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The Secret Chamber On the western edge of the Central Island are the stone-slab treads of a sealed and abandoned staircase. Some have speculated these are related to a "tunnel" or "secret chamber" which folklore holds to have been on the north face of the North Corridor wall. Yet further mystery is added by one author's (Carboni n.d.) citation of a "hidden closet within a closet" in one of the upstairs rooms. All these observations have coalesced into a persistent rumor that runaway slaves were kept or imprisoned at Lambert House in a secret chamber in the cellar. There is a walled-up section visible on the north face of the North Corridor wall which is later in time than the adjoining portions, to judge from the arrangement of the stones and the dirt and stains on their surfaces. Our investigation, however, suggests an alternative explanation for these phenomena - as will emerge. The gratuitous association of underground rooms with the so-called "Underground Railway" for slaves is frequently encountered in local histories and requires no refutation here. An informant (Mrs. T. Merwin, pers. comm.), who was then Administrative Secretary for Wilton Historical Society, told me that Lambert Family records in possession of the society, indicated that Blacks lived in the house in Civil War times, thus making it doubly difficult to understand how or why they would have had other Blacks hidden in secret chambers in the cellar. One writer (Carboni n.d.) mentions handcuffs found in the cellar as further evidence yet for the presence of slaves in these underground places, but to me this raises the question of how or why these presumptive runaway slaves would still be in handcuffs this far north. Lastly, the tunnel reputed to run from the "secret chamber" north beneath the onetime so-called "slave house", formerly located 100 or more feet north of the main building (since moved during highway relocation) simply does not - and never did - exist. This I verified prior to 1972 when I was present as the "slave house" was moved from its foundations: there was no tunnel opening beneath it. Further, a resident in an upstairs apartment. at Lambert House (P. Knowles, pers. comm.) told me that concern over the persistent rumor of this tunnel had led him years ago to warn a contractor, who was paving a drive which passed between the main building and the slave house, about the hollow area beneath the road. The contractor, concerned lest his heavily-laden trucks break through when crossing over the site of the tunnel, probed the ground thoroughly with rods and concluded no tunnel existed. Nor did his trucks break into any opening. This same resident told me that many years ago, when his daughter played occasionally in the cellar, that she and some friends once squeezed through cracks in the foundation walls in the North Corridor and found the "secret chamber." It appears to have been a cavity behind the foundation walls. Knowles subsequently had the foundation stones re-laid and sealed the spot, effectively barring further investigation. However, as indicated, I think I know the "secret" of the "secret chamber:" I believe it was a wine cellar! Unit B/30, which lay at the base of the resealed portion of the wall, and the adjacent surface in the North Corridor several feet to the east, yielded numerous fragments of broken cut-glass, typical wine decanters, including several whole and several fragmentary stoppers (Fig. 3, b; Fig. 4).
Fig.
3. Miscellaneous glass fragments recovered in cellar at Lambert House. a)
Amethyst glass lid (?); b)
Glass decanter stopper; c) Fired porcelain decorative tiles. Scale = 1 in.
Fig.
4. Cut glass fragments recovered at Lambert House which most probably date
to the 19th century. A) Portion of bottle; b) Fragment of
stopper. Scale = 1 in. A further speculation on why there is a disturbed area outside the foundation wall at this locus is that it may have been the site of an earlier outside entryway. This seems unlikely though as the north side porch is directly above. Further observations relative to structural details are as follows: The higher ground level in the North Corridor, nearly 2 feet higher than the level in the East Chamber and in front of the fireplace, may be a spoil area where dirt was tossed when the East Chamber was dug. Interior stratification of the North Corridor floor did not clearly support this inference, but disturbances were many, and the texture of the stratigraphic fabric may have been obliterated long ago by the activities of the inhabitants. An apparent desideratum for students of old houses is whether foundation walls were laid in trenches. Perhaps this is a chronologically-sensitive observation. Upon excavating Trench A along the foundation wall beneath the southwest cellar window (Fig. 2), it became clear that the rough coursed walls were laid on a flat, unprepared surface and not as footings in a trench. The walls, in fact, go down little deeper than the floor level accumulations. A polychrome pearlware bowl fragment recovered in situ in Trench A has been placed (D. Rittner, pers. comm.) in the period 1780-1830 (Fig. 5).
Fig.
5. Bowl rim and attached portion of base. Polychrome Pearlware, ca.
1780-1830. From Trench A at Lambert House. Scale = 1 in.
Scattered, as on the north wall of the North Corridor and on the north wall of the South Corridor, I detected traces of lime mortars and lime-shell plasters. These mortar/ plasters were made from locally available marine species; oyster shell (Ostrea virginica) was particularly visible under hand-lens examination of the material. Liming the walls must have considerably brightened the cellar, and was perhaps done during the time the dwelling served as a tavern. Numerous green bottle fragments were found in the cellar, leading D. Rittner, to state that "the abundance of green bottle glass would suggest that the theory of this area serving as a tavern may be correct". A series of bottlenecks he identified (Fig. 6) seem too late by close to 75 or 80 years for the time of the tavern; however, 2 typical bottle "kicks" were dated at 1750 (not illustrated). Interestingly, the cellar may not have been a serving room of a tavern, as has been speculated: lack of buttons, and lack of kaolin pipe fragments, coins or other remains in quantity of the type to be anticipated in the vicinity of the fireplace may be negative evidence bolstering this inference.
Fig.
