Archaeological Addendum to the Camden National Historic Landmark, Caroline County, Virginia

The Camden National Historic Landmark is located along the south side of the Rappahannock River, approximately two kilometers downriver from the town of Port Royal in Caroline County, Virginia. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places November 17, 1969, Camden was designated a National Historic Landmark November 11, 1971. The 1969 nomination form described the Camden manor house, constructed 1857-1859, as "one of the most complete and best preserved Italianate country houses in America." One archaeological site, 44CE3, was also discussed in the nomination. Summarized in this addendum are subsequent archaeological surveys by the Virginia State Library and the Division of Historic Landmarks which have produced an inventory of an additional 95 archaeological sites at Camden. Extensive evidence of prehistoric occupation dating from the Archaic and Woodland Periods has been identified on the property. The archaeological remains of Historic Period occupation include sites representing late seventeenth century Native American settlement, the expansion of English colonial settlement in the early eighteenth century, and the development and evolution of a major plantation complex spanning the antebellum and postbellum periods.