Archeologist returns to Crown Point

By LOHR McKINSTRY
Staff Writer

July 18, 2008 04:00 am

— CROWN POINT -- Dr. Paul Huey has waited half a century to look for buried artifacts at Crown Point State Historic Site.
Thursday he was excited to find parts of an 18th-century French bottle buried on a site where a French cottage once stood.
"It has a different color and thickness of glass than an English bottle," Huey said. "The French glass was thinner and clearer."
The Crown Point Historic Site is home to the ruins of French Fort St. Frederic and British Fort Crown Point, but the village of St. Frederic was a little civilian enclave located just west of the forts.
"There was a lot of description (in historic records) of a village here," Huey said. "The British raiders burned it. But we think some of the houses did not get destroyed."
The French village was active between 1734 and 1759, when it was abandoned along with Fort St. Frederic, he believes. The British then had a village and marketplace in the same location until 1776, when it was burned by American soldiers during the Revolutionary War.
Huey was 16 years old when he first came to Crown Point as a student on a 1956 dig.
Now senior archeologist for the State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation's Bureau of Historic Sites, he returned this week with a five-person team to take up where he left off.
"This year we're trying to verify whether there are truly French artifacts here. It's quite a challenge."
Huey is helped by having the parish register from the St. Frederic church that was part of the village.
"There are many traces of the village," he said. "We're finding them."
Historic Site Manager Thomas Hughes said Crown Point was unique among 18th-century military installations.
"It had a civilian component. We have some great, true research going on this week."
Huey said 1956 and 1958 digs came to the conclusion that there were French houses there before there were English houses.
"We're confirming that research. I've been trying to get back here."
State Quadricentennial Commission Director Robert Bullock said the dig is one of the state's first Quadricentennial events.
"This is a tremendously important site for the New York Quadricentennial. It's also showcasing some of the work by the Office of Parks."
French Consul General Francois Gauthier came from his Boston office to observe the dig. He said the existence of the village points to the importance of New France in New York's development.
"This is fascinating research," he said. "I'm very interested in the results."
Working in a cellar hole, archaeologist Jessica Nelson of Amsterdam was finding nails that could have been used in construction of the French homes.
She's also found bricks.
"It could be a French brick or it could be an English brick. Sometimes you can tell the differences."
The dig will conclude Thursday, July 24. Visitors are welcome, Huey said, and directions to the dig are available from the Interpretive Center at the Crown Point State Historic Site.
lmckinstry@pressrepublican.com

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