During the late 19th century agriculture employed more people than any
other business in America.  Farming was business and the idea of a self
sufficient farm is likely a myth.  If such a thing ever did exist it would be
the exception rather than the rule.
 
        To view late 19th and early 20th century farmsteads as isolated sites
to be compared only to other isolated farmsteads denies the most significant
historical trends of the period:  large scale urbanization, regional and
nationally scaled industrialization (noteably railroads), and a general
"connecting" of the country through improved transportation and
telecommunications.  With this as an over-riding theme, all sites beg a series
of questions.  How connected to these national movements were the site
occupants?  Were their goods being produced on their farm, in the local area,
or in a factory in a distant city?  Were their products being consumed locally
or sold into national markets?
To what local groups did these people belong (mining company, railroad town}
and how did they recieve goods from the outside.  What types of goods did the
occupants find usefull?
 
        The answers to these questions may vary according to ethnic, economic,
or geographic lines.  Here in the Middle Atlantic where there has been some
concern with sites of this period it would be difficult to find comparitive
sites because of the lack of excavation.  I think its a bit premature to write
off sites because of their age when there have been so few excavated.  Of
those that have been excavated in Maryland and Virginia most are tenant sites
and many are African-American.
 
        Recently I encountered a small farmstead in Fairfax County, Virginia.
 Historic documents told the the house was built around 1870.  The owners were
white-folk from New York and in 1880 owned ten acres and two cows.  The first
thing to strike me about the site was a complete lack of coal.  Being only two
miles from the county courthouse and a railroad why were these people living
like it was 1830 and still heating their house with wood?  Were these folk
enjoying any of the advances of the age in science and technology?
 
        Unfortunately, the site was heavily disturbed.  First through fire
which reduced over half the glass artifacts to lumps and burned decoration off
pottery and second through plowing and reforestation.  It was decided that too
little integrity remained to answer these or other questions.  Another
unfortunate aspect was that the only sites in northern Virgnia of the same age
were African-american.  There were no comparable sites within 50 miles.  It
would be interesting to compare similar sites of different ethnic affiliation
but it would also be nice to compare it to similar sites from similar people.
 
 
        Another aspect of study the late 19th century I find valuable is that
this period provides a key step in examining culture change through time.  The
early nineteenth century is more interpretable because of an understanding of
the late nineteenth century.  The direct historical approach is as valuable to
historic archaeology as it is to prehistoric and documents don't tell us
everything.