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Richard P. Howe Jr. created and contributes to the site. He is the Register of Deeds for the Middlesex North District. Dick lives in Lowell. Please send him an email with any comments or suggestions about the site.
Tony Accardi is a contributor to richardhowe.com. He is the Assistant Register of Deeds for the Middlesex North District and formerly served on the Wilmington School Committee. Tony lives in Tewksbury.
Marie Sweeney is a contributor to richardhowe.com. She is chair of Greater Lowell Area Democrats (GLAD) and a member of the Democratic State Committee. Marie lives in Tewksbury.”
Paul Marion is a contributor to richardhowe.com. He is the director of Community and Cultural Affairs at University of Massachusetts Lowell, the founder of Loom Press, a poet and an author of several books.
August 18, 2010 at 9:21 am
The Little Dig – noted from Dave
Anyone stopping by Suffolk Street had to wonder what was going on. The three archaeologists from Ireland and the six diggers from UMass Lowell were melting under the summer sun. The nine of them were covered with dust from digging in the pits. But it was all worth it. Day Two hit the jackpot. Dozens of oyster shells, multitudes of hand-wrought nails, shards of brown glazed pottery and transfer ware, animal bones, and kid’s marbles were among the finds of the day. Visitors started dropping by, anxious to see the artifacts. The media was there too. The Lowell Sun, UMass Lowell alumni magazine, and Channel 4 news were there to document the event. If you saw the 5 o’clock news, you heard Dr. Donnelly sharing the vision of what the dig is about. The greatest find of the day was a clay pipe that is synonymous with the type used by Irish males.
At the end of the day the workers were assessing a new soil layer they found. Is it the remains of a floor from the Paddy Camps? Could it be rubble from construction of the church? Or could it be just a pile of rocks?
While all of this is exciting, the real work is still to come. Each and every piece is cataloged and needs to be identified. It’s a lot of paperwork, but all part of the process. Future plans are to share the findings with the wider community. This is all part of the Acre story and is just another piece being added to the puzzle of who we are.