St. Ferdinand Church Complex
Buried under a layer of dirt and a minefield of decaying coffins, lie the roots of a city now retracing its colonial history.
With the help of volunteers and professional archaeologists, a group of Florissant residents hopes to uncover a landmark that historians say was the cultural crossroads of an 18th-century French settlement.
On September 6, 2006, archaeologists will resume the third and final phase of a three-year excavation at the Spanish Land Grant Park, a grassy, rolling field in Florissant. The fieldwork will be open for two weeks, Wednesdays through Sundays, from 9am until 5pm. The public is invited to stop by.
The crew is searching for the footprint of the original St. Ferdinand Catholic Church, built in 1789 and destroyed by fire 47 years later.
The three-year dig is the first archaeological excavation of a former French colonial settlement in the metropolitan area, says Joe Harl, chief investigator on the project with the Archaeological Research Center of St. Louis.
"It's not so much the objects, but what the objects tell us about the people, that's so fascinating," Harl says.
The first phase of the dig began in the Spring of 2004 using money the city of Florissant set aside for its Lewis & Clark celebration and from private fundraising. The crew has drawn on the help of volunteers and students interested in preserving Florissant's history.
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(photo by Colleen Crank