In 1993, as part of a general survey, I found a feature which was
interpreted as being a dwelling associated with the original Black
Loyalist settlement of Birchtown, Shelburne County, Nova Scotia
(1783). The feature consisted of a square hole, approximately 2 feet
square and 1.5 feet deep. We assumed it was a root cellar, based on
several American sources.
 
         In 1994 a fieldschool conducted by Dr. Stephen Davis ofSaint
Mary's University in Halifax excavated the feature. The "root cellar"
turned out to be a roughly rectangular pit measuring 8.32 by 6.5 fee
dug into a very hard yellow sub-soil. The pit was approximately 1.63
feet deep. Burned wood was encountered along the edges of the pit and
a charcoal concentration covered an area of 4.88 by 4.16 feet in the
centre. Artifacts within the pit were mostly iron, wrought nails and
a barrel hoop, although some fragments of creamware, porcelain, and
white saltglazed stoneware were also present. The 500 artifacts fit
well within the Carolina Slave Artifact Pattern (Kitchen= 78%;
archtitectural= 13%).
 
        This feature has left us puzzled. We are certain it was constructed
by an original Birchtown settler and was occupied from 1783 and into
the 1790's (perhaps until 1792 when half of the Birchtown population
emigrated to Sierra Leone?). What we don't know is if the pit
represents an element within a structure or the structure itself. We
do know the  Black Loyalists arrived in September and hastily
constructed shelters before winter. Would they have lived in a
covered pit? The size of any superstructure over the pit is limited
by the slope of the land to the south and east and by the presence of
a small midden to the west. This limitation would be approximately 12
by 8 feet, most of which would have been taken up by the pit.
 
        The only other possible architectural element uncovered was a linear
arrangement of rocks near the centre of the pit's east limit. Perhaps
this is evidence of an entrance? No evidence of an interior hearth
was found.
 
        Hope this is of interest to you.
 
                Laird Niven.