An 18th Century River Town in Indiana County: Results from Newport Site Archaeological Excavations

Speaker: Ben Ford, Department of Anthropology, Geospatial and Earth Sciences, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Founded just after the American Revolution, Newport Village was the first non-Native village in Indiana County and the site of the county’s first July 4 celebration. The original settlers placed the village to facilitate movement of people and goods from Pennsylvania’s early road system to its riverine highways. The town was largely abandoned by 1840, but contained several taverns, residences, and blacksmith shops, as well as infrastructure for loading boats on, and crossing over, the adjacent Conemaugh River. At its height, approximately 30 families lived in the village and were served by a store and post office. As an early settlement in western Pennsylvania, linked directly to the development of transportation and trade in the region, this site contains important information about the frontier period of the Midwest. This talk draws from ongoing archaeological excavations at the site to understand life in early Indiana County.