Archaeology News: 1783 courthouse discovered

An effort to update the streets around Stafford’s government complex has helped the county discover a major piece of its past.

Archaeologists uncovered the county’s original courthouse, once occupied by federal troops in the Civil War, during five weeks of excavation work for a project to make the courthouse area more pedestrian friendly.

“There’s no question—this is the 1783 courthouse and clerk’s office. There’s no ambiguity here. We know what it is and where it is. And it’s in pretty good shape,” said Clifton Huston, principal archaeologist with Dominion Engineering Associates.

The dig was the second phase of archaeological work required by the state as part of the $2.7 million grant-funded Courthouse Area Streetscape Improvement project.

Source: Fredericksburg