Vol. 39 No. 3 AUGUST 2008

Taking Historyto New DepthsGround-penetrating radar unearthsaspects of 18th century life page 12

Taking Historyto New DepthsGround-penetrating radar unearthsaspects of 18th century life page 12

12 August 2008 / The Northern Light

How do you make an 18th centuryFreemason’s home

compatible and usable today? How do you take a nationallandmark and upgrade it for a modern world without de-stroying it? One thing you do is call on a 21st centuryMason.That is exactly what happened when the PaulRevere House in downtown Boston needed upgradingfor use by school groups and made handicap-accessiblewhich all needed to be done without disturbing the past.

Enter Dr. Allen Gontz, a coastal geologist and geo-physicist, assistant professor at the University of Massa-chusetts, and a member of Brownstone Lodge No. 666, inHershey, PA.

Bro. Paul Revere, who was Grand Master of theGrand Lodge of Massachusetts, participated at the verybeginnings of our nation and is a hero of song and poetry.He lived in a house that exists today and is visited bythousands each year.

The Paul Revere Memorial Association, which curatesthe American patriot’s home in the city’s North End, re-cently purchased a building adjacent to the property. Ac-cording to executive director, Nina Zannieri, LathropPlace, as the newly acquired property is called, is not initself historic. Built in 1835 as a two-family row house, itwas used as a boarding house for years. Its value comesfrom its proximity to the Revere House. She says “Thereis a huge demand for school programs, visitor orientation,and office space.”Much of that has taken place in anotherbuilding under the association’s care.ThePierce/Hitchborn House, built in 1711 has served wellbut the high traffic — and strong interest in Paul Revere— has been tough on the old structure. A new solutionwas needed and so a third building was purchased.Theorganization hopes to connect Lathrop Place with thePaul Revere House in a way that does not destroy orobscure the past.

Before any construction can take place, the associationis required by city, state, and federal regulations to assurethat no area with archaeological potential is disturbed.Zannieri says also that “as good historians, we want thestudy done.” She says a nice byproduct of the project isthat “we get a good sense of the property and are alertedto underground features that might be problematic.”

How can such an underground study be accomplishedwithout destroying the property? That is where AllenGontz and his co-workers come in.

Using high-resolution ground penetrating radarequipment Bro.Gontz and his team are able to performtheir archaeological work without any digging.Theirnon-invasive equipment sends radar signals into theground. Readings are interpreted by noting the changesin the radar waves caused by changes in the sediment en-countered. The findings are a result of the relationship ofnatural earth to disturbed earth.They pose the question,

One If by Land . . .By ALAN E. FOULDS, 32°

“How does it relate to its surroundings?”Gontzsays “Imagine the earth as a seven-layer chocolatetorte.Then imagine someone eating a sectionfrom the middle, and filling it back in with an-other type of cake. Every time a new type of layeris hit the system recognizes the change. If there isa disturbance in the layers — a different type ofpastry, in this example — the radar would pick upon that.”He also adds, “There is some art in-volved. There are no perfect answers.”The radarmay show changes, but without the interpretationof historians and experts of the time period theremight not be a way to tell what has been found.For example, finding a rounded hole lined withrock — probably cobblestones — indicates theexistence of a former well.The team would makethat educated guess because of an awareness ofwell construction in the era.On the other hand, ahole with an irregular shape more likely repre-sents a privy.He likened their work “to some-thing you would see on one of the CSI programs— with less gruesome findings, of course.”

Working on the project are a host of expertsranging from staff members at the Paul RevereHouse, to Boston’s city archaeologist, Ellen Berk-land, to surveyor,Michael Feldman. Also in-volved is StephenWilkes, project manager forHarry Feldman, Inc., the firm that donated use ofthe radar equipment.

He says a great part of their work is that it canbe accomplished without causing damage. “It isno more intrusive that running a lawn mowerover the property.”Nina Zannieri agrees. Shesays, “other than a couple of nails tapped in for

use as reference points, there is no sign that theywere there.”

Dr. Allen Gontz has an extensive backgroundin this field and also possesses an enthusiasm forthis and other similar projects that combine sci-ence, history, and even a little detective work.Hehas undergraduate degrees in applied geology, en-vironmental geology; a master’s degree in geolog-ical sciences, and a PhD. in earth science.Heheads up the geoSTRAT lab at the University ofMassachusetts.The multi-disciplinary group,originally comprising earth and environmentalsciences and anthropology, was established towork on such projects as the one at the RevereHouse. At the university he teaches such coursesas coastal processes, landscape change, glacier ge-ology, and recently added “Evolution of theBoston Harbor Islands” to the curriculum.

