Graduation Year

2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

M.A.

Degree Name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Degree Granting Department

Anthropology

Major Professor

Nancy Marie White, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Robert H. Tykot, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Diane Wallman, Ph.D.

Keywords

Antebellum Florida, Enslaved Production, Gulf County, Nineteenth-Century Consumerism, Historic Archaeology, South Carolina, Southeastern United States

Abstract

From 1835-1842, the train depot at what is today the Depot Creek Depot site (8Gu199) served the historic town of St. Joseph in the Florida Panhandle. This town originated as a competitor to the city of Apalachicola in the cotton industry and grew into an economic boomtown. Imported goods arriving on ships in the Gulf of Mexico were delivered to the Depot Creek Depot by railway, and then were shipped up through Lake Wimico and into the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River System. Unfortunately, after 8 years of occupation, St. Joseph was destroyed by several hurricanes, a yellow fever epidemic, and fires resulting in its eventual abandonment. At Depot Creek Depot, a stoneware crockery collection representing shipped commodities was recovered underwater and loaned to USF by a generous collector for analysis and digital curation. This thesis investigates social and economic systems represented by these ceramic artifacts. It serves as a continuation of previous graduate research started by Chris N. Hunt, concerning the archaeology of the lost town of St. Joseph including the fancy transfer-print ceramics. In this work I turn attention to the plain utilitarian ceramics used not only by the elites, but also by the working class and enslaved people in St. Joseph. Research goals are to study this collection’s American origins, modest social contexts, and various production techniques.Analysis reveals details about the daily lives of workers, including enslaved persons, and their involvement in pottery production and their economic contributions to early Florida.

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