Interesting article on the Underground Railroad http://americanhistory.about.com/od/blackhistory/a/under_railroad.htm

Aerial Thermal Survey at

New Philadelphia, March, 2008

An innovative form of low-altitude, aerial survey, using high resolution thermal sensors, will be conducted at the New Philadelphia town site in March, 2008. Depending on weather conditions, the survey will most likely be undertaken March 24-28. Federal and state census records, tax records, and deeds provide extensive data about the town's residents. However, such historical documents do not provide a specific spatial map of household and merchant locations. Archaeological survey and excavations can map those locations in much greater detail to provide a richer data set for the social history of this community. The 1836 plat provides a plan for the town, including a grid pattern of streets, alleys, and lots, but the question remains as to whether this design was followed as the town developed. Indeed, newspaper reports during the town's existence indicated that town residents did not adhere to planned property lines in their building activities. Archaeological excavations at the town site, funded by the National Science Foundation’s program of Research Experiences for Undergraduates, have also uncovered early structures for which documentary evidence from deeds and other historical records provided no indications. A number of archaeological survey and prospection methods have been employed previously at the New Philadelphia town site by collaborating researchers. These survey methods have included a walk-over survey and surface collection of a large portion of the town site. Michael Hargrave, of the Construction Engineering Research Laboratory and U.S Army Engineer Research and Development Center in Champaign, Illinois, has also conducted 6.5 acres of surface-based geophysical surveys at the town site utilizing electric resistivity and magnetic gradient sensors. Due to the large size of New Philadelphia as platted, it is not practical to attempt surface-based geophysical surveys of the entire town site. The National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT) has awarded funding to test the usefulness of low-altitude aerial surveys employing high resolution thermal imaging at New Philadelphia. This method will be employed at the town site for a new and specific purpose: determining whether this technology can detect the grid pattern of an historic town site buried beneath 1-2 feet of agricultural fields and prairie grasses. If successful, this technique will provide an extremely useful resource for applications on numerous similar sites throughout the nation. Dr. Tommy Hailey of Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana, and Bryan Haley of the University of Mississippi, have pioneered the techniques to be used in combination in this survey, and they will collect and process the survey data utilizing a powered parachute ultralight aircraft and a high resolution thermal camera. The exact timing of the survey will be determined based on ground cover, weather, and soil moisture conditions during the year. The data sets will be geo-referenced and integrated using spatial mapping programs, such as Geographic Information Systems software, and the creation of mosaic imaging representations. The survey results can then be examined in relation to a geo-referenced version of the 1836 town plan and other comparative data. Chris Fennell of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will serve as principal investigator and provide overall coordination of the project. Additional information about the New Philadelphia archaeology project is available on the internet at http://www.anthro.uiuc.edu/faculty/cfennell/NP/ and more information concerning the NCPTT is available at http://www.ncptt.nps.gov/. Caption for attached image: 1998 high-altitude photograph of New Philadelphia town site, with overlay of 1836 plat of intended town design (U.S.G.S. archives, overlay by C. Fennell).

Updates from New Philadelphia Project

Some updates on the New Philadelphia Archaeology Project. In early January, 2008, we received funding from the National Science Foundation's Research Experiences for Undergraduates program for another three years of field school research at New Philadelphia, which is planed to start in the summer of 2008. The daily archaeological work in this field school will be co-directed by Dr. Anna Agbe-Davies (DePaul University), Dr. Terry Martin (Illinois State Museum), and Chris Fennell (U. Illinois). Additional information about this field school is available online at: http://www.histarch.uiuc.edu/NSF/fieldschool.html Other planned projects in 2008 include continuing work towards nominating the New Philadelphia town site and nearby features of the cultural landscape for National Landmark status, an effort headed up by Ms. Charlotte King and Prof. Paul Shackel, Director for the Center of Heritage Studies at the University of Maryland. Ms. King has also authored an excellent lesson plan based on the history of New Philadelphia as part of the National Park Service's Teaching with Historic Places program, available online at: http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/130newphila/index.htm. Graduate students at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign are working with Chris Fennell to enhance our mapping and landscape studies of the town site and surrounding area, and to expand our analysis of archival data from nineteenth century newspapers published in the region. Terry Martin and his colleagues at the Illinois State Museum continue their work of analyzing artifacts and faunal remains excavated at the town site. We are now working on publishing a collection of articles in a specially edited issue of a peer-review journal and are at work on other articles and books. Our findings and interpretations to date are currently scheduled to be published in an official monograph series reviewed and published by the Illinois State Museum. This publication series, entitled the "Illinois State Museum Reports of Investigations," utilizes ISM and external peer reviewers, and has previously published studies by distinguished scientists such as Patty Jo Watson, Melvin Fowler, Jane Buikstra, and George Milner. In addition, we have a specially edited, thematic issue of articles on New Philadelphia under review with "Historical Archaeology," the peer-reviewed journal of the Society for Historical Archaeology. In June, 2007, Chris Fennell, Tommy Hailey (Northwestern State University in Louisiana), and Bryan Haley (University of Mississippi), received approval of a grant from the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training to conduct a low-altitude aerial survey of the New Philadelphia town site using a high resolution thermal camera to look for subsurface anomalies that may correlate with archaeological features. We plan to conduct the aerial survey during one week in the Spring of 2008, and to then process the data after completing the aerial survey. The timing for conducting the aerial survey depends upon a variety of logistical concerns and contingencies that include ground cover conditions and periodic rainfall conditions. Additional details about this survey are available online at: http://www.diaspora.uiuc.edu/news0907/news0907.html#12

Thoughts on a winter's afternoon

Finally I have time to get back to my blog. So much is going on with New Philadelphia. The National Science Foundation has given a new 3 year grant to do more archeological studies at the townsite. There is also a class coming this summer from University of Illinois at Champaign for a course. There will be an on going lecture series this summer at Sprague's Kinderhook Lodge. I will post the speaker schedule as soon as available. Historical archeology is fasinating. It gives a glimpse into the lives of the peoples that have gone before us. Makes it personal even to think that you are holding a nail or a spoon that someone that came a hundred to two hundred years before you used. Who was that person??? Why were they here? Where did they come from and why?? Where did they go? What did they do on an everyday basis in their life?

Rain

I am beginning to wonder if it is ever going to rain!  It is so dry here that I saw two trees chasing a dog yesterday.

New Philadelphia: A Pioneer Town

There is so much history waiting to be told from this unique town and it's surrounding community.

Welcome to my world

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