Gontz was able to integrate his class workwith the project.He brought his students to thesite to study the process of digging into the pastwithout digging into the ground and affordedthem the opportunity to examine some of thefindings.One facet of his course is the study ofcoastline changes, so the house presents anotherteaching opportunity.The city of Boston wasonce much smaller than today as bays, inlets andchannels have been filled to create more space.The Revere House is not near the ocean today,but at one time it sat just a couple of blocks fromthe shore line.

The Revere House project got underwaythrough a confluence of fortunate events. AllenGontz says that he became involved through “afriend of a friend of a friend.”His wife, LarissaFawkner, was director of marketing and commu-nity events with the Island Alliance, a non-profitgroup that supports the Boston Harbor IslandsNational Park. She was helping with an eventheaded up by the city archaeologist, Ellen Berk-land, who was, in turn, helping the Paul RevereMemorial Association with the planning for itsunderground survey, and the connection wasmade.

Meanwhile the surveying firm,Harry R. Feld-man, Inc., was doing work for a new downtownhotel and a high-rise office building. Its presi-dent, Michael A. Feldman, felt it was importantto give something back to the city and looked forhistoric sites where he could offer his services freeof charge.When he contacted Nina Zannieri atthe Paul Revere House, the timing was perfect.

The Northern Light / August 2008 13

Dr. AllenGontz andPaul RevereHouseexecutivedirector NinaZanneridiscuss thegroundpenetratingradar whilegraduatestudentChristopherMaiooperates theequipment.

Laser linescan image,courtesySteve Wilkesof Harry R.Feldman, Inc.Ground-penetrating radar,Dr. Allen Gontzof UMass-Boston.

She told him of the boundary survey that wasplanned, so he offered his equipment and expert-ise.

The survey team still has some site work tocomplete but, for the most part, the remainingtasks involve piecing everything together.The in-formation needs to be reviewed and interpreted.The final result will be a complete historicalrecord of what has existed on the propertythough all of its incarnations.

Zannieri concludes, “The relationship withDr.Gontz is great.He is absolutely enthusiasticabout his work.He is careful of the site as itstands today and respectful of its past.His fellowteam members spoke to the Paul Revere Housestaff of the potential teaching opportunities thisaffords. In short, he gets the importance of theproperty.” She also says their presence, with theirhigh-tech equipment and their excitement, is areminder that this is “a special place with a specialhistory.”

. . . Two Ifby Sea

Another project in the works involvesa Freemason looking to find a Freema-son — or “The Freemason” to be pre-cise. The Freemason was a Revolution-ary War era privateer which sailed fromMarblehead,MA.

On Sept. 30, 1779, while moored inthe harbor, the crew decided to fire theevening gun. Apparently, a spark ignitedthe barrel of gunpowder, the ship ex-ploded, and sank to the harbor floor.Bro.Gontz, together with Victor Mas-tone, archaeologist for the state, andRaymond H. Bates Jr., author of Ship-wrecks North of Boston, set out to findthe wreck.

Initially they hoped to secure a grantto help defray the costs of the quest, butwhen it did not come through, they

made other plans.Mastone explained, “Ray saidhe had a boat and offered to take us out to huntfor the brig.”Bates first learned of The Freema-son when he found references to its demise in alocal diary.

Victor Mastone continued to research the shipvia libraries and the Internet. Allen Gontz loadedthe tools of his trade on board and they sailedinto Marblehead Harbor. Seismic reflection pro-filing equipment uses sound to create an image ofthe structure of the sediment and objects con-tained in the sediment. Side scan sonar is used toproduce images on the sea floor.He explains,“They are much like air photos.”Finally, his ma-rine magnetometer senses objects that containiron alloys.

Mastone said that they have not yet found thewreck, but they have not given up.He said, “Weneed to look at Allen’s data and do more researchto narrow down the possible sites.”He said he isalso very interested in why it was called TheFreemason.

14 August 2008 / The Northern Light

Start with the first word. Add to it the letters of the second word.Then add or subtract the letters of the following words. Total theremaining letters and unscramble them to find a word associatedwith Masonry.

M A S O N I CWORD MATH

(HUMANITY) + (TREMENDOUS) –(TRUST) + (STREAMS) – (MANDATORY) +

(COFFEE) + (WINTER) – (CHIEF) +(STRAIN) – (SUNRISE) + (GROUNDHOG)– (MOTE) – (ANGER) + (PERCEIVE)– (THROWING) + (STORM) – (VOID) +(LAND) – (PRETEND) – (MUSCLE)

Clue for this puzzle appears on page 14. Answer from previous issue: LIGHT

=

He [Gontz] likened their work “to something youwould see on one of the CSI programs — with lessgruesome findings, of course.”