Archaeological Investigations at the Montgomery Cabin Site in Kenosha County

Robert F. Sasso, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Parkside

Abstract:
The Montgomery Cabin site represents an historically important early settlement era site in Somers Township, in northeastern Kenosha County. Trapper Jacob Montgomery and his family arrived here circa 1834, and remained for several years. Their cabin has often been described as the first Euro-American cabin constructed in the county. The site is situated in Petrifying Springs County Park, across from the campus of the University of WisconsinParkside. The site was first investigated ca. 1976 by the Kenosha County Archaeological Society as a county-funded Bicentennial project. Unfortunately, this avocational effort was marred by unanticipated problems, including site looting. Nonetheless, the KCAS work showed significant archaeological potential for the site. In 2013 and 2015, the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and the Kenosha Public Museum embarked on surveys and exploratory excavations to assess the general nature of archaeological deposits and contexts across the site. Surface collections, metal detector survey, shovel testing, and test excavations revealed a sizable refuse midden adjacent to the original Montgomery cabin, revealed both disturbed and intact contexts in the cabin area itself, and verified the existence of a second, later-dating cabin nearby that features intact deposits. This talk will illustrate what we have learned thus far about the history of the site and the contexts, what we now know about the 1976 investigations, and a good sample of the materials we encountered during the 2013-2015 fieldwork seasons.