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Site name: Mount Comfort Church

Nearest town: Fayetteville; State/country: Arkansas; Type of site: Historic Church; Date of site: 1840s-1863; Collaborators: Arkansas Archeological Survey; students of "Near Surface Prospection" class, University of Arkansas..

Comments: The Mount Comfort Church was constructed of brick in the 1840s. The Confederate newspaper The War Bulletin describes the Confederate Mount Comfort Hospital and the deaths of 12 men in January 1862. It likely served as one of the 14 field hospitals used by the Union after the Battle of Prairie Grove in December, 1862. One such building is noted as "the brick church," but unfortunately we don't know whether or not this is the Mount Comfort Church. We do know the building burned. Oral history relates that bricks from the building were salvaged by Union troops to build barracks in Fayetteville, probably in 1863 or 1864 when the town was being fortified. Test excavations by Jerry Hilliard of the Arkansas Archeological Survey revealed brick walls less than 35 cm deep, thousands of machine cut nails, all burned, and stove parts.

Type of survey: Resistivity; Instrument: Geoscan Research RM-15; Prospection depth: 0.5 m; Sampling interval: 0.5 x 0.5 m; Area surveyed: 1,200 m²; Dates of survey: 2000-2001.

Comments: The larger survey area (left) reveals the foundation of the historic church in the upper right area. A number of roads, tracks, and other features are also illustrated. A more detailed examination of the church area (right) shows its outline and interior support piers, all probably of more resistant brick. The right image is from a grid surveyed by project collaborator, Jami Lockhart, of the Arkansas Archeological Survey.

Type of survey: Ground penetrating radar; Instrument: Geophysical Survey Systems, Inc., SIR-2000; Prospection depth: 40 nS Range, about 1.5 m; Sampling interval: 0.5 x 0.02 m; Area surveyed: 15 x 17 m; Dates of survey: 3/01.

Comments: Thirty GPR profiles, each 0.5 m apart, were subjected to time slicing to produce plan graphics (left). Close inspection reveals clear evidence of the church foundation in the 8-16 nS time slice, with evidence of perhaps a walkway seen in the 0-8 nS time slice (right). Deeper slices (not illustrated) only showed bedrock noise below the church.

Type of survey: Magnetic gradiometry; Instrument: Geoscan Research FM-36 fluxgate gradiometer; Prospection depth: up to 1.5 m; Sampling interval: 0.5 x 0.125 m; Area surveyed: 400 m²; Dates of survey: 2/2001.

Comments: The basic shape of the structure can be seen in the data, probably due to the higher magnetic susceptibility of remnant bricks. The great number of dipoles are due to the large number of iron artifacts associated with the structure, mostly nails. The large anomalies probably reflect iron stove parts and other ferrous artifacts of great size.

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(updated: 10/01)