Over the next several years, we will be examining a number of different archaeological sites. What makes Montpelier a wonderful property for surveys and excavations is its relative undisturbed condition. All of the sites we excavate have never been plowed–and most were abandoned in the 1840s, leaving the archaeological features in pristine condition.

This season we will be excavating the Blacksmith Shop complex at the Madison plantation. All of our current projects are part of a larger effort to interpret and reconstruct the lives of the enslaved community so it can be accessed by visitors.

The LEARN Archaeology Expedition program has been operating at Montpelier for a decade-and-a-half, with many of the same volunteers returning year after year. We are, however, keen to add new faces to the program. All of the scheduled programs are designed to give participants actual excavation experience on an archaeological site working side-by-side with trained professional archaeologists. We have a staff of six archaeologists who work with participants both in the lab and in the field, which means you have personal interaction with archaeological staff and this allows you to work on sensitive features, artifacts, and deposits that normally one would not get to handle. You are treated as a member of the research team and we step you through the entire excavation process. While you are here at Montpelier, you will be engaged in lectures, and take tours of various archaeological sites on the property.

You can learn about all of our LEARN Archaeology Expeditions at the following link.

We also host a month-long university archaeology field school. For more information on this, please see our field school web page.

For more information contact Melissa Kerrat dig@montpelier.org