This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/SBC.2ACI/418 Message Board Post: Article from The Sunday Tribune in Philadelphia, Pa. on August 11, 2002. page 3-A "Slave's remains found in Va." MASON NECK, Va. - A worker digging at a home construction site uncovered the skeletal remains of an 18th century Black woman believed to be a slave belonging to the family of George Mason, who drafted the 1776 Virginia Declaration of Rights. The remains were found a half-mile from Mason's home, known as Gunston Hall. It was the first discovery of such a grave on what was once the family's vast land holdings in northern Virginia. Archaeologist, Mike Johnson said the remians date to 1820 or earlier. The woman was about 50 when she died, Johnson said, and thus might have belonged to Mason himself, who died in 1792. "We have very few slave artifacts or knowledge about slavery on Gunston," said Kevin Shupe, staff librarian at Gunston Hall. "Something that presents a link to that part of our history is pretty exciting." Mason is best known for his involvement with Virginia declaration, which contained many of the principles later incorporated by Thomas Jefferson into the Declaration of Independence. Johnson said there are probably more graves and artifacts at the wooded site. But it is unclear whether archaeologists will be allowed to search further because the land is privately owned. The discovery was made on July 25 by workers laying the foundation for an 8,000 square-foot home. Workers also uncovered handmade coffin nails and shirt buttons, leading Johnson and others to speculate that the woman may have been free when she died, since those would have been rare possessions for a slave. Johnson said the remains will be sent to the Smithsonian Institution for further study. Until now, no slave grave has been found on the numerous estates Mason owned, said Susan Borchardt, deputy director for collections and education at Gunston Hall, which currently comprises 550 acres. "It's our mission to tell people about the contributions George Mason made," she said. But it's also important for us to find out the history of those who lived, worked and died on the property." - (AP) *NOTE - Also with this article is a photo of a man's hand holding a piece of metal found by Lester Dove, of L.V. Dove and Son, an excavation company, " possibly from an old pot belly stove" near the site where remains of the 18th century woman was found near the manor at Gunston Hall on George Mason's plantation, south of Fort Belvoir in Fairfax Co. Virginia.