Fort Brewerton & Oliver Stevens Blockhouse Museum

Fort Brewerton & Oliver Stevens Blockhouse Museum The Blockhouse Museum holds collections of local artifacts, including native materials. It is overs

Museum Monday’s Mystery was a counterfeit large cent from the mid 19th century. It is less dense and has cracks in the m...
01/11/2025

Museum Monday’s Mystery was a counterfeit large cent from the mid 19th century. It is less dense and has cracks in the metal that should not be on a copper cent, even if corroded. Although this corrosion damage obscures some details, they appear to be softer than they should be, as if cast and not struck. I have included 2 photos of some large cents I have found metal detecting in various conditions to compare. I would guess it’s made from a white metal alloy like pewter.
It seems silly today to go through the trouble to counterfeit a cent. But we have to remember the US Mint used to make a profit making coins, even the cent. Where there’s profit to be made, there’s always a way for unscrupulous individuals looking to cash in. The cost of copper declined in the 1840s due to copper mines being developed in upper Michigan. In the late 1840s, the US Mint was making a profit of more than 40%, issuing cents at a rate of 41.7 cents per pound.

More info here

https://www.numismaticnews.net/archive/counterfeit-cent-story-unusual-one

This fake large cent was found on the site of an old settlement in Hastings, New York. It was donated with other items from the site by Brian Young in 2019.

Speaking of copper mines in Upper Michigan, next weeks mystery item may have originated there as well.

Today’s   Mystery! Guess the item from the Museum collections. Comment below what you think it is. I will post the answe...
01/06/2025

Today’s Mystery! Guess the item from the Museum collections. Comment below what you think it is. I will post the answer on Friday!

Museum Monday’s Mystery was the broken top and bottom of an 18th century mallet style glass bottle excavated from the ea...
01/04/2025

Museum Monday’s Mystery was the broken top and bottom of an 18th century mallet style glass bottle excavated from the earthworks of Fort Brewerton in the 1960s. It was used to carry wine from the cask to the table and to store drinks as well. They may have been marked with a personal seal, though none have been found here, perhaps due to the frontier/military setting.
These likely held wine, but could have contained just about anything. A stash of 35 were recently found with the contents still in them at Mount Vernon,
More here

https://www.mountvernon.org/about/news/article/archaeologists-unearth-35-glass-bottles-from-the-18th-century-at-george-washington-s-mount-vernon-during-mansion-revitalization-most-containing-perfectly-preserved-cherries-and-berries #:~:text=Archaeologists%20at%20George%20Washington's%20Mount,berries%2C%20likely%20gooseberries%20or%20currants.

You may notice the flaky, iridescent crust on the glass. Older glass will have some iridescence, but it can get worse with time. Mostly just the thick green glass from these bottles has it this bad when we excavate them. Other glass shards just have color, if anything. “Alkalis, or soluble salts, are leached from the buried glass by slightly acidic water present in the soil. This in turn causes the formation of very fine layers which can delaminate or even flake off creating a prism effect”.

https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/researchers-in-museums/2019/05/20/the-mystery-of-iridescence-in-glass/

The base of the bottle is called the “punt” or “kick”. It looks like it’s designed to cheat the customer out of some drink, and it does, but it’s designed to give the bottle stability and strength, making it less likely to break. It did not help any of the bottles here though, all we have are fragments. A big puzzle missing many pieces. Perhaps if we get our Archaeology lab set up, we can make a station for gluing them back together. And who knows? Maybe our GPR scan in the spring will locate a trash pit with that elusive intact bottle safely tucked away all these years.

Here’s to new adventures in 2025!
12/31/2024

Here’s to new adventures in 2025!

12/31/2024

Congrats raffle winners! 50/50 winner is Cindy Rider. Joann Reed won the Ancestry DNA test. Elizabeth Fluery won the boxed grill tools.

Today’s   Mystery! Guess the excavated item fragments from the Museum collections. Comment below what you think it was. ...
12/30/2024

Today’s Mystery! Guess the excavated item fragments from the Museum collections. Comment below what you think it was. I will post the answer on Friday!

Taking a moment to thank everyone who has been so generous with bottle donations this past year. The deposit dollars ear...
12/28/2024

Taking a moment to thank everyone who has been so generous with bottle donations this past year. The deposit dollars earned by those bottles helps us keep going! We collect year round and are so grateful!

