{"id":560482,"date":"2023-05-23T16:29:11","date_gmt":"2023-05-23T20:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/?p=560482"},"modified":"2024-11-20T08:54:35","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T13:54:35","slug":"unearthing-the-history-of-bermudas-old-capital-560482","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/newscenter\/unearthing-the-history-of-bermudas-old-capital-560482\/","title":{"rendered":"Unearthing the history of Bermuda\u2019s old capital"},"content":{"rendered":"

Each spring, Rochester undergraduates work to unearth and preserve Bermuda\u2019s rich history.<\/h2>\n
\"Cover<\/a>
\nIn a new book, Rochester historian Michael Jarvis argues that Bermuda belongs at the center,<\/a> not the periphery, of the American colonial story.<\/div>\n

Eighteen University of Rochester<\/a> students traveled during the spring semester with history professor Michael Jarvis<\/a>, the director of the Smith\u2019s Island Archaeology Project<\/a>, to St. George\u2019s, the old capital of Bermuda. They were digging for clues under the flagstones of the historic Globe Hotel, built in 1699, to determine how this then-ambitiously large building on St. George\u2019s was constructed and had evolved. The team was also hoping to find undisturbed floor layers that could be used to study the enslaved Black household members who lived and worked at the Globe from 1700 to 1834.<\/p>\n

Excavations in four rooms revealed that an earlier renovation around 1909 had unfortunately destroyed the 18th-century floor layers within the cellar, says Jarvis. Yet they were surprised to discover that the building\u2019s walls rest on dirt rather than the usual bedrock and found a very early post hole \u201cgoing back to the dawn of settlement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Together with the Bermuda National Trust<\/a>, the Rochester team has been working on combined research projects, trying to better understand and document the island\u2019s rich history, including slavery and its role in the English colonization of America.<\/p>\n

\"Large
University of Rochester students spent spring break on archeological fieldwork in Bermuda, excavating some of the cellar rooms of the historic Globe Hotel on Bermuda\u2019s St. George\u2019s Island. (Photo: Charlotte Andrews, Bermuda National Trust)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Two
History majors Nora Culver \u201925 (left) and Paola Almendarez ’26 are excavating the foundation in the Porch Chamber of the historic Globe Hotel on Bermuda\u2019s St. George\u2019s Island. (Photo courtesy of Michael Jarvis)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
Historian Michael Jarvis and Skylar DiBlasi \u201925, an archaeology, technology, and historical structures major, found black charring on the packed floors under the cellar\u2019s flagstones of the historic Globe Hotel on St. George\u2019s Island, pointing to fire damage. The source, according to Jarvis, could be the 1909 hotel fire, or a fire in 1972 that destroyed a predecessor of the Globe\u2019s next-door neighbor, the Paradise Gift Shop. (Photo courtesy of Michael Jarvis)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During the dig, more than 250 Bermudian school children visited the site. To Jarvis, the team\u2019s work has a dual function: to unearth and preserve Bermuda\u2019s rich history on one hand, and to help \u201cplant the seeds of historical curiosity\u201d on the other.<\/p>\n

\"Large
Andrew Levin \u201923, an archaeology, technology, and historical structures major, gives local school children a tour of the latest excavations inside the cellars of the Globe Hotel in St. George\u2019s, Bermuda. (Photo courtesy of Michael Jarvis)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
Megan Perucca \u201925, an archaeology, technology, and historical structures major, shows archaeological finds, including pottery shards, to local school children at the historic Globe Hotel in St. George\u2019s, Bermuda. (Photo courtesy of Michael Jarvis)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cBermuda needs more hometown archaeologists to keep up with all the development and new building that\u2019s going on,\u201d says Jarvis, who hopes that some of the local visitors will grow up to join the archaeological efforts on the island.<\/p>\n