Traces of a Mining Town Found in Alabama

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA—Archaeologist Cheryl Dawley of Red Mountain Park, and curator Anne Forschler-Tarrasch and conservator Margaret Burnham of the Birmingham Museum of Art, are working together to investigate a mining community that was occupied from about 1880 to 1927. Documents have helped Dawley locate the miners’ homes. “They destroyed many of the buildings for tax purposed. A lot of it has been scattered, but we can still find different areas where there’s a good footprint and we can dig down and see what belonged to a particular building,” she said. The have also found English pottery, a piece of German porcelain, and a doll part. The settlement may even have housed African-Americans one generation removed from slavery. “It was very transient,” Dawley added.