The Devil To Pay and No Pitch Hot: Archaeology at Baltimore's Ship Caulkers' Houses

The wooden buildings at 612 & 614 S. Wolfe Street were the homes of free African-American ship caulkers and their families during the first half of the 19th century, as well as tailors, laundresses, shopkeepers, and oyster shuckers. The houses represent a unique history of both African-American and white working-class history in 19th-century Baltimore, and the archaeology reveals details of 200 years of life at the household level in Fell’s Point. In the spring of 2019, the Herring Run Archaeology Project conducted excavations at the Caulkers’ Houses in Fell’s Point on behalf of the Society for the Preservation of Federal Hill and Fell’s Point. Archaeologists Lisa Kraus and Jason Shellenhamer will share what has been uncovered, discovered, and learned about the lives of those who inhabited the houses.



Lisa Kraus, Co-founder and Project Director of the Herring Run Archaeology Project, holds a Ph.D. in anthropology and historical archaeology from the University of Texas at Austin and completed her undergraduate degree in anthropology at the College of William and Mary. She has a particular interest in public archaeology, archaeology of the African Diaspora, and archaeology of the Chesapeake region. In addition to her volunteer work with the Herring Run Archaeology Project and her day job as an archaeologist with the Maryland Environmental Service & Maryland State Highway Administration, Lisa also serves as a co-curator of archaeology at the Natural History Society of Maryland.


Jason P. Shellenhamer, Co-founder and Project Director of the Herring Run Archaeology Project, completed his Master’s of Applied Anthropology at the University of Maryland in 2004. Prior to arriving in Maryland, he obtained his Bachelors of Arts degree from Franklin and Marshall College. Jason is currently the Senior Project Archaeologist at the Baltimore Headquarters of Rummel, Klepper & Kahl, LLP. His projects have included excavations at the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Historic Park, Antietam National Battlefield, the Peterson House at Ford’s Theatre National Historical Site, and the excavations of the Baltimore defenses in Patterson Park during the War of 1812. Mr. Shellenhamer also serves as the co-curator of archaeology at the Natural History Society of Maryland.