The archeology of Hollywood Plantation (3DR0002) began in 2013 to aid in the restoration of the Taylor House, the headquarters of the antebellum plantation house owned by John Martin Taylor in present day Drew County, Arkansas. The Taylor House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995 under criteria C and D. Under Criterion C, it was listed as the best-known example of an intact, two-story, log dogtrot residence in Arkansas’s lower Delta region. For its potential to reveal further information about the European occupation of the site, possibly dating as early as 1819 (Story 1995), it was listed under Criterion D. Fallen into disrepair as it was no longer occupied since the 1940s, the archeological research focused on identifying architectural features of the house and its outbuildings, particularly the front and back porch piers and the ell kitchen, smokehouse, cellar, and cistern foundations. The research confirmed that the Taylor House was moved away from Bayou Bartholomew in the 1880s. It also uncovered the location of the front and back porch piers. It identified the east-west extent and depth of the cellar. Archeologists also uncovered one of the kitchen piers and confirmed the kitchen and smokehouse locations based on the artifact assemblages and primary sources. They also excavated a pit feature west of the house that was likely a former cistern repurposed after 1909. Overall, the research aided in the restoration of the house and uncovered new information about health, foodways, and changing infrastructure at Hollywood. Future research should locate the 1819 house of Peter Rives, the 1840s house location, and the slave dwellings and later tenant farmer houses.
