ARCADIA MILL SITE TO HOST SUMMER 2009 UWF ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELD SCHOOL

PENSACOLA - West Florida Historic Preservation, Inc. and the University of West Florida Archaeology Institute have announced that part of the 2009 Archaeological Field School program will be held at the Arcadia Mill Archaeological Site. The 2009 summer field school at Arcadia marks a new era in the site's history and the archaeology of ethnicity, social structure and community organization in the antebellum south. The public is invited and encouraged to visit the site during the project for tours of the excavation and updates on the researchers' findings. The site will be open to the public during Arcadia's regular operating hours: Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

In addition, archaeological lab days will be held at Arcadia every Friday June 12 and run through July 31. Visitors can see artifacts from the dig and learn more about the activities of UWF's respected team of professional archaeologists and students. Students will undertake archaeological survey, testing and mapping in residential areas of the complex throughout the summer.

Guests to Arcadia will also be able to take part in tours of the previously excavated mill complex, visit the site museum and learn more about the history of Arcadia Mill through existing interpretive programming.

During its existence between 1817 and 1855, Arcadia was a thriving industrial village of mixed ethnicity, including many enslaved African-Americans, who built the facilities and labored in its mills. Arcadia included dozens of residences on the hills overlooking two lumber mills, a cotton textile mill, gristmill, blacksmith shop, communal well and one of Florida's earliest railroads.

West Florida Historic Preservation, Inc. is a direct support organization of the University of West Florida and operates Historic Pensacola Village, the T.T. Wentworth Jr. Florida State Museum, the Pensacola Historical Society Museum and the Arcadia Mill Archaeological Site.

For more information, contact Tim Roberts, Arcadia Mill site manager, at (850) 626-3084.

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