More Old Houses Found Buried at Tannehill?
- Shannon Sloan and Danni Claybrook expose archaeological evidence.
A newly uncovered layer of brick and burned wood may be evidence of at least one previously unknown structure at Tannehill Ironworks Historical State Park. While installing a drainage system for the new drive way in front of the Iron and Steel Museum there, grounds crew workers found the archaeological remains buried under nearly three feet of road fill. Dr Jack Bergstresser, Park Archaeologist was monitoring the work and no harm was done to the important new evidence. Over the weekend volunteers began the work of documenting and the feature. As the remnants of Hurricane Ida sweep through Central Alabama, the excavation work is on hold.
Thick layer of burned material littered with old bricks.
Two years ago, we found the remains of a fire place a few meters south of the new discovery. Now it appears that there may have been at least one additional structure in the area. These are located along the original road bed that entered the park along Roupes Creek. It has long been suspected that housing and other facilities associated with the old ironworks would have been located along this road and now the archaeology appears to be confirming this suspicion. For now we can only speculate as to their exact identity.