GEOARCHAEOLOGY AND POST COLONIAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAND USE HISTORY AT STRATFORD HALL PLANTATION, WESTMORELAND VIRGINIA

Stratford Hall is a historical site in Westmoreland County, Virginia. To gain a comprehensive understanding of agricultural activity spanning the past several hundred years, we employed stratigraphic and paleontologic techniques to develop a land use history for the agricultural estate. A short 1.85 m surface core from the Stratford Hall millpond was collected and analyzed for lithologic, total organic carbon (TOC), and palynological trends.

The basal Facies A (1.85 to 1.5 m) is characterized by organic rich mud with variable TOC that ranges from 1.47% to 1.82%.This facies yielded relatively high levels of disturbance weeds, including low spine Solidago (Asteracaea), Plantago, Rumex, and Old World cereal. Facies B (1.5-0.9 m) comprises sub rounded quartz sand and mud and relatively low TOC levels that range from 0.62% to 1.27%. Arboreal pollen increases in this facies such that Alnus (alder), Betula (birch), and Salix (willow) are relatively common. Facies C (0.9-0 m) is characterized by organic rich mud and sand and relatively high TOC levels that that range from 2.84% to 40.72%. Pollen populations are characterized by relative abundances of Carya (hickory) and Ilex (holly).

Our results indicate that the Stratford millpond was initially hydrologically closed when agricultural activity was intensive, which is supported by the relative abundance of disturbance weeds. The central facies indicates a time of abandonment where the millpond likely fell into disrepair, creating a hydrologically open swamp system where Alder populations flourished. During more recent times, the millpond has been restored and cultivated pollen species are relatively common.