6. Bottle necks of a dark, green, irregular glass excavated at Lambert
House. a)1834+; b) and c) 1809; d) 1804; e)1810+; and f) 1810. Scale = 1
in. The large beehive oven no doubt saw daily use for baked goods; it is still filled with ashes and cinders. The
only other construction feature in the cellar warranting comment is the
well. This dug well was used as a water source for the inhabitants as late
as the 1950's, according to one informant. Currently the level rises close
to the cellar floor line during winter months, and then the well goes dry
in midsummer. It is 10 feet deep, measured from the top of the
rough-coursed stonewall around it. As yet it has not been examined for
artifacts. Excavational Units In all, 10 units were excavated. They include: eight 5 by 5 foot units, adapted in several cases to accommodate intrusive walls or other construction features (see Fig. 2), one test trench under the southwest window, and the excavation of the fireplace. Most artifacts occurred from 0-3 inches; the deepest were at minus 6 inches, where all units (save the fireplace) gave way to sterile soil. This narrow zone showed no significant or detectable stratigraphy. The only physical layering apparent anywhere was ash layers or ash lenses. A large deposit of ashes overspread the 3 units in the South Corridor (see Fig. 2). These were mainly wood & coal ash and coal clinkers and probably represent spills of ashes on the cellar floor in the vicinity of the downcomers during less-fastidious periods of housekeeping. Horizontal dispersions of artifacts within units showed no meaningful relations: Unit O/E had a lens about 12 inches in diameter containing shells of the boatshell (Crepidula) and some dried melon or Cucurbita seeds. Unit
O/D showed faint yellowish, perhaps ocherous, spots near the center and
irregular patchy stains probably from deteriorated or rotted organic
materials. Similar stains were noted in other units. Fireplace Unfortunately, this was water-logged. Material removed was thus a soggy, pulpy mass of ashes and clinkers, making control difficult. We did recover, however, fragments of a Mochaware pitcher or creamer (Figs. 7 & 8) dating between 1795-1890, (D. Rittner, pers. comm.).
Fig.
7. Annular pearlware mocha creamer from the Lambert House cellar,
1795-1890. Scale = 1 in.
Fig.
8. Pearlware mocha pitcher fragments from cellar fireplace at Lambert
House, 1795-1890. Scale = 1 in. The fireplace back, laid in fieldstone, met a brick course at 18 inches below the ground surface. The brick course, in turn, lay over yet another fieldstone course. This may reflect a builder idiosyncrasy, or it may reflect rebuilding or relaying activities in the hearth during its use. The firepit rested on subsoil. A quantity of rusted wrought, cut, and wire nails and miscellaneous ironmongery was found in the firepit - likely reflecting long use of scrap lumber, broken up boxes, etc. as fuel. one structural peculiarity was the fact the hearth was composed of fieldstone slabs raised several inches above the level of the surrounding dirt floor. The only apparent interpretation for this is that the upper, visible hearth when seen as we started, may have rested rather obscurely on a lower, earlier hearth. Neither horizontal nor vertical dispersions (in our narrow 6 inch column) were deemed significant throughout the cellar, though an analysis has been made to see if there were areas in the cellar which revealed specific activities. There is some tendency for more glass fragments (particularly cut glass and bottle stoppers) to occur in the vicinity of Unit B/30 near the "secret chamber." Marine shell fragments of oyster, clam, whelk, and boatshell tend to be more frequent in the South Corridor, and iron scrap, as noted, was densest in and near the fireplace. Artifacts Some of the more interesting and more chronologically-sensitive objects recovered will be cited. Special treatment will be accorded ceramics and glassware. Metal Typical items are shown in Fig. 9. Also inventoried under metal finds are a rusted mechanical toy; a cast metal toy soldier dating to the late 19th or early 20th century; rusted cast iron fragments found in the fireplace and thought to be from a distintegrated "fireback;" a thimble, bearing the name "Singer" around the perimeter; a hand-forged pothook, made from machine steel stock; several "sad irons;" a large woodworking chisel; a metal file; and an auger bit with screw-lead. Many machine-cut nails recovered by us were said by Rittner (pers. comm.) to postdate 1820.
Fig.
9. Selected metal artifacts recovered at Lambert House. A) Brass catch; b)
Brass clock key; c) Brass cabinet latch; d) Brass lock plate; and e)
Copper heel plate with heart design. Scale = 1 in.
Coins A Chinese coin known as a "cash" (H. Kaslove, pers. comm.), was recovered from the North Corridor, no exact provenience recorded. H. Kaslove has identified it as from the reign of the Emperor Chia Ch'ing (A.D. 1796-1821) during the Ch'ing Dynasty (A.D. 1644-1911). The reverse of the coin indicates it was struck at Peking by the Board of Public Works. The regnal dates obviously indicate the coin arrived at Lambert House sometime after 1796. The coin is not rare, being readily obtained through dealers today. Four ball clay pipestem fragments were recovered. No bowl portions with heelmarks permitting assignment to specific makers were found. Of the 4 stem fragments, D. Rittner (pers. comm.) found the following chronological range from bore-diameter: one fragment (LH 97) has a bore diameter of 4/64", permitting most probable assignment between 1750 and 1800; two pieces (LH 81) had bores of 5/64", permitting most probable assignment to the period 1710 to 1750. No analysis was offered on the fourth fragment. Clay
vessels and sherds are treated separately under the ceramics section.
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