Archaeologists find 18th century Savannah River trading post

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Posted 7:49AM on Thursday, July 25, 2002

SAVANNAH - Archaeologists have unearthed what is believed to be an 18th century Savannah River trading post that belonged to Mary Musgrove, an interpreter and businesswoman who played a vital role in bridging the cultural gap between the Creeks and Georgia's first colonists. The cellar of her 1730s trading post was found on one of the last undeveloped tracts of riverfront in the area. ``This is one of those rare locations where somebody didn't come along and build something on top of it,'' Georgia State archaeologist David Crass said. ``It's an incredible site. Mary Musgrove was one of the seminal figures in Georgia history.'' The post, once known as the Cowpens, was a center of commerce between English settlers and American Indians. Settlers bartered for deerskins, which were shipped back to England. In the cellar, archaeologists found gunflints, musket parts and bottles that may have held rum - believed to be for trade. The sandy bluff, just four miles upriver from Savannah, is one of the richest and most varied historical sites found in Georgia. It is also destined to be one of the most short-lived, officials said. The tract is being cleared in the next few months to make way for a $100 million expansion of the Georgia Ports Authority's Garden City freight terminal. ``We had no idea of the wealth of material we were going to find here,'' said Chad Braley of Athens-based Southeastern Archeological Services, which is conducting the excavation for the ports authority. ``It is just amazing.'' The ports authority has spent $350,000 to save what it acknowledges is an ``amazing wealth of archaeological material.'' By the time the project ends this week, the final cost could reach $450,000. The heavily wooded site has yielded thousands of artifacts spanning 4,000 years of state history - from prehistoric stone tools to rusty antebellum farm implements. Musgrove, born in 1700 in the Creek town of Coweta to an Indian princess and an English trader, was fluent in English and Creek Muskogean - a talent that prompted Oglethorpe to hire her as his interpreter. Some historians suggest that without her shrewd diplomacy, which helped ease tensions with the Indians and stave off Spanish incursions into the region, the Georgia colony might not have survived. The tract was known to have been granted to her in 1734 - the year after James Oglethorpe founded Georgia. Archaeologists began excavating the 90-acre site in April. Among the finds: a brick foundation believed to be the main house for the Grange plantation, which dates to the early 1800s; and the remains of slave quarters that, according to the 1840 census, was home to more than 70 blacks. ``The potential for looting is huge, so we're being aggressive about protection,'' authority spokeswoman Hope Moorer said. ``When the archaeologists aren't here, it is patrolled by armed guards.'' Most of the site will never be excavated. But, state archaeological experts are satisfied that they have done all they can reasonably do to preserve a part of Georgia's history. ``At some point, you have to walk away,'' Braley said.