"Menard's Old House Opposite Kaskaskia"

Former Slave Quarters

Finiel's Map

Photograph of the Menard House

Menard House

Site Map

Shallow Trench

Stone and Mortar

Profile Wall Test 7

Vignette from an 1875 lithograph of Kaskaskia, Illinois depicting "Menards Old House Opposite Kaskaskia." The two buildings illustrated at the far right of the vignette are suspected to be the former slave quarters (Brink 1875).

Detail of one of the suspected slave dwellings. Note the central chimney, stone foundations, and double-pen character of the dwelling.

Location of the Menard House, as illustrated on the 1797-1798 de Finiel's map. This map was drawn just a few years before the Menard Home is believed to have been constructed. Significant features on the map include the town of Kaskaskia and the long-abandoned French fort on the bluff opposite the town. Although the map illustrates no houses on the east bank of the Kaskaskia River, historical accounts suggest that there was a dwelling(s) opposite the town during the eighteenth century. This is also suggested by the discovery of French-era faience in the east yard of the Menard Home.

Detail of circa 1870s photograph of the Pierre Menard House illustrating the corner of the suspected slave quarters (right).

View of the Pierre Menard House during the middle to late-nineteenth century. Note the removal of the western dormer. The east side yard immediately adjacent to the house is being used as a staging area for wagons and firewood. Note the relatively uniform slope along this area and its relative height to the adjacent builing. Today, this area appears to have a much different slope with a surface that is much higher in relationship to the building. As such, it appears that the side yard has received considerable amount of fill during the very late-nineteenth and/or early-twentieth centuries.

The present conditions of the Menard House.

Site map showing intrusions in east side yard of the Menard Home and locations of test units and shovel units excavated by Fever River Research in 1998. The water line trench surveyed by American Resource Group in 1994 is shown at the left-center of the figure.

View of the shallow trench feature encountered at the base of Test 5. The fill in this trench included brick, stone, and possible daubing, all of which are indicative of construction and/or demolition activity. It is possible that the trench represents either a drip line (potentially one associated with the southern of the two outbuildings illustrated in the 1875 vignette of the Menard Home) or the location of a mud sill.

View of the concentration of stone and mortar encountered near the base of Test 6. Although this stone was not in-situ, its linear character--coupled with the density of mortar between the stones--suggests that it may represent a collapsed pier or similar structural feature.

View of the west wall profile of Test 7. Note the deep character of the fills and the concentration of stone lying on top of the circa 1800-1890 ground surface.

West wall profile of Test 8.