By Staff
Wonders why morenot done in Bath
By CLAUD HODGES
Newsroom Manager
BATH — East Carolina University archaeology professor Charles Ewen thinks more should have been uncovered in Bath by now.
Over the past several years, some archaeological work has progressed; however, he said he looks forward to finding much more in the future that is heretofore unknown about Bath.
He was downright funny much of the time.
Ewen encouraged residents of Bath to be inquisitive about their surroundings.
Artifacts have been found by his team of archaeologists that can trace existence in Bath to the 1600s.
He said some Indian artifacts have shown up in his students’ findings; but it seems that the Indians were merely visitors.
His findings show that John Lawson did end up in the Bath area in the early 1700s after Lawson left Charleston, S.C., traveled west, then turned northward and eventually made it to the eastern shores of North Carolina.
Ewen said his students have found ballast stones, chimney bases and stoneware that can be traced to the 1700s.
Ewen said he thinks Bath was originally surveyed and planned to become a much larger place than it has become.
He said he doubts if the plans for its early growth were ever realized.
Ewen said he hopes to find much from activity in Bath occurring away from the Pamlico River in the formative days of Bath’s existence.
He said he hopes to find something of this.
He said most of what has been found in Bath has been found by his teams in the first couple of feet of ground.
Ewen said he wants to do as much as he can in Bath before developers take over.
Ewen said he is surprised that he has not found more so far in his studies of Bath because the developers have not really gotten started on building Bath for the future.
Ewen said he hopes to find much more in his archaeological digging of Bath and looks forward to the exploration.