FORT EDWARD, NEW YORK—A brass field writing kit has been unearthed at the site of an eighteenth-century house on an island in the Hudson River, according to a report in The Post Star. The house is thought to have been inhabited by British military officers during the French and Indian War. David Starbuck of Plymouth State University said this is the first time he has uncovered such a writing kit, which includes an inkpot and a long quill holder, at a military site in the region. The word “Barker,” etched on the quill holder, refers to a German company, he added. A metal spit for roasting meat in the fireplace, a lead ingot, an ax head, musket balls, cuff links, brass buttons and buckles, coins, a key, a pewter spoon, tobacco pipes, butchered animal bones, and a bone-handled fork and knife were also recovered from the structure’s dirt floor. For more on the excavations on Rogers Island, go to "Letter from Lake George: Exploring the Great Warpath."
