Two free standing buildings, the Quarters (click to view image) and the Kitchen (1655 and 1680 click to view image) are painted to show realistic details and conditions such as tar patch on the clapboard roof and the exterior construction on the period chimneys. The two kitchen perspectives are taken from the same distance and viewing angle to match exactly, so when they are compared in a lenticular viewers can understand the extensive remodeling that occurred between time periods. I construct a hand drawn perspective of the 1655 Kitchen and overlay a second perspective showing how the length of the building was shortened and a new chimney built. The portion of the building which remains intact is the same except that I 'age' some of the materials or render them to appear as recently replaced/repaired material. The Quarters (an unheated store house which later turned into a lodging structure) is constructed and painted in a similar manner. This building is unique for its time, because it lacked foundation sills in its construction; wall studs were placed directly into the ground.

The Dairy (click to view image) was discovered in 1973 and is not a free-standing structure, but a subterranean addition to the house off what would have been the kitchen/hall room. The perspective is built from an old photo taken when the archeological remains were uncovered; exact angle of view, exact height of view. The stones in the photo become the Dairy floor, exactly. Two illustrations were done for the Dairy: one with the roof on and one x-ray view into the space.

The three parlor paintings (click to view image) focus on the room at the opposite end of the house from the kitchen/hall. A 1638 view shows the newly constructed room and highlights the period architectural details. This view will be used in contrast with a photograph of the actual archeological remains which now are located inside the museum building. The exact view and eyelevel are matched in my perspective to this photograph. A second illustration is done of this view to show an x-ray view through the parlor floor into the stone cellar. It will help visitors understand the cellar was only under roughly half of this room.

The 1642 parlor depicts the same room from a different angle. The scene is a crowded assembly meeting with Governor Leonard Calvert heading the meeting and numerous important historical figures such as John Lewger, Thomas Cornwalleys, Fulk Brent, Thomas Greene, and Mathias deSousa in attendance. It is also important to convey the size of the room (one of the largest interior spaces in Maryland at the time) and show the chimney wall, period furnishings and dress. The most wealthy and powerful men are at or closest to the head table and their richer outfit color and trim reflect their social status. Freemen fill the remaining space. Handsome and unusual leaded glass windows bring light into the room. Finding the best perspective and composition for this illustration took thought and study so the furniture would not obscure the people or room architecture. The parlor served as John Lewger's bedroom, office and space for meetings and is the fanciest room in the house.

The 1680 parlor depicts the same room as the 1642 parlor, now remodeled by Henry Exon, the innkeeper. It is important to show the chimney/fireplace/west wall, window architectural changes and get across the functional change of the space. When overlaid, the '42 and '80 parlors line up precisely over each other and the digital files for each image have in excess of 200 layers of separate information. The blankets, mattress ticking and table linen are scrutinized for accuracy as well as the period furniture and dress. A period game of chance is put in on the small table at the very end of the painting process.

The 1630 Indian Era snapshot illustration (click to view image) and Landscape (click to view image) depict Yaocomico Indians families living, hunting and farming near the site. Areas of focus are the Indian Long House (lifestyle), the slash and burn style agriculture, crops, the proximity to a spring located in the bank, and the virgin forests. Specific trees are selected to show girdling and the slash and burn techniques.

The Lewger Era Snapshot (click to view image) and Landscape (click to view image) take place in the early 1640s. It is the same precise view as the Indian Landscape. Lewger has built his house, a store house and privy, has a few farm animals and crop fields in this painting. Fences line the property zones to keep wandering wild or loose animals out. A dirt road stretches to the east and a path brings visitors down to or up from the river. The 1642 parlor (described above) articulates some of the house interior. This aerial illustration puts the house into context with the site and when overlaid with the Indian or the Overzee (1656) illustrations, viewers can see how trees mature, die, are cut down, fences and outbuildings built and crops fields changed.

Individual trees are selected by the team to carry through the series as visual markers until all are gone in the Farm era rendering. As they age, they grow larger, loose limbs, start to die and then decay. Aligning all the different elements in all six landscapes takes enormous patience and thought and is quite tricky to pull off. Working out a color rough after the perspective is blocked out manually helps a great deal to tweak the composition and determine different vegetation zones. The rough is sent to my team mates with my comments for their feedback and mark up. Ideas are bounced back and forth until we feel we have the best mix of ideas, history and composition.

Simon Overzee's 1656 snapshot (click to view image) rendering and Landscape (click to view image) depict the extensive renovations to the plantation. Among them are converting the store house into a heated kitchen, dismantling the privy, erecting an aisled building (a structure having a rectangular core and aisles running on each long side of building), a square building and replacing a good deal of the fencing. Many of the dead tree stumps in the fields have rotted away leaving primarily the shade trees close to the house. Lewger's English farming is replaced by Chesapeake style planting. The road east becomes more traveled and wider. Midden (trash) areas move with the new fence and gate locations.

Above: Historic St. Mary's City schematic site plan for the Lewger (green lines) and Overzee (red line) era. The artist merges the two together to help figure out where paths, midden piles and fences change and the relationship of new buildings to existing ones. The pink tone is the house footprint. Below: the plan of the unusual aisled building. The circles indicate dug test holes by the archeologists.

Governor Charles Calvert took over the property from Overzee and the Calvert Snapshot (click to view image) and Calvert Era Landscape (click to view image) take place in 1666. Once again the period illustration records the property changes: a nursery room added to the back of the house and an exterior entrance to the cellar added to the house. A major building called the Quarter is built where a mature tree stood, there is a tenant house (see map below, out of view on the snapshot but on the full sized rendering) and all new fencing. Letters to Calvert's father (Lord Baltimore) tell of experimenting with plow agriculture. The standing structures from the Overzee era are aged and show evidence of repair. The orchard is mature now and some crop fields have turned to barn pasture.

Property changes continue in the 1680 Henry Exon snapshot (click to view image) and Innkeeper/Exon Landscape (click to view image). The house goes through major interior changes and exterior repairs with a new fashionable chimney, roof, a porch room over the entry door, the nursery is gone, decorative windows are replaced, the kitchen is shortened and a new chimney built, the aisle and square buildings are gone, midden piles change and fences are new. Surviving trees around the house continue to grow; the Quarter ages, gets repairs and pastures are well developed.

The farm era snapshot (click to view image) and landscape (click to view image) interpretive historical paintings fast forward to 1825. Seventeenth century buildings and site characteristics have vanished. Farmers have been working the land for almost a century. A well worn east to west road now cuts through this site. The area is agricultural. The distant scarp has dramatically changed appearance with the event of clear cut logging practices and plowing up or downhill rather than across hill. Evidence of land erosion can be seen particularly along stream/creek/river banks. Once pure waters are now full of silt from the run-off and clogged with swampy growth. The only remaining remnants of the history this land holds are the chimney brick and oyster shell fragments that the plowing brings to the surface. These fragments are the place markers for the people who inhabited this site and what once stood.