What lies beneath? Artifacts from Tallahassee's past on view in the Courthouse

Next time you walk through downtown Tallahassee you will see familiar sights and new ones being created. But have you ever wondered what our town was like almost 200 years before our upcoming Bicentennial in 2024? A part of the answer lies directly beneath your feet. 

During construction of the new Leon County Courthouse in 1985 (the third one on this site), the Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research found archaeological remains, some going back to when Florida was a Territory (1821 to 1845). At that time Tallahassee was a rustic and wide open frontier town. The dig was carried out, even as construction was underway, through the cooperation and foresight of the Leon County Commission, the contractor, the BAR, and community volunteers. 

The excavation encountered several wells, including the original city well from 1830, cisterns, and trash heaps (the archaeologist’s delight). These contained, among other things, ceramics, bottles, even a cannon ball and a layer of still discernible manure from the early Peres Brokaw stable. The latter was not collected. The findings remind us of the individuals and businesses who played key roles in our community’s early development.  

In 1989, as the Leon County Library was under construction, archaeologists were able to gain insights into what went on at that site.

Projectile points and pottery date to a 1200 A.D. occupation. Nineteenth century remains were recovered giving clues to how non-wealthy Tallahasseeans lived. Researchers found a cistern (a pit for collecting rainwater), trash heaps and a well into which a horse had fallen. This accident may explain the need for a cistern.

Some finds were likely associated with the Leon Female Academy established in 1845. The Academy was one of the first recorded schools in Florida and was later incorporated into West Florida Seminary – an ancestor of Florida State University. The foundation of the parsonage of the 19th century St. James Colored Methodist Episcopal church, a prominent and enduring Tallahassee institution, was also found.

In 2017, an alert backhoe operator was digging a small divot in the parking lot behind where the old Union Bank now stands on Apalachee Parkway. He noticed some large and unusual clunky bricks with purple inclusions. Workers called in BAR archaeologist Dr. Paulette McFadden who identified a trash pit containing items from Washington Hall.

This inn, constructed between 1825 and 1828, belonged to Joseph Betton (name sound familiar?) and was later owned by Territorial Governor Richard Keith Call of The Grove. Washington Hall provided three meals and a spot on the floor for the princely sum of two dollars a day — and that was not even on a football weekend.

Just east of the log cabin Capitol, this inn also served as a courthouse and place for government and community meetings prior to construction of public buildings. The seeds of what was a few years later to become St. John’s Episcopal Church were sown here during religious services performed by Episcopal missionaries.

The Inn was later the starting point for the great fire of 1843 that devastated Tallahassee’s business district, setting back our economy and growth for decades. 

It is sometimes said that urban land that has been previously developed cannot yield meaningful archaeological information. But as the three examples above demonstrate, parcels overlain with fill or pavement can reveal “time capsules” such as wells, privies, pits and the like. Archaeologists can interpret these “features” and add paragraphs or even pages to our understanding of the past.

But if a site is not identified and studied before it is trucked to a landfill, that knowledge, which is a part of our area’s uncommonly rich history, is forever lost. The Leon County Commission is to be commended for their recent actions in supporting staff training in identification of archaeological remains. 

BAR has put together a small sample of the artifacts recovered from the Washington Hall and Courthouse sites which are on display just off the rotunda of the Leon County Courthouse. So, if you want to know what really lies beneath you should give it a look.

And, if you would like a bit larger window into early Tallahassee you can view McFadden’s illustrated article on the Panhandle Archaeological Society at Tallahassee’s (PAST) website. The group meets the first Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. at the Bureau of Archaelogical Research, 1001 deSoto Park Drive.

Lonnie Mann is with the Panhandle Archaeological Society.