Photos: Students excavating within the basement
A second archaeological investigation of the Second President’s House occurred in August 2014, after construction activity to replace the driveway at the current UNC President’s House exposed the stone foundations and filled-in basement. This provided important information about the building’s dimensions and exact location– pieces of information lacking in written documents.
An exploratory trench was dug into the basement and a door lock and iron hinges were recovered from the brick rubble fill within the basement trench, and they likely came from the front door. At the top of the basement fill just north of the excavation trench, archaeologists recovered most all of the pieces of a cast iron parlor stove. The stove model was patented by Henry Stanley in 1845, so it likely was installed at about the time President Swain moved into the house.
3D Model of Exterior Door Lock
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