COREY NOLEN
Ames Plantation— The Rhodes Archaeological Field School The Ames Plantation, for all intents and purposes, is a 20,000-acre classroom. Located 50 miles east of Memphis in Fayette and Hardeman counties, the historical area is home to approximately 250 different archaeological sites, both historic and prehistoric. Students work in excavation during a three-week extensive course in archaeology. While all artifacts belong to the Hobart Ames Foundation, Milton Moreland, director of the field school, hopes that many will be exhibited in rotation in the permanent space of the Memphis Center. “Everything that we excavate comes through the archaeology lab here at Rhodes, so there could be some definite collaboration and informational displays about our work. Students are conducting really amazing research at Ames, and it would be great to discuss and display their work in the context of the Memphis Center.”
Shelby Foote Collection fellows Lauren Peterson ’13 and Jordan Redmon ’13 under the watchful eye of the source
The massive land base was purchased in the early 20th century by Hobart Ames, part of the Ames Manufacturing family from Boston, who bought it as a winter retreat and hunting reserve. The plantation functions as one of the University of Tennessee’s AgResearch and Education Centers across the state and oversees 2,000 acres of commodity row crops, 700 head of Angus beef cattle and 40 head of horses.
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Since the 1950s, the site has been under the purview of the Hobart Ames Foundation, which has a very strong education component, and Rhodes is partnered with its board to further its mission. Of the 250 sites, only six have been excavated in the five years Rhodes has worked with the foundation. “We rhodes.edu
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