Here we are

It is the beginning of the field school's second session, its third week. We are a couple exits north of Concord, NH, and I am about 50 minutes' drive from home. This did much to alleviate fear of not packing enough, as did the gracious presence of Heather R. She has been digging with SCRAP since 2001, and she and Dawn are the firled supervisors. Edna (the state historic archaeologist) and Dick (the State Archaeologist, who likes to annoy Edna by waving the single sherd of prehistoric pottery that has turned up and saying "Look, Edna! A real artifact!") are the Principal Investigators.

We are living in the former novice house/retirement villa of the Holy Cross sisters. There are five buildings, that will eventually become a residential halfway house for drug rehab, and a bunch of acres of the best agricultural land in NH, flat and unrocky with actual topsoil. A man who raises young cows to become dairy cattle farms them and we are enjoined to be very careful not to leave foreign objects among the potential hay. The housing is cushy (we have our own rooms, with sinks and hot water and electricity; cable internet!!! downstairs; and a large, functional kitchen) The black flies are bad in the early evening and, on site, poison ivy is very bad. I am scared. Tecnu and prayer may help.

We are looking for a fort we know was here from a bunch of secondary sources (Rogers' Rangers were here for awhile) with up to 600 soldiers at various times (numbers subject to correction, my error), said to have been 125 ft (a bit less than 40 meters) by 125 ft. It's somewhere around here. Right now we have one of the cleanest agricultural areas Edna has seen in 30 years' digging in New England. They have found slag and coal, probably form armorers building and maintaining cannon. And so far little else.