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Site name: Royall House

Nearest town: Medford; State/country: Massachusetts; Type of site: British Governor's House; Date of site: 17th-19th centuries; Collaborators: Surveyed with help of students in the class "Archaeological Remote Sensing," Boston University.

Type of survey: Resistivity; Instrument: Geoscan Research RM-15; Prospection depth: 0.5 m; Sampling interval: 1 x 0.5 m and 0.5 x 0.5 m; Area surveyed: 60 x 80 m; Date of survey: 5/97 & fall/98.

Comments:The Royall House is a National Historic Landmark. The current property is a small portion of Governor John Winthrop's 600 acre grant obtained from the Crown in 1631. Isaac Royall Sr. brought his family and 20 slaves to the house from Antiqua in 1732, building the mansion and slave quarters. Believed to be Loyalists, they fled to England in 1775. General Stark used the house as his headquarters during the siege of Boston that year. The resistivity data reveal clear indications of landscaped garden features beneath the present paved walkways and trees, indicated in red. A number of highly resistant linear features are shown, probably former brick walkways, that suggest a formal, planned garden. Oval and circular features within also are apparent that may point to the locus of former flower beds and other garden features..

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(updated: 7/00)