Camp Sherman dig in Ohio reveals WW1 surprises

Chris Balusik
Chillicothe Gazette

CHILLICOTHE - Andy Sewell's voice grew a little more animated when he approached a large concrete pit on the southwestern corner of a Camp Sherman archaeological dig off Ohio 104.

Thomas Grooms, Archaeology Transportation Reviews Manager at Ohio History Connection, left, and Andy Sewell, principal investigator, talk about what has been found at one of the Camp Sherman excavation sites."This is one of the buildings we don't have any floor plans for," said Sewell, principal investigator on the project for Lawhon & Associates. "Finding something like this was a complete surprise, and trying to understand what it was took a little while. Because why would you have a cellar like this?"

It appears to have been was a fire station for the World War I-era training camp that once dominated the landscape along Ohio 104 just north of the city. Making his way past the concrete pit to another part of the excavation of the structure, Sewell was able to point out piping that appears to have belonged to the lavatory for the fire crew, the location where it was likely the crew's quarters once were and a water pipe running into the facility from elsewhere in the camp.

The excavation work has been going on for nearly a month as part of a task order from the Ohio Department of Transportation to retrieve whatever items from the portion of the camp that existed where an extension of Industrial Drive is scheduled to go. The extension is part of an effort by the Community Improvement Corporation to expand development opportunities within the industrial park off Ohio 104.

Read the entire article in the Chillicothe Gazette below.  For more information on the Camp Sherman activities, you can email campshermanmuse@horizonview.net.

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