Students conduct archaeological research using a ground penetrating radar

Allison Brooks ’18 and Jessy Spencer ’18 use the GPR device at the old site of Randolph-Macon College.

On Feb. 3, Jessy Spencer ’18 and Allison Brooks ’18 conducted archaeological research using a ground penetrating radar at the original site of Randolph-Macon College in Boydton, Va. They were accompanied by Randolph physics and environmental studies professor Sarah Sojka and history professors Gerry Sherayko and John d’Entremont.

The property, which includes the remains of the original building from the 1930s, is now owned by the Old Brunswick Circuit Foundation. The group reached out to Sojka last year and asked if she and her students could use Randolph’s GPR technology to help locate a cistern buried beneath the ground.

Randolph-Macon College relocated to Ashland, Va. in 1868. After Randolph-Macon vacated the site in Boydton, it was used briefly as a Freedman’s Bureau and as the Boydton Institute, a school for freed slaves.