AMTRAK’s High Speed Rail Program: New Haven to Boston, History and Historic Resources
In the year 2000, the National Railroad
Passenger Corporation (Amtrak), in association with the Federal Railroad
Administration (FRA), ushered in a new era of railroading in America with
the initiation of Acela regional high-speed rail service in the Northeast
Corridor. The centerpiece of the service is a fleet of ultramodern,
high-speed electric trains capable of attaining speeds up to 150 miles per
hour. A key component to the implementation of Acela service was the
electrification of the Northeast Corridor between New Haven, Connecticut and
Boston, Massachusetts. That section of the line is a descendant of four
early railroads that were consolidated into a single unit in 1893 by the New
York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad. The electrification project involved
the installation of an overhead catenary system composed of wires suspended
over the railroad tracks and supported by steel poles with cantilevered
arms; the construction of a number of electrical switching, paralleling, and
substations; a number of track improvements; and raising bridges or lowering
the tracks at 40 locations along the 156-mile route.
PAL was responsible for preparing a variety of mitigation materials required by stipulations contained in the memoranda of agreement for cultural resources among Amtrak, the FRA, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, and the State Historic Preservation Officers (SHPO) in three states. During the course of the project, PAL completed more than 30 architectural and archaeological investigations.
Annasnappet Pond 9000 Years in Carver, Massachusetts, Archaeology for the Route 44 Reconstruction Project
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PAL archaeologists, under contract with the
Massachusetts Highway Department, conducted a series of investigations,
culminating in a program of archaeological data recovery on sites
surrounding Annasnappet Pond, in Carver, Massachusetts. The research results
included discovery of the oldest ceremonial burial feature yet discovered in
southern New England.
The Archaeology of a Blackstone River Valley Mill House, A Pilot Preservation Partnership Project
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Recognizing the importance of the Blackstone
River valley to our history, the United States Congress, in 1986, created
the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor, declaring it
nationally significant. That significance is characterized by a unique
articulation of natural, historical, and cultural resources across 24
municipalities in two states, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The corridor
is funded through the National Park Service, but unlike traditional parks it
is not government owned, but managed by a combined public-private
partnership.
PAL was awarded a grant for a pilot preservation partnership bringing archaeology into the corridor. Under the supervision of PAL professional staff, more than 600 school children excavated the backyard of a mill worker’s house. The collected assemblage includes 10,448 cataloged artifacts. The program worked well and is recognized as a model project in applied archaeology and educational outreach.
History of Hydroelectric Development on the Deerfield and Connecticut Rivers
In 1903 Malcolm Greene
Chace and Henry Ingraham Harriman established Chace & Harriman, a company
that, in its many
incarnations over the course of the following decades, grew into one of the
largest electric utility companies in New England. In the half-century
between 1907 and 1957, the company and its successors built a series of 14
hydroelectric developments on the Connecticut and Deerfield rivers in
Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The
facilities were designed provide a reliable and less expensive alternative
to coal-produced steam power for industrial centers in Massachusetts and
Rhode Island and municipalities throughout New England. The history of
the companies that built these stations is intrinsically linked with broader
trends in the history of electricity, hydropower technology, and industrial
architecture in America. As such, the facilities together tell the
story of hydroelectric power from its late- nineteenth-century origins to
the present day.
In 1998, USGen New England, Inc., the current owner of the Deerfield River and Connecticut River Hydroelectric Projects, hired PAL to document the facilities in accordance with Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) standards. The documentation included a narrative overview that summarizes the history of development of the two hydroelectric systems and modified HABS/HAER format “narrative reports” for each development and each individual historic resource within the developments. Copies of the documentation were distributed to the State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPOs) in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, as well as a number of local repositories. As part of its ongoing effort to promote public education and interpretation of the significant historic properties under its jurisdiction, USGenNE has agreed to the publication of an illustrated version of the narrative history on PAL’s website.
Seven Thousand Years Along the Cape Cod Canal, An Archaeological Study
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The New England Division of the Army Corps of
Engineers, as part of a management plan for the future use of the Cape Cod
Canal property, enlisted PAL to locate and identify cultural resources
within the property. The PAL team of archaeologists, architectural
historians, and historic preservation planners undertook the survey and
inventory of the Cape Cod Canal in Bourne and Sandwich, Massachusetts. Five
prehistoric sites were identified representing a span of approximately 7,000
years of human occupation. The team of architectural historians examined,
photographed, and determined the age of each building and structure on the
property and prepared a summary of results for future use by the Corps.
