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Digging
for History at Old Washington
Mary L. Kwas
Foreword by Jay S. Miller
An uncommon view of an antebellum
town
“History, mystery almost solved, the separating of fact
from fiction, and archeological discoveries are revealed in
the lives of Abraham Block and Simon Sanders. Their stories
intertwine with the history of Washington, Arkansas, as they
all came of age on the Southwest Trail.”
—Jay S. Miller, From the Foreword
Positioned along the legendary Southwest Trail, the town of
Washington in Hempstead County in southwest Arkansas was a
thriving center of commerce, business, and county government
in the nineteenth century. Historical figures such as Davy
Crockett and Sam Houston passed through, and during the Civil
War, when the Federal troops occupied Little Rock, the Hempstead
County Courthouse in Washington served as the seat of state
government.
A prosperous town fully involved in the events and society
of the territorial, antebellum, Civil War, and Reconstruction
eras, Washington became in a way frozen in time by a series
of events including two fires, a tornado, and being bypassed
by the railroad in 1874. Now an Arkansas State Park and National
Historic Landmark, Washington has been studied by the Arkansas
Archeological Survey over the past twenty-five years.
Digging for History at Old Washington joins the historical
record with archaeological findings such as uncovered construction
details, evidence of lost buildings, and remnants of everyday
objects. Of particular interest are the homes of Abraham Block,
a Jewish merchant originally from New Orleans, and Simon Sanders
from North Carolina, who became the town’s county clerk.
The public and private lives of the Block and Sanders families
provide a fascinating look at an antebellum town at the height
of its prosperity.
Mary L. Kwas
is a research associate for the Arkansas Archeological Survey
and has worked for the survey since 1996. She is the recipient
of the 2007 Presidential Recognition Award from the Society
for American Archaeology.
Jay S. Miller
is Administrator of Program Services for Arkansas State Parks.
February
8 1/2 x 10 1/2, 170 pages, 79 color photographs, 5 maps, index
$34.95 (s) cloth
ISBN 978-1-55728-898-1 | 1-55728-898-4
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