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Canaan Historical Society looking for volunteers to process Colonial-era artifacts

Jun 09, 2021 5:45 am

Peter Flierl is reporting for The Columbia Paper the Canaan Historical Society is once again taking on archeological work related to the 18th century Warner Tavern in Canaan Center. Warner Tavern is famous as the place where men from The King's District signed the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain on June 24, 1776. The tavern stood on Warner Crossing Road not far from the intersection with current County Route 5 adjacent to the Canaan Historical Society’s Meeting House. The tavern was lost to fire in 1906. The Kings District was larger than present-day Canaan and encompassed the entire northeast corner of Columbia County, including New Lebanon, Austerlitz and parts of Chatham. A dig in 1998 at the Warner Tavern site was led by Steve Oberon, an archeologist and cultural consultant, with help from local volunteers, 16 Chatham 7th grade students and their teacher. The second stage of work has now begun, again under Oberon's direction. The Historical Society is looking for volunteers to help clean, wash, identify and repackage some of the artifacts from the original dig. Volunteers are needed to work on either June 12 or June 26. There will be two sessions each day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. To register, email Max Cane at canaanhistoricalsociety [at] gmail.com with a subject line ARCHEOLOGY. Include your name, cell phone, email address and when you prefer to work. Read the full story in The Columbia Paper.