On Thursday, October 5, more than thirty residents gathered in the Meeting Room of the Acton Memorial Library and online for the first event honoring this year’s Archaeology Month, hosted by Friends of Pine Hawk. The speaker, former Town of Acton Health Director, Doug Halley, presented “From Pine Hawk to Trail Through Time.
Readers may wonder how a town’s Health Director became familiar with local archaeology. In 1998, Acton decided to build sewers in part of South Acton. For the location of the wastewater treatment plant, the town chose a site beside the Assabet River that had been purchased in anticipation of this use. Due to the reliance on federal funding, an archaeological assessment was required, so in December of 1999 several test pits were dug. The resultsindicated a significant archaeological find. Public Archaeology Laboratory (PAL) was hired for the assessment, which uncovered several hundred chipping debris pieces, 4 projectile points, a ceramic shard, and several fire pits. The oldest artifacts dated back 7000 years. Before being removed from the site for preservation, each item was mapped with its precise location both vertically and horizontally.
The Town did more than support the recovery and documentation of Native artifacts from this site,known as Pine Hawk, on the banks of the Assabet River. Acton citizens, town officials, and educators came together in 2002 to create the Friends of Pine Hawk. An informational display of several of the original artifacts was created, now housed at the Acton Memorial Library near the Circulation Desk. A program for the schools was created, including reproductions of the artifacts (currently housed at the Discovery Museum) and posters showing the story of the Pine Hawk setting, the dig, and the artifacts. Two videos about the project, one for a general audience and one aimed at young children, were also made. Acton’s efforts to educate the public about this rich find won a Historic Preservation Award from the Massachusetts Historic Commission. The site itself is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Halley also described another archaeologically significant site along Nashoba Brook in North Acton where the Town has added educational components to tell the Native and colonial history. These informational panels, kiosks and historic resources are collectively known as the Trail Through Time, a project spearheaded by Linda McElroy. The features include a stone chamber, a roof slab quarry, the Wheeler Homestead foundation and stone floor, the Robbins Mill (a grist mill), Native stone pile clusters, the site of other mills and a pencil factory, and the Old Road to Concord (cart path lines with stone walls). Work in the Nashoba Brook Conservation Area has included improvements to the sluice way, the construction of a foot bridge, and the reconstruction (by a master mason) of the stone chamber. For more information about this site, visit the Trail Through Time website and to learn about upcoming Friends of Pine Hawk events at Friends of Pine Hawk.
