Archaeological Discovery of the 1660s Jesuit Chapel and Priests’ House at Newtown

As part of its 350th anniversary commemoration of its founding, the Parish of St. Francis Xavier in Newtown, St. Mary’s County, commissioned an archaeological search for its 1660s chapel. The Environmental Archaeology Lab found it and vidence of a previously unsuspected house for the Jesuit fathers and lay brothers. The chapel contrasts with that found at St. Mary’s City and reconstructed by the Historic St. Mary’s City Commission. In this talk, the Lab will highlight how differences reveal aspects of religious intolerance and Catholic resistance in the County during the late 17th and early 18th centuries.