Old Slave House team concludes excavation
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Southern Illinois University's Center for Archeological Research concludes its excavation of the ground at the Old Slave House this week with more artifacts of the Crenshaw Family uncovered than ever before in recent history.
The work the center has done paves the way for the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency to restore the yard to the way it was in the 19th century as the agency plans to open the house to the public.
Completed in 1842, the house was undoubtedly a jewel among houses in Gallatin County perched on Hickory Hill overlooking the Saline salt works. One trapping of wealth was the large, rectangular stone-lined privy. While most privies at that time were shallow holes that were filled in and the "outhouse" over it moved, house owner John Hart Crenshaw had the means to maintain a permanent privy. He had indentured servants he could order to clean out the stone-lined pit, according to center director Mark Wagner.
Crenshaw for several years produced salt on nearby saline lands leased from the federal government. Labor at the salt works was provided by enslaved African Americans.
Crenshaw had a local reputation of being involved in the kidnapping of free African Americans and selling them into slavery. He stood trial in 1842 on related charges and was acquitted, in part on technicalities. From its completion in 1842 to its sale by Crenshaw in 1864 the house was a center of enterprises that extended across Gallatin County.
While a king has his throne, Crenshaw had what was perhaps the finest privy in Southern Illinois.
"This reflects wealth and status. These are huge stones, the same as the foundation. Most were simple pits in the ground and they moved the building," Wagner said.
"This is permanent. It had to be cleaned out."
For archeologists, the fact those who did the cleaning never did a thorough job is an advantage. The bottom 2 feet of soil contained items Wagner believes belonged to the Crenshaw family.
"We've found cologne and perfume bottles from the 1800s," Wagner said.
Despite the trappings of wealth, other finds such as a deer skeleton indicate the Crenshaws were also close to the land.
"Somebody butchered a deer and threw the remains down the privy," Wagner said.
A family of such wealth as the Crenshaws might have been expected to eat domesticated animals.
"But it looked like there were wild animal bones in here," Wagner said.
There were also remnants of dishes dating from the 1830s to the 1850s in the privy.
Crenshaw was wealthy and would have attracted visits from the major politicians and money holders of the day, people he would want to impress with fine bathroom facilities.
"He's entertaining important people. This is like somebody having a really nice bathroom now," Wagner said.
"They'd come to a very nice bathroom in the yard and probably talk about it for weeks. It shows he's different from other people.
"This is the first one I've seen like this in Southern Illinois."
Near the outhouse was a structure Wagner believes could have been a smokehouse. In the ground was an 1839 dime.
The archeologists believed there to be summer kitchen on the property, but have not located evidence of it. The white barn in the backyard could have been built over it. On Wednesday Doug Kosik was digging into an area the team believes was a pit cellar that could have been attached to a summer kitchen. While probing the cellar area they found a painted porcelain marble of the type that might have been common during the Crenshaw era.
Looking into the crawlspace the team found other objects.
"The area called the carriage way had trash in it," Wagner said.
There were pieces of dishes believed to be from the 1830s, buttons and ceramics.
All the artifacts found by the team have gone to the Illinois State Museum for permanent storage. Once the home is opened the state could decide to display the images at the house or at a visitors center on the grounds.
The team has discovered the Crenshaw's utilized the east yard where the privy is and the smokehouse was. After Crenshaw moved out someone filled in the privy and apparently abandoned structures on that side of the yard, probably because any structures there were probably in a state of disrepair.
But new activity began on the west side of the yard where there is evidence of more recent privies.
The west side of the yard is a steep hill. The soil there is dark and organic, evidence remains of animals were tossed down the hill with other garbage.
In the 1880s a coal town known as Guinea Town was in operation in the lower land surrounding the house and miners who worked there lived in the Old Slave House.
Next week an excavator is to fill the holes the team has made and to fill in the rare privy. Wagner said if the stone privy was not filled back in it would eventually crumble in on itself and be lost.
Wagner said the group may hire a group specializing in architecture to conduct an architectural study in the house and next year the team will have a full report available to the state.
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DeNeal receives e-mail at bdeneal@yourclearwave.com.</li>
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