Fences were a necessary feature of the 17th-century landscape. Laws often mandated the standards for fence design and maintenance. Construction [unreadable] depended on the intended use.

Paling fences (picket fences) [unreadable] protected yards and vegetable gardens from animal intruders. Posts and pales were partly below ground and needed to be partly below ground and needed to be [unreadable].

Palisade fences were made of whole or split logs placed upright in a trench. Often though of as fortification, they were also part of the domestic landscape.

Stake and rider fences (zig-zag) could be [unreadable] in place or moved. This style was [unreadable] pastures, fields, and orchards.

Waule fencing (woven) provided tight [unreadable] keeping out even small animals. Although [unreadable] intensive, [unreadable] otherwise unusable materials.

[Captions:]

The [unreadable] Town Center area, there is archaeological evidence for multiple generations of fences dating back to the 17th century. Darkened soil reveals the location of postholes and trenches where palisade and paling fences once stood.

Not all animals were kept out by fences. In 1678, a Charles County planter was charged with shooting a neighbor's cow that regularly broke



into his orchard by using her horns to lift the rails from his poorly built fence.

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Early Signs of Industry
"...once the Metropolis"
Framing the Past
A Time of Troubles
Witness to History
From Slavery to Freedom
Fear of War, People of Peace
Reclaiming the Lost City
Maryland's First Capital
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