When the Texas Dept, of Transportation decided to widen Denton County’s Farm-to-Market Road 455, it appeared to be a straightforward project. However, that changed during initial environmental studies when project team members began finding 19th century artifacts.

Walking along the project's right of way, agency staffers—having already researched the location's history—performed tests with shovels and a backhoe to examine the site. Through numerous shovel tests, TxDOT found numerous small relics and verified the site as the location of the historic Sartin Hotel, which operated in the 19th century.

"Based on our findings, the next step was to conduct a small-scale excavation, which is when we discovered the hotel’s foundation,” says Travis Campbell, director of transportation planning and development for the agency's Dallas district. That excavation confirmed the site's significance, he says, "so we conducted a full-scale data recovery excavation." That effort unearthed the location of an old blacksmith shop across the road through buried iron artifacts found in shovel tests, with their historical significance verified.

TxDOT now has teamed with archeologists from consulting firm Stantec to unearth the artifacts that once were part  of a Black-owned blacksmith shop, including tools, horse and mule shoes and a ceramic smoking pipe.

Doug Boyd, senior archeologist at Stantec, said this is the first excavation of such a 19th-century blacksmith shop in Texas. The family of the owner, a former slave named Tom Cook who was freed in 1865 and died in 1898, has lived in Denton County for more than 150 years. According to Boyd, family and community members helped capture new knowledge and perspectives about the area’s past.

“This isn’t a story you find in any history book,” he said. Cook purchased a blacksmith shop in Bolivar, a once-thriving frontier town along the Chisholm Trail, a cattle-drive route to Kansas. He eventually became a minister, a freemason and a community leader.

On June 17, Cook’s descendants joined TxDOT and Stantec staff in a Juneteenth celebration of his legacy. The stafers say the discoveries have set in motion a community project that would connect Cook’s living descendants to his life and his untold story. Family members were invited to help excavate the site and fill in gaps in the family’s genealogy.

“In the case of this project, our teams also reached out to Cook’s descendants and stakeholder community members, resulting in collaborations and fostering community support of the project,” said Alexander Menaker, another Stantec senior archeologist.

“This entire project is a brilliant example of community archeology,” said Rebekah Dobrasko, TxDOT cultural resources section director.  

In a statement to ENR, Campbell said the archeological effort won't slow the project. “Under ideal conditions, environmental assessments, including archeology, are performed well in advance to avoid construction delays," he said. "Although the final report may take several years to complete, once the fieldwork phase has been approved and the available information has been removed from the ground, construction can move forward.”

As on other projects, Campbell said TxDOT evaluates the area for environmental impacts, including cultural resources such as archaeological relics and historic sites, and biological resources such as wetlands and potential endangered species, before construction begins.

Over the past five years, the agency's Dallas district averages an archaeological discovery about once a year, Campbell said.