Museum Monday’s Mystery consisted of 3 stoneware pottery fragments labeled A, B, and C. In archaeology, pottery fragment...
12/28/2024

Museum Monday’s Mystery consisted of 3 stoneware pottery fragments labeled A, B, and C. In archaeology, pottery fragments are commonly known as sherds, as opposed to glass fragments that would be shards. Fragment A is known as “bead and reel” pattern. It was a fine molded salt glazed stoneware used from about 1740-1765. It was probably a dish or plate. A few other rim fragments have been found on recent digs.

Fragment C is the same material, but molded in the “dot and diaper” pattern. It was probably a serving platter or plate. A nice assortment of dot and diaper fragments were found on digs in the 1960s, some burned and some not. A few of the pieces fit together, but too much is missing to get a clear idea of shape.

https://www.smu.ca/anthropology/anthropology-salt-glazed-stoneware.html

Fragment B is a little harder to figure out what it was used for. It could have been a chamber pot, mug, or jar. It’s Rhenish blue salt glazed stoneware, a German pottery from about 1575 to 1775. What little style is visible looks like Westerwald from the early Georgian era, about 1714-1760. It appears to have come from a vessel with a 3 inch rim diameter, making me lean towards a mug or jar. A little handle fragment of the same material was found in another test pit nearby.

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/typeceramics/type/stoneware-rhenish-blue-and-gray/

These are more clues as to what went on in blockhouse # 4.

Congratulations to Eileen Hollis who won the beautiful handwoven scarf made by Stacy DeLong.  Thank you Stacy for your d...
12/28/2024

Congratulations to Eileen Hollis who won the beautiful handwoven scarf made by Stacy DeLong. Thank you Stacy for your donation!

We had a great time at the Chtistmas Open House. The fireplace kept us cozy on a cold snowy day!
12/28/2024

We had a great time at the Chtistmas Open House. The fireplace kept us cozy on a cold snowy day!

Today’s   Mystery! Guess the 3 recently excavated stoneware pottery sherds from the Museum collections. Comment below wh...
12/23/2024

Today’s Mystery! Guess the 3 recently excavated stoneware pottery sherds from the Museum collections. Comment below what style you think they are and what you think they were probably used for. I will post my answer on Friday!

Doesn’t the snow make it look so Christmasy?   Stop by the Blockhouse museum 12-4 today!The fireplace will be roaring to...
12/21/2024

Doesn’t the snow make it look so Christmasy? Stop by the Blockhouse museum 12-4 today!The fireplace will be roaring to keep us warm! Enjoy a goodie and make an ornament or two- we have several to choose from. No charge but we would really appreciate a donation!

Museum Monday’s Mystery was an antique silver plated serving spoon. It is a 1847 Rogers Bros Olive pattern and belonged ...
12/21/2024

Museum Monday’s Mystery was an antique silver plated serving spoon. It is a 1847 Rogers Bros Olive pattern and belonged to Elizabeth Rolla.
Born in 1823 to Judge John L Stevens, she was one of Oliver Stevens granddaughters. That date means she was probably born to Johns first wife Hannah, who died in 1824. I will have to do some deeper digging into our genealogical records to be sure.
Elizabeth married Barna Joslyn Rolla in 1844 (born 1817).
She passed away in 1865, and rests in Cicero cemetery with other members of the Stevens family. Barna remarried to another Elizabeth (Gillette) (born in 1824). They also rest in Cicero cemetery.

This spoon was donated with a collection of Stevens family items “In memory of Mary Smith” in 1966 by Mr And Mrs Bradford Shaver.

It's not too late! We'll be drawing our raffle for this soft handwoven scarf on Saturday at our Annual Christmas Open Ho...
12/18/2024

It's not too late! We'll be drawing our raffle for this soft handwoven scarf on Saturday at our Annual Christmas Open House. Venmo Fort Brewerton Historical $5 for one chance $10 for three chances.

Our Holiday Raffle is this cozy handwoven 6’ wool/ acrylic scarf, made and donated by one of our members. Tickets 1/$5 or 3/$10
Venmo Fort Brewerton Historical (tag it holiday raffle) Drawing will be Dec 21 at our Christmas Open House.

Do you reminisce and share family stories and memories at this time of year?  We would love it if you would share some m...
12/18/2024

Do you reminisce and share family stories and memories at this time of year? We would love it if you would share some memories of the holidays in Brewerton during the 50s-70s here.

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Box 392 9 US Route 11
Brewerton, NY
13029

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