A Portrait of Puritan Life in Boston

 Archaeological excavations on this site revealed a stirring portrait of Puritan Life in Boston in 1660.
Imagine resident Katherine Nanny Naylor dressed in fine silk with lace trim, playing a game of bowles (lawn bowling). Katherine Nanny Naylor was a wealthy widow who, in 1671 divorced her second husband after accusing him of abuse and adultery. This was her home site where she lived until 1700. In addition to a lawn bowle and silk lace fragments, archaeologists recovered ceramics from Spain, Portugal, Germany, and England; Venetian glass; olive pits; coriander seeds; coconut shells; and seashells from the world's oceans illustrating the particularly cosmopolitan and international character of Boston in the 17th century.

 Interestingly, this stone inscription found in the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway in Boston by the North End describes a woman, Katherine Naylor, who was an independent widow, able to divorce her husband on her own will, a striking story of women's rights during the 17th century at the very start of Boston. I gained a greater appreciation for the colonial Boston that was more cosmopolitan than I would have guessed before.

 I doubt many people have noticed this rather obscure inscription in the middle of a bordering stone placement on the Greenway. After some research I found that the articles of linen and other artifacts had been found in a privy, (the outside toilet) that was sealed with clay, preserving these remnants to have been discovered today. (http://archive.archaeology.org/online/features/boston/)

Another interesting piece unrelated to the archaeological finding was this "Little Free Library" where people are able to take-out or add-in books.