The Miller farmhouse has sat in the middle of the Copicut Woods for nearly 200 years. Occupied from the 1830s until the 1920, the farmhouse eventually burned to the ground leaving only the stone foundation. That site became the site of an archeological dig organized by the The Trustees of Reservations in the Copicut Woods on October 17, 2009. Education Director Linton Harrington and independent archeologist Craig Chartier led a group of a dozen participants to the site and helped them find and identify dozens of buried artifacts from the farm site. Items from this dig and others will eventually be on display at the Fall River public library to illustrate the history of the area. The farm is in a portion of the City of Fall River and part of the 13,600 acre Bioreserve that surrounds it. Other heart-healthy events organized by the Trustees have included the cedar swamp, the Go Deep Walk, the Mowry Path, the Promised Land, a, trailbuilding walk, a cross-country ski trip, a walk through Interlachen, a stone wall walk, and a 13-mile Big Walk. Click here for archeology events. For directions or information on programs, please call 508.679.2115 x10 or e-mail them at bioreserve@ttor.org.

(Top row) Education Director Linton Harrington of Trustees of Reservations meets with the group at the Copicut Woods parking lot on Indiantown Road. (Top row, center) Archeologist Craig Chartier describes how the dig will be conducted with participants carefully digging down several inches into the soil and carefully looking for and recording any objects found. (Top row, right) Mr. Harrington displays an old metal bottle that was found on a previous dig to John Angula and Jeanette Mitchell. (Middle row, left and right) Marcia and Alex Pinkham from Berkley display ceramic pieces that they found. (Middle row, center) Mr. Chartier displays a trigger guard that he uncovered. (Bottom row, left and right) Nathan Harrington sorts through soil to find a handful of nails that survived the fire that destroyed the house in the 1920s. (Bottom row, center) Arthur Hancock of Fall River displays a piece of metal that he discovered in a pit near the house as Scott O'Neil looks on.