SeeWorthy: Alexandria Archaeology's Big Finds

(My selfie skills need honing.)

Last Saturday, I volunteered at a small exhibit at the Torpedo Arts Center on the waterfront in Old Town Alexandria called SeeWorthy. (More about the exhibit below.) About 80 people or so came during my three-hour shift, a combination of tourists, super-locals, and in-between people from the metropolitan area but not Alexandria. A few came specifically for the exhibit, but most strolled by on a beautiful weekend day.

The exhibit displays 3-D, 1:12 models of the remnants of three wooden ships excavated from underground near the waterfront, along with panels and photographs to explain why they were there, how they were excavated, and what is happening with them.

As docent for the day, my job was to answer questions or just chat to see what visitors might already know about the ships or Alexandria. My best opening line:

Did you know that where we are standing now used to be under water?

As shown in this map from the 1700s, the waterfront had a series of points jutting out into the river. The shaded area is now land.

George Washington drew this map in 1749. Not the curve into the town. Library of Congress print.

To become a more competitive port, the waterfront was reconfigured to build wharves that large trading ships could use. Hulls from old ships helped fill the newly claimed areas. Boston, San Francisco, and other cities also used this “recycling” technique.

Over time, warehouses, a mill, and other structures were built on top of the filled area, until very few people realized that the waterfront was a very different shape than nature had designed.

When I moved to Alexandria in 1984, isolated sections of the waterfront were open, but much of it had buildings and parking lots. Before my time (and possibly during it?), it had a pretty raunchy reputation. An effort that took decades—and lots of discussion and controversy—has, in recent years, turned the waterfront into a more open area with a walking path, restaurants, and high-priced housing. That is the topic for another day, or blog post.

What’s relevant here is that Alexandria’s Archaeological Code requires developers to conduct an archaeological investigation in areas of historical interest. If preliminary documentary research shows something of interest, physical work follows. The developer funds the work, conducted by private firms but overseen by city archaeologists. When a hotel and condos were proposed for an area on the southern tip of the waterfront, it was clear that something would emerge.

From Alexandria.gov website

The first ship found was a total surprise. I remember when it was discovered in 2015. It received widespread media attention, and I remember peering from above, through fending, to see it. The timbers, shown here, were removed and placed in huge indoor water-filled storage tanks. The first ship is now at the maritime archaeology lab at Texas A&M University being conserved. (It will return to Alexandria in several years—with no specific plans about what to do with it, which could be interesting. The artifact will be about 50 feet long.)

In 2017, development began to replace a facility called the Robinson Terminal. It was not as much of a surprise to find ship remains this time around—but three was maybe a bit too much of a good thing! Again, pieces were carefully tagged and removed. Spending the money to conserve these three was not in the cards, but neither was leaving them to rot. For the past several years, the more than 1,000 pieces have remained in water, monitored and replacing the water every month. In the meantime, the remnants have been studied, laser-scanned, and used to create the models now on display.

The largest ship is believed to have been 120 feet long! About 85 feet were recovered. This model shows the recovered pieces and how they would have related to the overall ship.

A few things that are known and not known about the ships:

• The names of the specific ships are not known.

• While dendrochronology could date the first ship, the other three could not be as precisely dated. Given their location and when the different parts of the waterfront were filled, they were placed within date ranges.

• The research and modeling allowed for informed speculation about their original size and type (schooner, etc.).

• They would have been used for many purposes. Oof interest, without the names of the ships, it cannot be known whether any transported enslaved people in the intra-state slave trade that permeated the middle part of the 19th century.

A new chapter for the timbers begins in May. After much planning, they will be carefully wrapped and placed in a pond at a local park. This gets them out of the storage tanks while also providing interpretative signs to explain what is happening. What will happen to them in 10 or so years? Stay tuned.