Wake County Historical Society Draft 1.0 July 18, 2020

Dan Hopping

Issac Hunter Tavern Building

Survey and Artifact Recovery

Wake County Historical Society Project

Project Mission:

To recover as many artifacts from the Tavern site as possible for Dewitt Carolinas to display in the Midtown

Exchange Project.

July 2, 2020: The site was examined by Brennie Holloman and Dan Hopping for planning purposes. Many

artifacts have disappeared off the site in the last several Months. Dewitt Carolinas has agreed to provide labor

and a backhoe to help in the recovery of building artifacts. Dewitt had cleaned up the underbrush and debris

surrounding the site which made it easy to work in. Lots of shade and a breez.

The site on July 2nd

July 6, 2020: Belle Long, Dan Hopping and Butch Graves worked the site to clear brush and non Tavern

debris. The foundation piers were found and uncovered giving us a distinct outline of the building. These were

measured and the outline drawn up. The basic building is 16 x 16 feet with a rear shed room of 8 x 16 feet.

There is an attached part of the building that is the width of the basic building (16 feet) and is 8 feet deep.

The building was a ‘Salt Box’ style building of the mid 1700s. This is the basic shape measured from the

foundation piers. Small red flags were used at the foundation piers to outline the building and then more flags

were placed to make it better to visualize the tavern when compared to the photographs. The front of the building

is on a heading of 300 degrees. The Well is 33 yards to the east on a heading of 120 degrees. Standing inside

reveals that this is not a very large building. The photo on the left below is the line of foundation piers that

delineate the front of the building.

Shed Room

Chimney

Addition

Wake County Historical Society Draft 1.0 July 18, 2020

Dan Hopping

Butch Graves working with the trowel and Propointer

Gutters and downspout from the 1900s

These are the heart of pine that is all that is left of the original beams.

Many have original hand forged nails from the mid 1700s still in them.

Wake County Historical Society Draft 1.0 July 18, 2020

Dan Hopping

July 7, 2020

Dan Hopping met the Dewitt team at 7:30 am and we outlined the plan. Belle Long joined us and reviewed the

plan. The depression in front of the building was excavated and was determined that it was probably caused by a

blown over tree (as Belle had suggested originally). It was not a cistern. The pile of rocks near the chimney was

excavated and found to contain a great number of bricks and chimney rocks. Included were 1900s flue bricks that

lined the upper part on the chimney from after the building was moved. The rest of the brush and trees were

removed thanks to the skill of the backhoe operator. More flags were placed for visual affect.

This is looking south at the front of the building. The front door is on the right of the photo.

The line in the middle is the wall between the basic building and the addition on the left.

This is looking south down the West side of the building where the chimney was.

The front door is in the middle of the photo.

The rocks from the hearth and the bricks from the firebox along with the remains of the timbers were removed by

the Dewitt team to a storage unit just south of the site. A piece of pottery was recovered, cleaned and

photographed. The photos were sent to the NC Pottery Center and to archeologist, Ken Robinson at Wake

Forest University for identification and dating.

We recovered about seven pounds of nails, a hinge that was found by the front door, a smaller hinge that was

found by the window on the west side of the building and a pitch fork. The nails were bagged according to where

they were found. This indicated that the building seems to have fallen toward the front as though pulled down.

One account said the building was bulldozed in 1981, but maybe it was just pulled down with a tractor.

The metal items will have the active rust removed and will be sorted by age and location found.

Wake County Historical Society Draft 1.0 July 18, 2020

Dan Hopping

The rock pile before excavation

During excavation

After Excavation

Wake County Historical Society Draft 1.0 July 18, 2020

Dan Hopping

Some artifacts recovered

Hinge found by front door Pitchfork found by lean-to

Nail Recovery

Artifact Collection Station Some of the nails collected

When a building disintegrates into the ground over time in an area such as the NC Piedmont, the wood rots away

relatively quickly. This leaves only the nails, hinges and parts of the tin roof. Sometimes this is called a nail rain.

Even a small building can have thousands of nails of different ages representing the repairs performed over

centuries. The Isaac Hunter Tavern building was built in the 1760s during the French and Indian War. On

February 28th 1769 Isaac received his first License to operate an ordinary (tavern/Inn) in his dwelling place. The

building is reported to have been pulled down in 1981. In the 221 years the small building stood, it was constantly

repaired. The building served many purposes and many people over more than two centuries before it fell. For

the last thirty none years it has lain on the ground in the woods. It was long neglected and full of dry rot when it

fell over in 1981. Very little of the building is left in 2020. It has been picked over by souvenir hunters since its

location was published in the local media several years ago.

Wake County Historical Society Draft 1.0 July 18, 2020

Dan Hopping

Nails bagged by location found

Bill DiBenedetto picking nails off the magnetic sweeper

Wake County Historical Society Draft 1.0 July 18, 2020

Dan Hopping

Dan Hopping using a magnet Bill using a sifter

Nail sorting by age of nail Some nails from the mid 1700s

Cleaning the dirt and excess rust Nails in solution that attacks FeO

Wake County Historical Society Draft 1.0 July 18, 2020

Dan Hopping

Processed nails

A classic mid 1700s rose head with flattened tip

Hand forged rose head nails from mid 1700s, most with flattened tips from the front inside of the building

Early 1790 to 1880s cut nails

Wake County Historical Society Draft 1.0 July 18, 2020

Dan Hopping

The processing of the nails is very tedious and time

consuming. The nails are sorted first by pre 1880 and

after 1880. Then the pre 1880 nails are sorted by type

and age of nail. Each nail is cleaned of dirt and

excess rust. Batches of cleaned nails are put in a

solution that attacks the ferric oxide. This usually takes

two days and two batches of chemical. The Chemical

turns black when it has worked.

The older nails that seem to date from the 1760s were

found in the front inside and just outside the front of

the building. This is consistent with the building

collapsing toward the front (north). The roofing nails

were mixed with the shreds of the corrugated steel

roof and pieces of tar paper that were in front of the

building.

We basically found most of the types of nails shown in

the diagram on the left. We are currently researching

to determine which of the nails are from the Tavern

Period (1769 to about 1800).

Items that were not saved for conservation were:

Asphalt shingles and tarpaper from the 1900s

Gutters and roof cap from the 1900s

Downspout from the early 1900s

Chimney from the 1900s addition

Corrugated sheet metal roof covering (could be as early as 1850, but more likely the first half of 1900s)

Assorted trash that was not contemporary with the Tavern period

Modern window glass pieces

Anything from the nearby well or out buildings that show in the 1965 aerial photo

Many items have been taken by souvenir hunters in the last three years since the article pinpointing the site was

published in the N&O in 2017. Missing are the antique lightning rod fixtures, a downspout and many artifacts that

show in the article.