< Previous40 | Vol 2 | 2017 | River ChroniclesSee what survived amid the debris...Prince Rupert’s Drops, p. 66Amazingly, the brick “floors” of the annealing ovens had been constructed on foundations filled with glass and other manufacturing debris. AECOM staff realized that what first appeared to be indeterminate broken glass fragments actually reflect the glass-manufacturing process and many of the factory’s products. The fill included a large amount of bottle, flask, and other vessel fragments; pieces of “whimsies” (some of which are highlighted later in this issue); tubes; threads; pooled and cooled drips; large chunks of melted glass (sometimes attached to a piece of ceramic crucible that held the glass); and “cullet”—broken glass added to the sand and other raw materials that are heated to make glass.Photograph by Matthew D. Harris.River Chronicles | Vol 2 | 2017 | 41The glassworks foundations exposed during the archaeological excavation are shown positioned over an 1878 Hexamer map of the factory. The line of annealing ovens aligns with the ovens illustrated on this map, confirming the late-nineteenth-century correlation. Georeferencing of the foundation plan over the 1878 Hexamer map clearly shows the cleanout vault lining up with the northernmost “Heating Furnace.” Furnace cleanout vault42 | Vol 2 | 2017 | River ChroniclesDating the vault through glassGlass Bottles, p. 52AECOM project photograph, 2011.When the late-nineteenth-century brick floor was removed, we discovered an opening to a vaulted tunnel distinguished by a metal frame for an access door. The entrance to the vault was filled with ash and glass manufacturing debris. Removing the fill revealed a furnace cleanout vault constructed with brick walls set on a stuccoed stone foundation. The vault related to the mid-nineteenth-century glassworks, when two furnace chimneys were used. A 2.5-foot-diameter wood-lined barrel shaft used for cleaning out the furnace was constructed into the concrete vault floor. Hinged iron furnace doorWood-lined barrel shaftVent openingThe back of the vault still had the completely intact 1.5-×-1-foot iron furnace door; the 142-pound door is currently being conserved at the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory. The vault was 3 feet wide, 10 feet long, and 4 feet tall from floor to ceiling in the center.Furnace door photograph courtesy of Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory, weight courtesy of Francis Lukezic, 2017.Located partially within the I-95 project boundaries, the glasshouse depicted in this colorful watercolor is likely John Hewson Jr.’s initial 1816 Kensington Glass Works, built on the calico dye works site and owned by Dr. Dyott in the 1830s. Having brick walls, a stone foundation, corner ovens, and a single furnace chimney, the glassworks directly relates to foundations discovered as the excavations progressed.The engraving at the right is a detail from Thomas Dyott’s own bank note and may be a depiction of the interior of the Dyottville Glass Works factory, with glassworkers at the main furnace and another worker at a smaller corner oven in the background. The corner oven appears to correspond to the small ovens protruding on the exterior of the main glasshouse in David Kennedy’s watercolor (below), dated 1831.Corner ancillary or reheating ovens(Top) Detail of note issued by Dr. Dyott’s Manual Labor Bank on August 2, 1836 (see pages 22 and 23). Private collection, AECOM scan, 2012.(Background) Close-up of the glasshouse in T. W. Dyott Glass Works at Kensington on the Delaware, Philadelphia, 1831, by David J. Kennedy. David J. Kennedy Watercolors, Digital Library, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.The exposed northwest corner of the glass factory building is an example of the many alterations and additions to the building that began as the calico printing works in 1774. The color coding indicates our current understanding of the foundations and related approximate date ranges. All of the foundations have distinct mortar and brick, or stone, which aids in identifying walls and structures from the same construction period. The 1816 square foundations appear to be the bases for the corner ancillary or reheating ovens constructed onto the earlier foundation. The brick vault tunnel on the upper left is the earliest furnace access, dating to 1816, when there was only one main furnace. This tunnel vault and related walls and foundations were constructed by dismantling a section of the earlier calico printing works foundation, providing space for the construction of the furnace tunnel. The mid-nineteenth-century portion of the glass factory shown here includes the furnace vault previously discussed (upper right corner) and probable annealing or ancillary oven foundation (foreground). All of these features were filled in and sealed beneath the brick floor of the post-1880 glassworks.1774–18161816–mid-19th centuryMid-19th century–1880Post-1880 brick floorCorner ancillary oven foundationsCalico printing works dyehouseCorner ancillary oven foundationsAnnealing ovenFurnace access