The Nash site: what a chimney footing reveals about an African American family’s home

All that remains above ground of the Nash family's house is a stone chimney footing and a few stone piers that once held up the structure. Yet an archeological survey in 1990 and excavations in 1991 were enough to tell what kind of house it was, when it was lived in and a little about the people who lived there.

Who lived here

Historical evidence indicates that the site was occupied by an African American family, Philip Nash, his wife and their children, for a relatively short time from the 1870s to the 1880s. The land belonged to a tract owned by the residents of the nearby Brownsville Plantation. The National Park Service lists the site with Manassas National Battlefield Park.

An 1878 map showing the Nash site. NPS.

A second 1878 map of the Nash site, with notes written on it. NPS.

What the dig found

The 1990 survey turned up the remains of a chimney and a nearby depression related to the house. The 1991 investigations revealed the foundations of a structure 14 by 16 feet, most likely a one-and-a-half-story frame building.

National Park Service archeologists excavate the Nash site. NPS.

Artifacts found include ceramics, glass, architectural debris, buttons, a single blue bead, gaming pieces and quartz crystals. The material culture indicates that the site was occupied in the 1870s and 1880s.

The chimney footing is the only tangible evidence of the Nash house. NPS.

Plan view of the Nash site. NPS.

Part of a series

The Nash site is one article in the Park Service's series African American Households, which also covers the Robinson House.

Sources

• National Park Service, "The Nash Site" (https://www.nps.gov/articles/the-nash-site.htm), part of the series African American Households; rewritten in hubnx's own words.