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PRESS RELEASE FROM THE GROVER CLEVELAND BIRTHPLACE MEMORIAL SOCIETY, MARCH 1, 2012 Do You dig Grover Cleveland?: Doing History through archeology. “Do you dig Grover Cleveland?: Doing history through archeology” is the focus of the address to the Annual Conference of the Grover Cleveland Birthplace Memorial Association at the First Presbyterian Church at Caldwell at 9:30 on Sat. March 10, 2012. Dr. James Lee, of Hunter Research, New Jersey's leading cultural resource research firm, will present and discuss the process of surveying the grounds of the Grover Cleveland Birthplace and the findings he and his team dug from their ground sample trenches. Chris Bannon, the site's photographer, will supplement the talk with images taken during the process. For the first time the artifacts recovered and some of the equipment will be displayed for the public. The Annual Conference is held at the First Presbyterian Church at Caldwell one block from the Grover Cleveland Birthplace, a New Jersey state owned historic site. James Lee's address is followed by luncheon with the author and docented tours of the birthplace. The Conference is open to the public; a donation of $20.00 covers the events and luncheon as well as Mrs. Cleveland's famous coffee cake. Proceeds will support the conversion of the carriage house into a visitor center for the over 6000 visitors who tour the site annually. Advance registration via gcmuseum@gmail.com. is appreciated but reservations are accepted at the door. James Lee holds both a Masters and Resource Preservation degree and serves as the major field archeologist for Hunter Research. His specialty has been canal archeology but he has worked on many cultural sites including the Old Barracks, Morven, Old Bridge Landing and projects in New York, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland. “Although I see myself as the hands on field director, the research is guided and often shaped by the historical records we turn up before the shovels and sonar beams hit the ground.” The project at the Birthplace is to provide the bases for identifying where the outbuilding stood, the well, the footprint of the earlier Carriage house and perhaps the barns, and where the gardens were. The research will enable the Friends Organization and the state to interpret the site and the restoration of the Carriage House. Both the New Jersey Historic Trust and the Grover Cleveland Birthplace Memorial Association financed the project through matching grants. Local Boy Scout Alex Rosa from Troop 6, West Caldwell/Caldwell will be awarded the Archeology Merit Badge at the conference opening for his work on the dig. Troop 6 will provide the color guard for the ceremony. Hunter Research and James Lee often help scouts achieve this rather rare merit badge as well as provide archeological programs for elementary and secondary schools. The Grover Cleveland Birthplace is a New Jersey State Historic Site managed by the Division of Parks and Forestry on the Dept. of Environment. The Grover Cleveland Birthplace Memorial Association is New Jersey's oldest friends organization having formed in 1913 to preserve the birthplace. Hunter Research is an award winning cultural resource firm, capturing the First Annual Preservation Award for the Old Barracks in the 1990's and the 19th such award in 2009 David A. Cowell, President, Grover Cleveland Birthplace Memorial Assoc. 29 Brookside Avenue, Caldwell, N.J. 07006 973-226-1733 dcowell@drew.edu
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