Did Joseph and Hannah Blair build this house? This site currently has an indeterminate date range, however further testing
will hopefully reveal this site as belonging to the Black Loyalist complex of sites. Very limited archaeological testing of the depression feature has not recovered any artifacts, though this
is not surprising given the slight amounts of artifacts retrieved from similar Black Loyalist sites at Birchtown. AkDi-26 is in close proximity to rock walls much like those
found near other Black Loyalist sites, as well as a dry streambed. The geometrically corrected and georeferenced Goulden Map shows the location of AkDi-26 to fall
within the bounds of a land grant labelled with the name "Joseph Blair." Joseph and his wife Hannah both appear in Carleton's Book of Negroes, as do Hannah's two sons. In nearby Shelburne, Reverend Dr. Walters of the Anglican
Christ Church, baptised "Peter, son of Joseph & Hanah Blair. Blks" on the 17th of August, 1788. Certainly more archaeological investigation should take place at this site to clearly determine its date
range. The ability to link an individual (who was not a politically prominent citizen) with a specific archaeological site is a tremendous accomplishment by any standards, but is a particularly immense accomplishment for Black Loyalist history. |
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