Old Ways and New Ways, 7000 Years along the Old South Road: An Archaeological Study. Gay Head, Massachusetts
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The
Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head/Aquinnah, in compiling a master plan for the
development and use of its tribal trust lands, requested that an
archaeological survey be conducted to locate cultural resources on Tribal
Lands, and initiate appropriate action to identify, preserve, and
maintain
these resources. PAL was assisted by Dr. Kevin McBride of
the University of
Connecticut and historic researcher Dr. Kathleen Bragdon of the College of
William and Mary. During the fall and winter of 1991, the PAL team of
archaeologists undertook the task of locating and identifying archaeological
sites within Tribal Lands strung out along Old South Road in the
south-central portion of Aquinnah. A total of 29 archaeological sites was
identified, representing nearly 7,000 years of human occupation.
Archaeological Investigations at the Salem Neck Sewerage Plant Site a Prehistoric Site on Cat Cove, Salem, Massachusetts
Located on the shoreline of Salem Harbor, the Salem Neck Sewerage Plant Site was used by ancient Native Americans for more than 4000 years as a camp while they hunted, fished and collected shellfish. When this site became the location of a proposed sewage treatment plant, archaeological investigations were conducted to recover the important information it contained. These investigations were the first time a shell midden site in the Salem area had been systematically excavated. This educational report summarizes how the Salem Neck Sewerage Plant was excavated by archaeologists and studied to reconstruct many aspects of ancient lifeways within the coastal zone. The site yielded valuable new information such as the range of mammal, fish and shellfish that were food sources for Native Americans and how these people made stone tools and pottery vessels and disposed of shell, bone and other refuse. The information preserved within the Salem Neck Sewerage Plant Site provided an excellent record of how Native Americans adapted to the coastal zone environment of northeastern Massachusetts.
Reading the Land Massachusetts Heritage Landscapes: A Guide to Identification and Protection
PAL is pleased to announce that it's publication Reading the
Land, Massachusetts Heritage Landscapes: A Guide to Identification and
Protection, has won the APA 2004 Planning and Education Award. Reading
the Land is a preservation tool to assist communities in Massachusetts
with the identification, documentation, and preservation of their heritage
landscapes. The publication is the final product of the Heritage Landscape
Inventory Pilot Project for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental
Management, now the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). The study,
conducted by PAL, is the first of its kind in Massachusetts. It documents
a wide
range of heritage landscapes that define and reflect the history of
communities, in which they are located.
Heritage landscapes are those places and spaces that distinguish the character of a community. They are the result of human interaction with the natural resources of an area. Through the Heritage Landscape Inventory Pilot project, the DCR is aiming to increase awareness about the heritage landscapes, and help communities plan for their preservation.
The Heritage Landscape Inventory Pilot project began with a survey that involved 15 communities in southeast Massachusetts. It was structured to develop and refine through application a survey methodology that can now be utilized to document the wide range of different heritage landscape types found throughout Massachusetts. The primary components of the pilot project were Massachusetts Historical Commission Inventory forms documenting more than 75 heritage landscapes and a citizen’s guide.
Redware and Redcoats, A Popular Report on the Archaeology Performed in Charlestown, Massachusetts for the Central Artery North Reconstruction Project
PAL
archaeologists, under contract with the Massachusetts Highway Department,
conducted investigations as a planning element of the Central Artery North
Reconstruction project, in Boston. This comprehensive research project
offered a unique archaeological
perspective on sites ranging from a Native American camp to
Revolutionary War Period pottery production, to the material remains of the
Three Cranes Tavern.
Stone Bowls and Smoking Pipes a 5000 Year History. Archaeology and the New Phenix Avenue Bridge, Cranston, Rhode Island
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This educational report introduces students and the interested public to a study conducted for the Rhode Island Department of Transportation as part of the planning for a new bridge on Phenix Avenue, in Cranston. The Furnace Hill Brook was an important waterway for Native Americans who followed paths along its winding route from the uplands to the Pawtuxet River, and then to Narragansett Bay. This landscape was the homelands of the Narragansett Indian Tribe. As generations of Indians camped and hunted along this brook, they quarried nearby soapstone and made cooking bowls and smoking pipes. This booklet explains how the artifacts on this site were discovered and excavated. It demonstrates that every artifact tells its own story about the ancient past.