WISHING GONDOLA JOE A SAFE & HAPPY VOYAGE!

I would like to give attention here to another worthy Erie Canal project. Joe Deverell, a Weedsport native,  has begun a 150 mile trip traveling the Erie Canal on a Venetian Gondola from Buffalo to Baldwinsville. I've never met Joe, but I knew his mother, Val who worked at the Weedsport Library. Val died in 2004 of Lou Gehrig's disease, and the trip is a tribute to her memory, and to help raise money for a treatment and cure of this devastating disease. Learn more about his trip and follow Joe on his journey at his website: Gondola Joe.  

DIG SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED!

It's done! We completed the dig today. It was a beautiful day on the site -- perfect weather to close out the three units. The highlight of the day was successfully excavating the wheel uncovered in Test Unit #3. We had another great turnout of volunteers to complete this part of the project. In a couple of months we will schedule a time to clean and archive the artifact collection for later exhibit. A report will be done and a surveyed map will be overlaid on a historic map of the site.  I'll update the blog with more pictues from today soon. In the meantime, here's an article by Sara Gantz who was on site today from our local newspaper, The Citizen.

http://www.auburnpub.com/articles/2009/09/26/latest_news/10latestnews.txt

There are so many people to thank who made this project successful. This whole idea started as the result of a grant the Montezuma Historical Society received through the Upstate History Alliance to hire a consultant to help with an Interpretative Plan. We met with Linda Norris, an interpretative consultant who suggested we consider doing an archaeology dig. Linda recently highlighted the Montezuma dig along with two other groups to demonstrate what made volunteerism work with these projects. Check out Linda's September 22 entry on her blog at the 

Uncataloged Museum.

WE'RE READY TO GO!

Attention Volunteers: 

If you are checking in here this morning , the sun is shining and we're ready to go. See you at the sight at 10 AM!

9/12/09 DIG CANCELLED

Due to weather conditions not looking favorable today and some volunteers unable to be available, we've decided to reschedule the dig for SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26TH AT 10 AM.

LATEST UPDATE FOR RESUMING DIG WORK ON 9/12/09

Plans are to resume our work tomorrow morning, September 12th, 10 AM at the Historic Four Canals' site. 

Weather conditions may not be favorable again this weekend. Mr. Babson and I will make a decision by 8:30 AM if we feel it's best to cancel.  I will post another update here tomorrow by 9:00 AM, and also do my best to contact by phone those who I know might be coming should we decide to cancel.

Artifacts Found

Some lively competition began to develop early on between the test unit sites. Everyone wanted their site to find something exciting and unexpected. Site #3 quickly came to a halt as they began to uncover a small spoke wheel. Detailed drawings and measurements were made and recorded. Click on the top two photos for a larger, more detailed view of the wheel.                  

Taking Cover From the Rain

Never fear…if you wait long enough in CNY, the rain will come, and come it did. We quickly covered up the sites with black plastic and headed over the bridge and back to a tent on the other side of the ditch to wait out the storm. We did this on Saturday and repeated it again on Sunday.  

Mike Riley, Stan Longyear and Bob Melvin listen to David Babson tell intriguing stories of his 35 years of experience as an archaeologist while we snacked and waited for the rain to end.                                                                                                                                                                    

Terry Warner and Andy Varga assist Anita Messina in covering Unit #3