BY CHRIS PARKER
Believe it or not, the most exciting part of my summer last August was finding a brick. To fulfill my Eagle Scout requirement to design and lead a community service project, I decided to volunteer at the Jay Heritage Center, estate of Founding Father John Jay. My prior year of high school was filled with AP US History accompanied by Hamilton soundtrack, so the unique chance to work at Jay’s property enticed me. At first, I had no idea what I wanted undertake there. Then, the president of the Center suggested that I could help with an archaeological dig. She introduced me to a local Professor of Archaeology who was willing to supervise and guide the project.
I accepted enthusiastically and recruited volunteers for my five dig sessions; this wasn’t difficult once I convinced my friends that I was basically Indiana Jones! In reality, most of the dig time was tedious and uncomfortable, sifting through piles of dirt under the assault of the summer sun. But on September 1st, my friend Christian’s trowel scraped the yellow corner of something that was not rock. We exchanged our clunky shovels for tiny paint brushes and slowly unearthed a hand-made, 17th – 18th century Dutch brick. That day, we spent hours uncovering a dozen more bricks and eventually a metal chimney strap that may date back to the late 1600s and possibly to one of the earliest settlements in my own home town. The remains of what appears to be a servants’ or enslaved family’s dwelling may not make most people’s heart pound, but my project helped me understand why I want to study history: the moment I pulled that first brick from the dirt, I realized that I was holding was a piece, albeit a small one, of the story of the United States.
Photo above – Chris Parker, center, with friends. Chris received an Eagle Scout Award for his project and will be attending Notre Dame in Fall 2018.
Read more about this discovery here
Jay Heritage Center at the Jay Estate 