2025 Excavation at the Col. Paul and Abra Wentworth House in Rollinsford, NH

Strawbery Banke Museum hosted an archaeological field school and lab methods school this summer. It was our first time taking students to the field since our work at the museum's Sherburne House in 2019! This year we are pleased to be working in partnership with the Association for Rollinsford Culture and History and Dr. Tad Baker, Professor of History at Salem State University. This summer's research has been focused on recovering resources at the original site of the c. 1701 Col. Paul Wentworth House in Rollinsford, NH.

photo of the Wentworth House by David J. Murray, ClearEyePhoto.com

This house was built for Colonel Paul Wentworth and his wife Abra Brown. Paul Wentworth owned a sawmill and worked as a lumber merchant in Rollinsford. (Paul was also a first cousin of Benning Wentworth from Portsmouth, governor of NH.) Paul Wentworth’s estate at the time of his death in 1748 included ownership of three mills on the Salmon Falls River, a large herd of 93 livestock, a well-furnished house with a library, and four enslaved people valued at 500 pounds. After Paul’s death, his nephew Colonel John Wentworth inherited the property. Although the land holdings of the Wentworth estate shrank during John’s ownership, John still maintained a large estate with livestock, land in nearby Dover, and five enslaved people. Frederick “Pete” Blodgett, a descendant of the Wentworth family, and his wife Alice, later disassembled and moved the Wentworth House to Dover, MA in 1936, where it was reconstructed by architect Frank Chouteau Brown. 

disassembling the house in 1936

In September 2002 the property owner Kenneth Rendell agreed to return the house to the Town of Rollinsford. The Wentworth House was disassembled and returned home to Rollinsford. In 2003 archaeologist Neill DePaoli directed excavations at the new site of the Wentworth House, which was part of the original 120-acre Wentworth property in the 18th century. That work ensured that the reconstruction of the house did not damage any cultural resources. The house was reassembled on a neighboring parcel of land and opened to the public in September 2005. 

The original site and foundation of the Wentworth House had never previously been excavated. We were interested in locating archaeological evidence of the original inhabitants of this house. On the property there was an outbuilding used as a Carriage House, and the upper story was described in documents as “Slave’s Quarters.” We are curious whether we can confirm this description through the presence of domestic materials (and perhaps artifacts specifically associated with enslaved Africans) around the outbuilding foundation.

group photo by David J. Murray, ClearEyePhoto.com

In early June we spent two weeks in the field and excavated 20 one-by-one meter units. We recovered thousands of artifacts related to the many people who lived on the property. We then returned to the lab at Strawbery Banke Museum with our students to process these artifacts. Over the next few weeks, we will be sharing the results of our students' research into the different types of ceramics and glass recovered from the site.