Archaeological Mitigation for the North Porch Restoration at the Wylie House Museum (12Mo1310), Bloomington, Monroe County, Indiana

Abstract

The Wylie House Museum (12Mol310) of Bloomington, IN was the resident of Indiana University's (IU) first president Andrew Wylie. The site is located in the SW ¼ of the NW¼ of Section 4, Township 8 North, Range I West in Monroe County It is currently a National Registry property (NR-0047, IHSSI 105-055-80110) and a museum managed by the IU Libraries. The ru Capital Planning and Facilities used heavy machinery to remove the sidewalk, concrete ramp, and concrete pad that constituted the North Porch in order to replace them with a more historically appropriate wooden ramp and porch. In response to these plans, archaeologists from IU's Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology (GBL) excavated four test units and eight excavation units and monitored the site during demolition (Permit# 2017039). This investigation was conducted to determine the archaeological significance of the area and to make recommendations for further archaeological mitigation. Upon recovering historic cultural materials, the GBL catalogued and analyzed all recovered data and artifacts. Only one possible feature was uncovered although many historic artifacts dating to the late 19th and early 20thcenturies were discovered as part of a historic A Horizon/yard midden. No further archaeological mitigation was recommended in advance of the construction of the new sidewalk, ramp, and stairs as part of the north porch restoration.