Archaeology at Woodland Plantation

In 2021, the 1811/Kid Ory Historic House Museum invited UNO Archaeology to begin an archaeological survey of Woodland Plantation. Ryan Gray from the Midlo Center worked with Kenetha Harrington frmo LSU and Rosanne Adderley from Tulane to launch a pilot study of the project. A team of UNO students and volunteers began a shovel test survey around the historic house site, recovering artifacts that dated throughout the period of occupation of this nationally significant property. Since Woodland was purchased by Joy and Jo Banner of The Descendants Project in 2024, UNO and the Midlo Center have continued their involvement with Woodland, and new Executive Director Sultana Harris has made preserving and documenting the site and its surrounding landscape a central component of planning for its future.

The exhibit featured here, which includes some of the artifacts found during the excavations, is the work of Tori Harris, a University of Chicago undergraduate who joined the UNO team over the Summer of 2025 in a small public archaeology project at Woodland.