Custis Square archeological dig site is located on the corner of South Nassau Street and Francis Street. 
Working alongside John Custis’ previously discovered house, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Department of Archeology is onto its fourth year of investigating Custis’ gardens. 
Under three tents, participants in the Public Archeology Institute help field techs sift through shovel test pits for changes in soil and artifacts. 
50cm x 50cm shovel test pits are samples in which field techs figure out where they want to dig next and learn more about the soil. 
Two high schoolers work side by side in a sifting screen with samples pulled from a shovel test pit. 
Meghan, the project archeologist, is in charge of the site on a day-to-day basis. 
According to Jennifer Mcgee, “The changes of color in these piles of soil represent different periods in time and different types of soil, which help archaeologists date when artifacts may have been made.” 
Participants in the Public Archeology Institute get a taste of an archeological field tech’s life as they work on their hands and knees sifting through shovel test pits. 
Elizabeth Plank, a Lowell, Michigan, resident works alongside fellow high schoolers in the Public Archeology Institute. 
The dig site is completely open to the public. During working hours, visitors can walk the site to see the ten by ten meter cuttings, chat with the field techs and see archeology in action. 
Adam Macbeth, archeological field tech, sifts through soil samples pulled from the shovel test pit. 
The search for more fence post holes, remains and pathways leads to open test pits like this ten by ten meter cutting. Featured in this cutting are pressed earth pathways in the center of Custis’ property turning at an exact 90 degree angle. 
These pathways were discovered after selecting this specific location for a larger test site created with the help of an excavator. 
“People’s trash then, is our treasure now.” Macbeth demonstrates how to sift for important remains and artifacts, whilst still collecting the soil from each specific shovel test pit below. 
Macbeth holds out two machine-cut nail fragments, burned ironstone, fragments of pearlware ceramics, a piece of colorless glass and some olive green bottle glass, artifacts all found at the Custis Square site.
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — For the past four years, Custis Square has been dug, investigated and explored by the Colonial Williamsburg Department of Archeology.
On the corner of South Nassau Street and Francis Street, the public is welcome to walk up, see the archeological site and chat with the working archeological team. The site houses the original structure owned by John Custis IV was previously investigated in the 1960s.
“Overall on our project, we’re trying to identify what John Custis’ garden looked like, so we’re looking for any evidence of the fence lines, which we found one and we’ve got evidence of more fence lines going throughout the property.” said Jennifer Mcgee, archeological field tech.
The project in particular is looking into what is going on within the fence lined areas within Custis Square and where other gardens and structures may have been located as well, said Mcgee.
“We’ve got our high schoolers out here with the Public Archeology Institute today that are trying to learn a little more about archeology, get that hands-on experience all while helping us find where the posts may have been located.” said Mcgee, who has worked for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation for a little over a year.
In collaboration with The College of William and Mary and under the direction of Colonial Williamsburg Department of Archeology, the Public Archaeology Institute invited rising ninth through 12th graders to work alongside archaeologists for a few weeks over the summer and conduct field work on the Custis Square archaeological site.
“For the last few years now, I have been really interested in colonial history so it just looked like something I’d really enjoy doing and I really really enjoyed it last year, so now I’m back,” said Elizabeth Plank, a Lowell, Michigan, resident and two-time participant in the Public Archeology Institute.
Garden posts have been found in front of Custis’ house; the next question according to Mcgee is: Does it continue?
“We’ve got patterns throughout,” said Mcgee. “These post holes are popping up every eight feet apart, so we’re trying to figure out: is this the same time period, is this the same style of fence that we’ve identified as being here during John Custis’ time? Time to dig into it and find out.”
Adam Macbeth, archeological field tech, goes into depth about the work being done at the Custis Square Archeological site and the history behind Custis’ property.