Archaeology for the Restoration of the McCarthy-Pope House, Clinton, Jones County, Georgia, 1978

In 1978, during the restoration of the McCarthy-Pope House in Clinton, Jones County, Georgia, archaeology supplemented preceding research. Four interpretive problems generated by restoration planning were identified by historical and architectural investigations. Solutions were tenuous, requiring investigation of other sources of information such as archaeological ones. Information about a second chimney, the location of a back door bay, and the contemporaneity of a shed room and front porch with the body of the house was sought. The problems all had assumed archaeological expressions. Each was investigated with results aiding the solution of the problems and the completion of restoration planning. The location and basal dimensions of a second chimney were ascertained. A stone pad for the stringer of a step frame was evidential of back door bay location, confirming architectural indications. A residual ground surface under the house extended beneath the shed room. No drip line or other features indicative of activities which may have preceded the shed room were found behind the body of the house. A drip line, in-conjunction with other evidence, along the front of the house demonstrated that the front porch was a later addition.