Animal Bones, Dexter Household, 1790s

James Dexter would have been well paid as a coachman to a wealthy Philadelphia family. His family would have been able to afford the purchase of relatively expensive imported teaware and more costly cuts of meats, as revealed in the discovery of these bone fragments. The family’s sociocultural status would have allowed him to host meetings of the church building community and to serve refreshments on a table set in style suitable for the dignity of the occasion.

NPS photo

Title: Animal Bones, Dexter Household, 1790s
Date: 1790 - 1798
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Object Information: Animal bones
Repository: Independence National Historical Park

Description:
Archeologists recovered fragments of animal bones from the trash pit on the site of the James Oronoco Dexter household. From 1790 to 1798, James Oronoco Dexter, a free Black man, lived with nine other people in a small, rented house on North 5th Street, halfway between Arch and Race Streets. Dexter's household enjoyed a broad diet that included beef, lamb, pork, fish and poultry. A significant portion of the bones represented more costly kinds of cuts of meat. Archeologists also found the bones of pig's feet, evidence of a common component in the diet of enslaved people—possibly representing "comfort food" for the Dexter family. A founding member of the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, Dexter hosted the first meeting in his home in 1792 to arrange for the church's construction. The site is located directly adjacent to today's National Constitution Center.