Short Term ‘Roxbury Unearthed’—

Historic Exhibit At Hodge Library

ROXBURY — “Roxbury Unearthed,” an exhibit of artifacts from several eras of Roxbury’s past, will be open to the public at Hodge Memorial Library, on North Street, on Sundays, September 16 and 23, from 1 to 4 pm. The Hodge Library is the former town library of Roxbury and is now a museum used for special events.

The exhibit reflects a small fraction of the past buried in the fields, the streams and even the walls of old houses in Roxbury.  Highlighting the exhibit are the “concealed shoes” that reveal the people of Roxbury past as superstitious, fearful of evil spirits in an unpredictable world.  Researchers believe that early residents in Europe and the United States, as they built their homes, often inserted certain possessions, such as an old shoe, into the walls before they were sealed off to protect the homes from evil. The Roxbury shoes, one of these rarely discovered artifacts, are believed to have been “buried” around 1850.

Native artifacts, dating back 3,000 years, present a greater challenge to the imagination than do the more common shards of china and glassware.  In an early Roxbury barely recognizable today, people sat sharpening stone tools, molding and decorating pottery, planning their hunts and their journeys.

All native artifacts in the exhibit were unearthed by the Connecticut State Archaeologist Dr Nicholas Bellantoni and his associates in an archaeological survey in an area close to the village center.

All the artifacts that came from North Street were discovered by Ashley Dirienzo, a young student archaeologist, not far from the Hodge Memorial Library itself. Because of the location of her find, and the public nature of the dinnerware and pottery now on exhibit, it is likely that these items were the refuse of inns or public houses.

On September 23 at 1 pm, Dr Lucianne Lavin, director of research at The Institute for American Indian Studies in Washington, will present a short lecture on the prehistoric artifact cache on display. Dr Lavin is also editor of The Archaeological Society of Connecticut Bulletin.

Hodge Memorial Library is handicapped accessible. Call the library at 860-350-2181 for information and directions.