February 3- 9, 2005

cityspace

Digging Underground

by Kate Salute

Jill Smith is grinning and rubbing her hands together excitedly. She's standing outside of the Johnson House in Germantown, one of the primary stops of the Underground Railroad during the 1850s, where she is a docent. Specifically, she's looking at the "outbuilding," a former chicken coop where ex-slaves were once hidden and where excavation will soon begin. "Isn't it exciting?"

Until now, nothing publicly denoted Johnson House's place in history aside from the usual blue-and-gold historical marker. That will soon change thanks to a $8,995 Save Our History grant from the History Channel.

The entire 11th grade class (a total of 20 students) from Philadelphia Mennonite High School will soon conduct an exploratory archaeological study of the Johnson House's outbuilding as a part of their U.S. history class.

Partnering with PMHS in order to apply for the Save Our History grant was an easy decision for Johnson House considering that the Mennonite Historic Trust helped save the house from disrepair during the 1980s. The house is named for the Johnson family, abolitionists who belonged to groups like the Germantown Freedman's Aid Association and who harbored ex-slaves as they made their way north to freedom.

The Johnson House project was only one of 29 to be selected from a nationwide pool of 700. Grant projects ranged from "the preservation of a totem pole in Haines, Alaska, to the Johnson House, to a project with a Chinese-American museum in Los Angeles," explains Libby O'Connell, vice president of historical alliances at the History Channel.

For three weeks beginning in March, the PMHS class will begin excavations under the guidance of Michael George, head of the school's history department. "This is a unique opportunity in Philadelphia history," says George. "I've been in [this city] for four years now, and I'm really looking forward to learning more about the Underground Railroad firsthand."

Students will dig, preserve, catalog and display the recovered objects in a new exhibit inside the Johnson House and on a Web page.

"What would be a magical find would be directions from circa 1820," says David Young, director of Johnson House. However, all parties involved will be pleased to find anything. A similar site in New York City unearthed a set of symbols and drawings associated with West African culture. That said, all student discoveries, be they bottle shards, buttons or pieces of nail, will be preserved in Johnson House for years to come.

Don't worry, says Young. "We're gonna find stuff."