Archeological Dig at the site of the Sanford Tavern

The extensive foundations of the Sanford Tavern, which stood next to the common from about 1798 until the 1840s, offered the most promising focus for an archeological excavation at Hawley’s town common. The Sons & Daughters of Hawley conducted an archeological dig in and around the site in the fall of 2011 and again in the fall of 2012. In the summer of 2014 SDH ran an archaeology field training school for middle and high school students at the same site. These programs were a joint effort of the Hawley Historical Commission, the Sons and Daughters of Hawley, and the Mohawk Trail Regional High School (MTRHS). They were funded by a K-12 Collaborative Education Project grant from MassHumanities, a grant from the Mary Lyon Foundation, and a Kickstarter Campaign.

During the first year of the program, Darren Elwell, a teacher at MTRHS, taught an elective course that introduced students to archeological methods as a method of historical investigation. John Sears provided background on the history of the Old Town Common and 19th century taverns. The students conducted field work at the site of the Sanford Tavern under the supervision of Aaron Miller, an archeologist who had recently completed his PhD. SDH repeated the project in 2012, this time with Ivan Grail as the teacher. Alexander Keim, a graduate student in archeology at Boston University, supervised the field work

In the summer of 2014 SDH organized a two-week summer archaeological field school with middle and high school students from around Franklin County. Ivan Grail was again the instructor from Mohawk, and Laura Masur, a graduate student from Boston University, served as the archaeologist.

These three digs yielded a collection of artifacts documenting the history of the tavern. The artifacts are now part of SDH’s historical collection.