Historic Structures/Cultural Landscape Report: The Carty-Miller House 

12606 Catoctin Furnace Rd, Thurmont, MD 

Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory
Report 2025/13
The Tree-Ring Dating of the Carty-Miller House at Catoctin Furnace, Thurmont, Maryland

by Michael J. Worthington and Jane I. Seiter

The Carty-Miller House is beginning to reveal some of its secrets including its probable construction date during or just following the winter of 1820/1. 

Six white oak timbers provided felling dates of the summer of 1816, the winter of 1816/7, the winter of 1819/20, and the winter of 1820/1. The range of dates suggests that the timbers were cut over a period of several years and stockpiled in anticipation of future construction, with the Carty-Miller House being constructed in the winter of 1820/1 or shortly thereafter.

Three other workers’ houses at Catoctin Furnace—the Forgeman’s House, the Anderson House, and the Hoke House—have also been successfully dated by dendrochronology, providing precise felling dates for the timbers used to construct them (Worthington and Seiter 2014/11, Worthington and Seiter 2024/08). Two timbers used to construct the Forgeman’s House were felled in the spring of 1817 and the winter of 1820/1, while two other dated timbers from the Anderson House were also felled in the winter of 1820/1. Ten of the timbers from the Hoke House dated, providing a range of felling dates that spanned from the summer of 1816 to the winter of 1820/1, a similar pattern to that found in the Carty-Miller House. 

When taken together, the dates from all four of these houses suggest a large building campaign was undertaken with stockpiling of timbers for several years prior to a number of houses being constructed at roughly the same time; this substantial building infrastructure project appears to have taken place during the winter of 1820/1 or shortly thereafter, coinciding with the purchase of the furnace by a new owner, John Brien, in 1820.

Report on the Analysis of Two Flotation Samples Collected from the Carty-Miller House, Catoctin Furnace, Frederick County, Maryland

by Justine McKnight Archeobotanical Consultant LLC
289 Fibich Lane
West River Maryland 20778
January 2, 2026

Archaeologists collect plant remains to understand plant use by the inhabitants of a site and to reconstruct the nature and composition of vegetation communities that existed in the past. Plant remains collected from archaeological contexts provide information about both wild and domesticated plant resources used for food, fuel, construction, and other purposes. Because people generally used resources that were available locally, plant assemblages can also provide important clues about the characteristics of the natural vegetation that formerly grew in the vicinity. Under certain circumstances, data derived from plant assemblages can also provide insights into seasonality of site use, paleoenvironmental conditions, and human nutrition and health.

CFHS has completed ethnobotanical analyses at multiple structures in historic Catoctin Furnace and together these data provide information about foods such as black walnut (Juglans nigra), grape (Vitis), jimsonweed (Datura stramonium), raspberry/blackberry (Rubus sp.), and elder (Sambucus nigra). Elder or black elderberry is rich in antioxidants and Vitamin C, offering immune support, potentially shortening cold and flu duration, and reducing inflammation. Traditionally, its uses were for pain, skin, and digestion and its presence in the assemblage indicates a home remedy tradition in the village. 

Wood such as Castanea denata (American chestnut), Pinus sp. (pine, yellow/hard group), and Platanus occidentalus (sycamore) are also present.