Archaeologist Ellen Berkland gently brushed away the sediment in a hole beneath the front door of the Dorothy Quincy Homestead, revealing a hidden layer of slate stones, brick and mortar that she said could be the remains of a foundation laid during a renovation over 100 years ago. “It’s like peeling back the layers of an onion, except you never know what you’re going to find,” said Berkland. Berkland, who works for the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, is part of a team of local workers and volunteers who have been busy helping to restore the Dorothy Quincy Homestead over the past year and a half. The Homestead is a National Historic Landmark on Butler Road originally established by Edmund Quincy in 1686, and was a home for five generations of the Quincy family, including that of President John Quincy Adams. Today, it is a house museum owned by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts under the auspices of the Department of Conservation and Recreation, and is operated by the Colonial Dames of America.
Dorothy Quincy Homestead gets history restored