tunnelFurnace access vaultAECOM project photograph, 2011.A whitewashed bulkhead exterior wall and a massive spread footer were exposed inside a later oven foundation at the northwest corner of the building. The bulkhead and shale slab footer date to the eighteenth-century dyehouse or initial construction of the glass factory. The later oven foundation is clearly visible abutting the earlier sloping bulkhead wall. The location of this building on the edge of Gunner’s Run necessitated the construction of a substantial foundation.A furnace cleanout tunnel was located along the north wall foundation of the glass factory. The tunnel was constructed through a section of the calico printing works foundation and has been determined to be related to the earliest phase of the glass factory, dating to 1816. The vault opening is 5.5 feet high with a level brick floor. Large planks of wood were removed from this area, suggesting a wooden stairway leading down to the tunnel entrance. Dyehouse foundation1774 calico printing factory wall1816 structureStone retaining wall1816 to circa-1850 brick furnace access vault entrance1816 to mid-19th-century corner ancillary furnace foundation additionExterior bulkhead foundation46 | Vol 2 | 2017 | River ChroniclesRachel is 5 feet tall and is standing in the 1816 furnace tunnel entranceway. The tunnel was used for access to the area beneath the furnace for cleanout and to provide a draft for the furnace fuel to increase heat. With the removal of the late-nineteenth-century brick floor, the excavations exposed the entire chronology of the Kensington/Dyottville Glass Works building.All AECOM project photographs, 2011.The 1878 Hexamer map shows the sand house adjacent to the glass factory. The excavation revealed a portion of the wood plank walls and a wood floor. Some of the sand used for making glass still covered the floor.The I-95 archaeological excavations at Dyottville exposed only a small portion of the glassworks. The archaeological remains, however, far exceeded our expectations, and allowed us to grasp the evolution and significance of this parcel of land, as well as the factory buildings. As our research continues, we can only wonder what still survives beyond the project boundaries and what it may reveal in the future.Sand houseAECOM project photograph, 2011.48 | Vol 2 | 2017 | River ChroniclesGlass canes are among the variety of “whimsies” recovered at Dyottville Glass Works and the surrounding neighborhood where glassworkers lived. Glass whimsies are non-production objects that glassblowers made on their own time, possibly between shifts or at the end of the day to finish off a pot of glass. The term can be used for any glass object that is unusual or does not have an obvious function. Whimsies are often decorative and made to showcase the glassblower’s skill.1 Since whimsies were not part of the typical production line of a glassworks, finding them archaeologically can be uncommon.AECOM archaeologists recovered 40 glass cane fragments from 20 different contexts at the Dyottville archaeological site. The bulk of the diagnostic material from those contexts dates to the second half of the nineteenth century through the first quarter of the twentieth century. Folklore surrounding glass canes suggests that they were hung inside the front door of homes and wiped clean daily to prevent any evil from befalling the house.2 In addition to folklore, there are many documented historical accounts of glassblowers carrying their canes in holiday parades and also presenting them to dignitaries and politicians.3The Dyottville cane fragments vary considerably in form, size, and decoration. The assemblage contains examples of hand-drawn loosely twisted canes, tightly twisted canes, and canes that were squared (rather than cylindrical) and then twisted, creating sharp edges on the twists. In addition to the solid glass walking canes, there is also a blown hollow segment that may have been part of a baton. Some of the cane fragments are one solid color and others have strands of colored glass encased in the center or applied to the surface. Most of the cane fragments match bottle glass colors produced at the factory: aqua, amber, green, blue, and colorless. But there are a few examples decorated with thin rods of pink glass, indicating that the color was either made for special use or made elsewhere. There is one small but particularly decorative cane fragment in the assemblage—a squared and twisted cane that has a pale aqua exterior and an interior column of red/pink, opaque white, and blue glass. It only takes a little imagination to picture it being carried in a parade! - Carolyn HorlacherRiver Chronicles | Vol 2 | 2017 | 49Workers’ Whimsies Glass Canes at DyottvilleThe drawn solid and hollow canes pictured here represent the variety of canes recovered at the Dyottville site. The images are not to scale: the longest segment illustrated, an aqua twisted cane, measures 11.5 inches in length. In comparison, the amber fragment with applied white threads is approximately half an inch long. Photograph by John Stanzeski.Next >