Ancient well reveals gold

Ancient well reveals gold



By KATI BEXLEY
kati.bexley@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 03/06/08

City Archeologist Carl Halbirt struck gold Wednesday in more ways than one.

Halbirt unearthed two pieces of gold used for clothing decoration from a 1600s well on the Cathedral Parish School property on St. George Street in downtown St. Augustine. It's only the second time he's discovered gold during his 18 years of working in St. Augustine.

"The only other time was in a well in front of the Governor's House," said Mark Knight, city planning and building director. "It had to be someone pretty affluent (who lived on that property) to be throwing gold away in the 1600s."

The gold two pieces were used for clothing decoration. One was a gold pin likely used to pin things to a woman's dress, and the other was a decorative gold piece men might have worn on their jackets.

Halbirt, with the help of several volunteers, also gleaned many other discoveries from the dig, making the site one of his most valuable finds, said Knight.

Along with the well, shell remains of an old house were unearthed and a trash pit. The three digs show a family lived on the property, Halbirt said, and they also show a 20-foot corridor where the original St. George Street was likely located.

St. George Street runs in front of Cathedral Parish, but Halbirt believes the original street was 20 feet closer to the school.

Halbirt has found many old wells on sites throughout St. Augustine, but none quite like this.

"We've never found anything with this quantity of trash," he said. "There are shells, pottery, cow bones. All of these things have laid buried and forgotten for an excess of 350 years."

Halbirt believes the family who lived on the property removed the top of the well's barrel and then had a feast and threw that trash on top of the well before covering it up. Among the remains were the bones of a cow, including a jaw bone with teeth.

Halbirt teaches an archaeology class at First Coast Technical Institute, and many of his former students buzzed around the three digs sifting dirt for artifacts.

Elizabeth Gessner and Janet Fisher dusted off what used to be a brass shoe buckle.

"We've found all kinds of things like medal, pottery glass beads," Gessner said.

Cathedral Parish students bounced from the three digs to check out the finds.

"It's pretty cool teachers let us come out here and look at it," said eighth-grader Katie Jackson, 14. "It was pretty unexpected."

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