"In 1638, Maryland provincial secretary John Lewger built the colonial equivalent of a McMansion, a two-story, four-room house that was doubtless the envy of his neighbors. It not only served as the Lewgers' home but also as the official assembly house for the colony, and it was thus the site of several well-documented episodes of the period's history. By the early 1700s it fell into neglect, was cannibalized for building materials, and nearly slipped from notice until the 1960s, when archaeologists attempted a first excavation. Others followed, and now the homestead is preserved as a partially excavated, partially reconstructed artifact enclosed within a modern museum. Walker focuses on the past and ongoing research that has brought the estate back to life, discussing the physical excavations and the search for documentary evidence that occasionally overlap with each other, much to the delight of investigators. Teens fascinated by archaeological fieldwork will appreciate Walker's inclusion not only of the dig but the reasoning behind many of the archaeologists' conclusions (often tentative and changeable) concerning use of space and artifacts. There are also plenty of good stories for history buffs, from the gruesome murder of a servant (likely a slave), to trials concerning deaths of neighboring Yaocomaco Indians at the hands of white settlers, to the occasion of the first-known vote cast by a person of African descent in colonies. Plentiful illustrations include photographs of the excavated sites, artifacts, and documents, as well as computer-generated reconstructions of the homestead at various points in its history.

A timeline, source notes, bibliography, and index are appended." --The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books.