ANDERSON-BLEASE ARCHAEOLOGICAL DIG SITE

Emissaries and archaeologists, Deirdre Speer-Whyte (of the Ulster-Scots Community Network in Belfast, Northern Ireland) and Finula Magowan (Ulster-Scots Volunteer) joined the MUSP excavation team this month at the Anderson-Blease homestead site. We were delighted to welcome Deirdre and Finula to our team! They were able to participate on the team for 6 of their 14 days spent on holiday in Maine. Lead Historical Archaeologist, Pamela Crane, welcomed and appreciated their collegiality and discussion of unearthed site features and artifacts.

5/30/24 - MUSP is actively researching and studying the 18th century Ulster-Scots settlement at Flying Point in Freeport, Maine. Our work includes:

• Building up a base of information and timeline of events that the dozen or so families were affected by and/or involved in.

• The genealogical connections between these families.

• The folkways shared by the settlers such as burial traditions, home construction techniques.

• The impact on the land and the many enterprises that created a working economy on the Eastern Frontier, including farming, timber harvesting, and the establishment of saw mills, grist mills, salt works, ship building, maritime trade and more. 

Understanding the geography of the area and the relative positions of homes, businesses and resources that were available or which were developed is critical to understanding the daily lives of our Ulster-Scot ancestors at Flying Point.

MUSP has gotten a huge boost this week in creating the mapping needed to flesh out the details of our investigation. Tom Searing of Seiler Co. based in Waltham, Massachusetts has brought his drone flying skills and state of the art geodrones to Flying Point and spent two days gathering data with lidar and aerial photogrammetry equipment. The digital data can now be processed and used to generate precise mapping of several critical historic areas on and near Flying Point to aid in our research.

Many thanks to Tom and Seiler Company for their valuable assistance in our MUSP projects. Thanks also to the Wolfe’s Neck Center, the Thomas Means Club and other Flying Point property owners who continue to support our work in the area, “Saving and Sharing Maine’s Scots-Irish Heritage.”

5/28/24 - Opening day of the 2024 MUSP Archaeology dig season. Seven units laid out at what we hope to prove is the foundation of the Jacob Andersons blockhouse at Flying Point, Freeport, Maine.  One unit opened directly over where we suspect the chimney foundation will be found.  Level 1 has been removed and sifted. Level 2 is already turning up a wide range of artifacts.

This is going to be an exciting season. Stay tuned as we bring you regular reports on our progress at this site and at the nearby Means family homestead. Visit other pages on this website for background information on both sites.