Photos: Archaeologists excavating the midden north of New East.
The New East site contains archaeological remains associated with Steward’s Hall, one of the first buildings on campus. It was constructed in 1794 and served as the University Commons, or dining hall, until 1816. Steward’s Hall was located immediately south of where New East, built in 1858, now stands.
Investigations have failed to determine the exact location of Steward’s Hall; however, two archaeological contexts were found that likely are associated with the elusive building. Both discoveries resulted from monitoring by UNC archaeologists of construction activities to modernize campus infrastructure. In 1995 an abandoned well was discovered by a construction crew laying fiber-optic cable along the north side of Cameron Avenue.
The second context likely associated with Steward’s Hall was a buried layer of soil, or midden, that contained numerous artifacts from the early nineteenth-century. It was found in 2007 during archaeological testing ahead of utility line installation immediately north of New East. This midden likely formed as discarded trash accumulated in the backyard of Steward’s Hall.
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