Excavating Saints’ Rest

Saints’ Rest was first erected in 1856. It is the second building constructed at Michigan State University and the first dormitory. The name, Saints’ Rest, was a nickname from the students to the building more commonly known as the ‘hall’ or ‘home’. It was named so after a religious devotional book by Richard Baxter, The Saints’ Everlasting Rest, which was first published circa 1649 and was required reading for the first class of MSU students. A three story building, it served as the primary dorm until 1871, when Williams Hall was built. Sadly, Saints’ Rest was poorly constructed and, in the winter of 1876, it burned down.

In 2005, excavations uncovered much of the northern portion of the structure as part of MSU’s Sesquicentennial. This dig was able to capture much of the last days of the building’s life- the cellar was full of brick from the collapsed building, there was charred wood beam, and the stoves from the different floors collapsed and stacked on top of each other. Due to the fact that it was winter break and that Williams was becoming more highly used, very few household artifacts were found. In 2007, more of the interior was investigated during a sidewalk realignment. In 2008, a refuse pit from the building was recovered during a tree-plating. These artifacts included ceramic whiteware, glass tumblers, and cut animal bone, all dating to the 1860s and 70s. The refuse pit was further excavated during 2009 during Grandparents University. In 2012 the northwest corner of the building was excavated during another sidewalk replacement project, and we were able to map a corner that had not been discovered previously.

This past week, Campus Archaeology got another chance to explore a new section of this historic building. Sidewalk removal and placement caused one walk above Saints’ Rest to be completely taken out and replaced with sod, and a new one was being placed in. The goal of this change in sidewalks was to protect the trees in the area, however it also allowed us the chance to explore the southern portions of the building. We opened up two trenches along the area where the new sidewalk was being placed, one in the north and one in the south. Shovel tests were done in between these areas.

In the northern trench, we uncovered almost 80 centimeters of pure brick. Some were burnt, most were in small pieces, and only a few were whole. As we slowly moved through the brick and soil, a tough task in the hot sun, we found that there was a distinct change in soil color about halfway through the trench. As we progressed, we found all the components (minus the wood) for a door including the hinges and handles, portions of a stove door, and large amounts of nails. At 86 centimeters down we hit a dark level of compact plaster- the floor of the basement. We carefully revealed the floor, and halfway through the trench it stopped. There was a section of bricks, and then the second half of the trench was compacted sand. We think perhaps we found the division between two rooms, one with a raised plaster floor and the other a sand floor.

The second trench to the south contained fairly high numbers of broken glass, whiteware, porcelain, metal, and even a complete spoon. However, as we got deeper around 40cm we found more brick and eventually hit an entire layer of brick that was stuck together in place with mortar. At first glance it looked like a patio or floor, but the bricks weren’t aligned correctly for that. Further digging we found that the bricks were in mortared sections, and had the appearance that they had been once upright instead of horizontal. In the eastern wall of the trench we found a pipe that ran the length of the trench through the bricks. It is highly likely this pipe was a chimney flue and the brick was the support for the chimney. It probably fell down during the fire or razing of the building, and was simply buried.

These two trenches have further helped us understand the layout and makeup of the building, and hopefully in the future we will be able to explore this southern area more!

Author: Katy Meyers Emery