Digging in to the past.
Cultural History
SUNY Potsdam Archaeological Field School at Heaven Hill Farm with Professor of Anthropology, Hadley Kruczek-Aaron
Since 2022, the Uihlein Foundation has partnered with archaeologists from SUNY Potsdam on an exciting multi-year project to uncover the rich history of Heaven Hill Farm. Under the direction of Dr. Hadley Kruczek-Aaron, students and community partners have excavated thousands of artifacts that will help us better understand what life was like for the farm’s 19th- and early 20th-century residents, employees, and visitors.
While the land’s more recent associations with the philanthropic Uihlein family are well known, the property’s earlier history and connection to other historically-significant individuals are not as well-recognized or understood. For example, portions of the land have been farmed by Henry and Ruth Brown Thompson, who was the daughter of abolitionist John Brown; Lyman and Anna Eppes, who moved to the region to be a part of Timbuctoo, a mid-19th-century Black farming settlement; Horatio and Amanda Hinckley, whose family built the main Heaven Hill farmhouse and whose daughter Abigail married abolitionist John Brown’s son Salmon; and Anna Newman who left her wealthy Philadelphia family to become a farmer, church leader, and philanthropist in North Elba.
Archaeology carried out at sites across the Uihlein land is designed to reveal details about how this diverse set of 19th-century Adirondackers responded to the challenges of their environment and to clarify how the landscape was used and changed over time. This work remains significant since little archaeological work has been done in the region and because these historical figures have received limited attention from writers and scholars, who have preferred to focus on better-known individuals and chapters in the region’s history. As a result, the data recovered by SUNY Potsdam archaeologists can help craft new narratives about Adirondack and American history. And, because public outreach and collaboration have been important components of the work, insights into the experiences of these past peoples have already been shared with community members, including teachers and schoolchildren.
The 2022 and 2024 field seasons focused on areas around the Hinckley-Newman farmhouse, and analysis of the information and artifacts recovered as part of that work is currently in progress at the SUNY Potsdam Archaeology Laboratory.
