Greenwade's Mills

The Stansbury Site, an archeological site, is a large occupation area on the upper terrace of the Brazos River in Hill County, Texas, two miles upstream from the Whitney Dam. It was the site of the first aboriginal dwelling to be excavated in Central Texas and is now under at least fifty feet of water of Lake Whitney. Archeological investigations here in 1947 and 1950 by the Smithsonian Institution River Basin Surveys provided a small but significant assemblage of artifacts and structural features of both Indian and White origin. Six areas totaling 4,150 square feet were excavated to depths of two to four feet. Artifacts of Indian origin included ceramics, tobacco pipes, pigment, chipped-stone tools, ground-stone tools, bone tools, shell tools, and ornaments. Artifacts of English, Spanish, and French origin included ceramics, glassware, glass beads, gun parts, bullets, knives, metal arrow points, axes, kettle sherds, brass "jingles," and scrap metal. Features included four burials, a stone wall section, concentrations of broken bones, random postholes, the Greenwade home and outbuildings, and one rectangular aboriginal dwelling with postholes surrounding a compacted floor, a stratified central firepit, a short entryway, and five small exterior storage pits. No uniform stratigraphic profile could be established for the site, but stratigraphic positions of features and artifacts were quite informative.

Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.