October 2026 Newsletter

Hello Everyone,

The Morgan Chapter excavations were well attended and great fun. Though fall arrived with some heavy rains, they did not cause any issues with the two excavations. The Chapter spent one weekend in Bristol at the Codding's Mill site. We were joined by members of the Bristol Hills Historical Society and descendants of Stephen Codding's family. Hank Codding drove up from Long Island and spent a lot of time talking to everyone about visiting his grandparents in Bristol every summer and shared memories of the community of when he grew up. It was his donation of land across from the mill site that created Patriot Park. The excavation revealed two walls constructed of distinct materials clearly dating to different buildings and time periods. We recovered some interesting architectural artifacts including the keystone for an arch, a brass door handle, and large pieces of hardware. Aside from those, there were few artifacts which were limited to nails, brick, mortar and window glass. The first mill was built by 1815 by Timothy Wilder and the second was in place by 1851. Based on the appearance on what found, it appears the foundations of two structures remain.

A weathered stone arch keystone lying on gravel and grass — Fig. 1 Keystone from an arch Larry Naylor

Two hand forged iron nails of different sizes beside a centimeter scale — Fig. 2 Barn hardware Ed Harding

An excavation unit showing the stone foundation of the south wall, with a tape measure and scale — Fig. 3 South wall Larry Naylor

Fig. 4 North wall Larry Naylor

The second Morgan Chapter excavation took place at the Clark Barn site in Penfield, in collaboration with the town Recreation Department. There were ten registrants, nine Chapter members, Anna Jarvis, who works for the Rec department, and her husband Mike Jarvis from the University of Rochester, who took part in the excavation. Shovel tests were excavated in and around the former barn. Though the site is heavily disturbed from the collapse of the barn, artifacts were found associated with its useful life as an agricultural structure. And, as has been the case on several digs, one shovel test uncovered an important find at the end of the day. A structure was located on the south of the barn foundation with a brick floor. Morgan Chapter members also visited the site in the afternoon. The location was convenient for many of our members. This has the Board considering shifting our future efforts to Penfield as it would benefit the membership.

We have a full program for the coming year. In November, Michael Tucker, Drone of Arc Aerial Consultant, will present a talk on the use of AI in archaeology. Mike used the drone imagery from the Codding's Mill excavation to generate plan views of the walls and a profile of the north wall. We were very impressed. This will be an eye-opening talk. November 10, 7pm Pittsford Rec Room 18.

There are no scheduled talks for December or January. The speakers in February and March will be Mike Jarvis and John Caterino. Mike will speak about his work as an archaeologist and John will speak about the impact of current legislation on his work as a town planner.

In April there will be a visit to the Forsyth-Warren Tavern Living History Farm & Museum in Lockport. Amy Codding, who spent the day digging at the mill site with us, suggested the visit. She works as a re-enactor at the tavern. This will be an organized trip on April 10th. More details will follow. We appreciate feedback on whether we should car-pool or hire a couple of 8 passenger vans. Please send the chapter a note with your thoughts on this.

Everyone should have received a notice of the upcoming election. If you wish to run for a Board or officer's position, send the chapter a note. We welcome anyone to join the board, please consider running. The ballot will go out in early November.

Sissie Pipes,
Morgan Chapter President