Highland
Historical Society

Highland County, VA

Est. 1847

Settled ca. 1745

P.O. Box 63

McDowell, VA 24458

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A Land Untouched
By Time

Because Highland County has remained relatively untouched by the building booms facing much of the rest of Virginia, many important historic and prehistoric archaeological sites in the county remain intact. Recognizing this and the importance of preserving the artifacts of Highland’s past, the Highland Historical Society established an archaeology committee in 2004. Chaired by board member Mike Wilke, the committee has been instrumental in uncovering several archaeological sites in the county as well as with increasing understanding of the architectural history of the Mansion House, which now houses the Highland Museum and Heritage Center. 

In the spring of 2004, members of the Highland Historical Society along with the Archaeological Society of Virginia (ASV), and James Madison University archaeology students and professor Carole Nash, conducted a survey of a 3,000-year-old Native American site near the village of McDowell. Objects uncovered from the site included Late Archaic projectile points, flaking debitage, hammer stones, fire cracked rock, and one earthenware pipe bowl, most likely dating to the 1800s.  The Highland Historical Society also recently initiated a survey of a side yard at Clover Creek Chapel using ground penetrating radar in cooperation with James Madison University.

The Highland Historical Society archaeology committee was also responsible for excavating the location of the Mansion House’s demolished front porch in order to determine the dimensions of the 1851 porch believe to be pictured in an 1880s photograph of the house. The site work verified that the porch in the 1880s photos was indeed the house’s original front porch. The Virginia Department of Historical Resources has since assigned an archaeological site number to the salvage work, and the committee is currently working to have the Mansion House listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Help Our Important Preservation Work Continue

The creation of an archaeology committee within a local historical society is a rare occurrence, and the Highland Historical Society hopes to continue to support archaeological investigations within the county.  The archaeology committee intends to continue studies of the Mansion House site in 2005 to identify the size and location of an exterior kitchen building that burned in the 1930s as well as the site of another no longer existing outbuilding.  The committee will also further investigate the pre-historic Native American site first studied in 2004.

To continue its preservation activities, however, the Highland Historical Society needs your support. Please consider joining us or providing the society a tax-deductible donation.  And if you know of a potentially important archaeological site within the county, contact the Historical Society. The Historical Society archaeology committee will perform an investigation of the site, record it with the Virginia Department of Historical Resources, and submit recommendations to the property owner. No site excavation will be undertaken without the property owner’s approval, and any artifacts discovered will be returned to the property owner after being recorded, photographed, and studied. The Highland County Historical Society appreciates the loan or donation of any historic artifacts to the Highland Museum and Heritage Center.

For more information….

To learn more about archaeology in Virginia, please visit the following organizations online:

The Archaeology Society of Virginia

The Virginia Department of Historic Resources

The Council of Virginia Archaeologists

The Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities