percentage as belonging to the Toiletries functional group in the form<strong>of</strong> chamber pots, wash basins and ewers. This 4% consisted <strong>of</strong> diagnostic sherds (rims,bases, etc.) which allowed identification <strong>of</strong> the vessel’s form. It is certain that many moreundiagnostic body sherds belonging to these toiletry vessels should also be extracted for anaccurate tableware count. Even so, the undecorated, refined sherds would still remain by farthe largest category <strong>of</strong> tableware ceramics, and the later inexpensive, undecoratedWhitewares (as opposed to the expensive earlier, <strong>of</strong>ten molded White Granite wares) makeup the largest part <strong>of</strong> this group (Table 8).A very few Flow Blue transfer-printed sherds were recovered. Ten <strong>of</strong> the 14 sherdsbelong to a Whiteware plate decorated with an Art Nouveau pattern, which would date to thelate nineteenth or early twentieth century (Figure 41j–k, m). It was found in Levels 1 and 2 atthe southern end <strong>of</strong> the site, south <strong>of</strong> the fraternity house foundations, and it probably belongsto that context. The four other sherds were also all found in Levels 1 and 2, three from thenorthern end <strong>of</strong> the side and another from the southern end just outside the fraternity housefoundations. All the Flow Blue wares appear to date to the second period <strong>of</strong> that style’spopularity, from 1890 to 1904 (Samford 1997:24).Glass. A large amount <strong>of</strong> glass tableware was recovered from the site (Table 4).Because <strong>of</strong> the small size <strong>of</strong> the fragments recovered, 62% <strong>of</strong> the tableware glass could not beidentified by exact form. Identified forms include tumblers, stemware, a decanter and a glasslid. The short, thick-walled, <strong>of</strong>ten paneled tumblers make up an overwhelming majority <strong>of</strong>the identified forms. Tumbler fragments represent 33% <strong>of</strong> all tableware (includingunidentified), and 85% <strong>of</strong> identified forms (Figure 36e). This assemblage is similar in thatrespect to the assemblage from the Eagle Hotel where tumbler fragments make up 91% <strong>of</strong> thetable glass (Samford 1994:30). Samford comments on the large percentage and thesurprising breakage rate <strong>of</strong> the sturdy glass vessels, suggesting rowdy drinking behavior.Battle (1907:200) documents a great deal <strong>of</strong> unruly, and <strong>of</strong>ten violent, behavior connectedwith drinking and “convivial banquets” at the ante-bellum university. One student (HenryChambers) in 1804 wrote in a letter about a February 22nd banquet, provided by localboardinghouse keeper William Nunn, that included much drinking <strong>of</strong> wine and toasting.Student Martin W. B. Armstrong wrote about another such banquet in 1818 (Battle1907:261). These banquets <strong>of</strong>ten got out <strong>of</strong> hand, as did one in 1840—one <strong>of</strong> the annual“Fresh Treat” banquets—where “a bountiful feast, principally alcoholic liquors, wereprovided” (Battle 1907:465). The result <strong>of</strong> this particular banquet was “riots and disorders43

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