Phase II Archaeological Investigation of Loci 3 and 9 Report, Fort Monroe

Panamerican Consultants, Inc. (Panamerican), under a cooperative agreement with the United States Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity, Fort Detrick, Maryland, conducted Phase II archaeological testing of a portion of Fort Monroe, Hampton, Virginia (Figure 1.1). Personnel at Fort Monroe’s Environmental Office of the Directorate of Public Works and Logistics (DPW/L) managed technical considerations for the project.
Occupying the north side of the entrance to Hampton Roads, the fort’s location from the initial arrival of European settlers onward was seen as critical to local and regional defense. Building and rebuilding over some four hundred years has left the current configuration with components such as a lighthouse, stonewall and wet moat defensive enclosure, and numerous support buildings. Fort Monroe is listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register and on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) (#66000912) with the special Historic Landmark designation since 1960.
A survey of the Fort Monroe military installation for DPW/L (Balicki et al. 1999) identified historic resources from twelve locations (loci) that were potentially eligible for listing in the NRHP. Loci 3 and 9, two of those locations, are the focus of the present Phase II investigation (Figure 1.2). Locus 3, at the intersection of Ingalls and Fenwick roads, forms the grass and small tree yard south and east of Building 83 (Figure 1.3), while Locus 9 also represents a yard, but inside the fortification adjacent to the east side of Quarters 128 (Figure 1.4). A brick foundation recorded in 1983, a brick and stone feature identified during the 1999 survey, and the possibility of locating additional nineteenth century structural remains formed the basis for further work at Locus 3. Additional work was also recommended for Locus 9 where an architectural feature and late 1700s/early 1800s ceramics were recovered. No immediate plans call for subsurface disturbance at either Locus 3 or Locus 9 (VDHR 2003).