The flat boat meanders up Otter Creek from the Ohio River, delivering supplies to a homestead that overlooks the creek. It sits atop a rock escarpment with a vantage point of the water, and any approaching "visitors." Before these early 1800's homesteaders, Native Americans lived on the same land, but the settlers probably didn't know that.
The landowners have money--they have root cellars, several outbuildings, a large house with two fireplaces, and a large barn with a rock foundation built into a hill. And they built a large brick or cut-stone cistern-- a holding tank built into the ground and lined with stone or brick and then covered with plaster that catches water off the buildings.
This isn't the set of a movie. Or pages from a historical novel--although it could be. This was life on many sections of Fort Knox property that has long since been forgotten. But like a painting in the works, these stories are slowly coming into focus thanks to Fort Knox's Cultural Resources Office and the archeologists who work there.
Dr. Criss Helmkamp, the Cultural Resources Division manager, is also an archeologist. He said what we see today is a large military installation. But before it was an Army post, in the not too distant past, it was property acquired through hundreds of privately owned homes and is rich in history that goes back to Native Americans in the Paleo-Indian period.
"These lands were the homes, and in many cases the source of livelihood, for thousands of people," he added. "We must not forget their sacrifices (and) by documenting these home places, farmsteads and small communities we preserve the memories of their lives and the contributions they made to our nation."
In the case of this property, it isn't just an interesting find of an overgrown homestead--there is likely some valuable history and culture associated with it.
The 768 acres at this location was one of the largest land purchases bought by the government in the 1940s. The site is believed to be the remains of the "Fitch Farm" originally owned and developed by Collins Fitch, explained Helmkamp. The farm is reported to have included the home, barns, icehouse, cistern and blacksmith shop. Fitch, who died at age 99 is buried on post in the Boone Cemetery. He was married to Lucy Jane Boone, the daughter of Enoch Boone--a brother of Squire Boone and nephew to Daniel Boone. Collins operated a store with Enoch at the mouth of Otter Creek and later became a judge in Meade County.
Helmkamp is working with contractors Christy and Jim Pritchard, who are senior archaeologists with Environmental Research Group, toward the preservation of area artifacts, history and culture.
The land overlooking Otter Creek is being studied to determine if it's eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, he continued. Technically places are considered if they have potential to reveal history or pre-history or are associated with an important person. In this case the site is quite possibly the Withers family homestead.
The group has found the old road bed that leads to the creek, the foundation for a large barn that was built into the side of a hill using large stone, the foundation for the house and the two fireplaces with which it was built, and the cellar--complete with stoned walls--in the main house and a separate building, possibly the kitchen.
They also found the old well pump, intact and still in place, with markings that indicate it was the type designed to hook onto a windmill so the water would pump up from a spring or well.
Through years of research the group knows this type of homestead can be dated to the early 1800s, at least, because of the way the foundations were constructed, the type of buildings constructed, and items they might find in what would have been the family trash pile. They also suspect this family had money because, as Christy pointed out, this property had several buildings on it and most properties did not include cellars because they were expensive to build.
And that is where archeology and conservation meet.
"Archaeology is the study of human lifeways," explained Christy. "Archaeologists study the landscape, land development, and how humans have utilized and manipulated the land for daily life, including the water, flora, fauna, and geological resources.
"In terms of conservation and preservation of the environment we know today, there is no better way to understand long-term human impact than to examine our relationship and exploitation of the land over the past 10,000 plus years."
She added that the relationship between cultural and environmental resources is complicated. It would be difficult to be thoughtful about the study of one without consideration for the other.
"Archaeology is a very effective way to research the long relationship of people with land," she added.
To help preserve our natural resources, our history and cultural backgrounds the Army, like all federal agencies, is required to inventory, evaluate and manage archaeological resources in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act. Archaeological resources are then protected under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act and other federal statutes.
"From an ethical standpoint, as managers of federal property we have a trust obligation to the American people to preserve and protect the nation's cultural resources," Helmkamp explained.
At the same time they were digging at the home site, they were also digging in what was a Native American site they found on the same property, located only yards from the main house. The Native American sites also must be evaluated and protected and there are several such areas on the installation.
The point that Christy makes is that the Indians in the prehistoric sites and the homesteaders in the late 1700s to mid-1900s each found uses for the same piece of land and in many instances reused what they found on the site.
"We are now at a time, however, where we can look back at the military history and use of the land," she noted. "As archaeologists studying the Fort Knox landscape, we often find that we are deciphering between early historic pioneer sites and early military use of that same site-- training groups repurposing those historic resources for their own use. Being resourceful is one of our (human's) greatest attributes. In a nutshell, archaeology is the study of that human attribute."
So where an early settler may have cut rock for pedestals and foundations for houses and outbuildings, the early military units to the area repurposed those earlier efforts for their buildings.
"This landscape has a rich history that is somewhat preserved within the boundaries of Fort Knox. While the land use history of Fort Knox includes intense logging, military training, and the development of the installation as it is today, there are many areas of the installation that are still well preserved," Christy added.
She also said that sites of particular sensitivity, such as all cemeteries and rock shelters are protected and buffered. Sites that are potentially eligible for inclusion to the National Register of Historic Places are given the research time and money needed to fully determine sound management plans.
Many of the local sites the Prichard's have worked over the last 15 years have been ones that were documented in 1979-80 by Nancy O'Malley, an archaeologist from the University of Kentucky. She identified a number of historic and prehistoric sites, which was much easier to locate at that time before the forest took over, and marked them for future investigation.
Today Helmkamp and his team take care to preserve any archeological findings from further investigating the efforts of O'Malley. Any artifacts, along with documents pertaining to the investigations, are eventually placed in permanent storage at the University of Louisville. The collections are available to scholars and other investigators. Collections from earlier years are curated at the University of Kentucky.
In fact, O'Malley is now an archaeologist with the Webb Museum at U.K., and in her role she has been able to see the years of work that followed on her initial survey and site recording at Fort Knox.
Since those first archeology studies in the 1970s, thousands of acres have been surveyed, Helmkamp said. Nearly 1,200 archaeological sites have been identified on the installation and of these about 200 require protection and further evaluation.
The findings of the archaeology team shows us how the impact of 10,000 years of human use has affected the land. Their discoveries show us how people before us lived and worked; their progression from lean-to shelters to cabins and finally houses; progression from foragers to farmers and industrialists; and how the land recovered after the use of each generation.
And, Helmkamp said, it helps us understand the history and culture of the people who came before us.
"These archaeological sites and the lives they commemorate are part of our commonwealth's and nation's heritage," he noted. "(And it's) a heritage the Army takes very seriously."
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