City of Alexandria
On a winter day in late 2015, archaeologists unearthed an exciting discovery on Alexandria’s waterfront — a 50-foot, 18th-century ship buried along the Potomac River shoreline.
The excitement hasn’t slowed. This year, archaeologists found the remains of three more ships just south of the first discovery, all most likely from the 18th century.
The nautical finds have kept City Archaeologist Eleanor Breen busy, to say the least.
Eleanor Breen
Breen, a Northern Virginia native, oversees excavations in the City of Alexandria. A city code requires developers to hire archaeologists to investigate before doing construction on land that could contain buried sites with historical significance. Archaeologists from Thunderbird Archaeology discovered the first ship at the construction site of the Hotel Indigo at 220 S. Union Street.
The three other ships were unearthed at the site of the new Robinson Landing, under development by EYA. After the third ship was discovered at that site, Breen said, “The combination of Revolutionary War-era ships, early building foundations, and thousands of other artifacts makes Robinson Landing one of the most archaeologically significant sites in Virginia.”
One memorable moment of the excavations came when preparing to excavate the most recent ship, which went into the ground sometime before 1798, Breen said. Taking the ship apart in layers, the archaeologists found the keel of the ship was in “incredible shape” and constructed by a single piece of wood, Breen said.
“That’s pretty amazing to see — it’s one 43-foot long piece of ship,” said Breen, who moved into a permanent role as city archaeologist in April. “It’s a tangible piece of Alexandria’s maritime heritage.”
Archaeologists found another Alexandria historical artifact during the Hotel Indigo excavation: John Carlyle’s 1755 public warehouse.
Breen, 41, got her start in archaeology at a young age, doing volunteer archaeology work in high school for Fairfax County and Mount Vernon.
“It’s easy to love history and archaeology when you grow up in Virginia,” she said. Breen has anthropology degrees from College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, the University of Massachusetts in Boston, and her Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Before Breen became Alexandria’s archaeologist, she worked for Mount Vernon for more than a decade. There, she excavated President George Washington’s whiskey distillery.
Alexandria, which was founded in 1749, hired its first city archaeologist in 1977. It is one of the few U.S. cities with one, Breen said. City officials created the position after citizens started a grassroots effort to preserve historical artifacts found locally. “It’s nationally recognized how historic Alexandria is,” she said.
Alexandria now has a staff of five archaeologists and an extensive network of volunteers and interns. Hundreds of volunteers put in hours at the city’s museums and lab, she said. Breen directs the Alexandria Archaeology Museum, which is on the third floor of the Torpedo Factory Art Center. She also leads the team of staff archaeologists and educators, and she works with private archaeologists and developers to protect artifacts.
Aspiring archaeologists should get as much hands-on experience as they can to gain practical experience and skills, Breen advises.
“Archaeology is a lot about being able to recognize and read the soil,” said. “The more you do that, the better.”
Breen likes her work in Alexandria. In particular, she likes that she can talk to all sorts of people about what’s found on digs. She likes sharing the artifacts with residents and visitors in the museum and on the city’s website.
The biggest challenge (but the most interesting part) of her work is that Alexandria has multiple archaeological contract projects, Breen said.
“We switch gears a lot,” she said. “One site will be from the 18th century and another will be from the 19th century.”
The ship discovered at the Hotel Indigo site in late 2015 was shipped to the Conservation Research Laboratory at Texas A&M University for stabilization. The ship will return to Alexandria for exhibit or storage. The city is still working out the details of where it and the other three ships will go, Breen said.
The city is raising money to preserve the ships. Donations can be made at shop.alexandriava.gov (search for Save Our Ship).
