Boston digs history: Archeologists excavate Old City Hall

Just one dayinto a month-long dig at Old City Hall and Boston Latin School, Boston archeologists are unearthing parts of the city that have been lost for centuries.

Archeologists on Tuesday began the four-week digin the hopes of unearthing an important part of the Hub’s history –to re-locate the foundations of the 17th century Boston Latin’s Schoolmaster’s house and courtyard.

If successful, city officials said, it’s likely that they will find artifacts left from the schoolmasters and their families dating between 1645 and 1809.

“It is an exciting moment for the City of Boston to potentially unveil an important part of Boston’s history and a piece of the Freedom Trail,” said Mayor Marty Walsh.

Boston Archeologist Joseph Bagley is leading the dig with a team of volunteers in hopes of uncovering new pieces of history about the schoolmaster’s and their families as well as unveiling a part of the freedom trail. T Bagley the most exciting part of the dig is that archeologists are getting to dig in a public place, “it’s a chance to show people that Boston’s history isn’t done and there is more that can be discovered” said Bagley.

One volunteer archeologist, Sarah Keklak gushed about her excitement over the project.

“This is our opportunity to excavate a part of Boston history that has been untouched so long,” Keklak said. “We have found pieces of hand painted pottery, ceramics, and even bones already.”

Boston residents and tourists are welcomed to visit the site and have been surrounding the site since Tuesday to check out what’s being found and learn more about this piece of the city’s rich history.

Boston resident Chris Bergstromsaid she most enjoyed seeing the artifacts that were found.

“I’ve always been interested in the history of Boston, and a project like this where people can see the artifacts as they are being found and learn about what used to be here and how people lived in that time period,” said Bergstrom.

Tami Crawley, a Californian native visiting the city says that stumbled upon the dig site added to her exploration of Boston.

“I was here visiting the freedom trail and this is a great piece of first hand history.” She continued, “Anything they find from this time period is something that people will want to see and learn about.”

History buffs can follow the dig throughlive updates on the City Archaeology Program and Old City Hall social media pages including Facebook.