Figure 57, a drawing of a house from Brunswick Town, near Wilmington, introduces an amazing new chapter in the story of colonial architecture in North Carolina, a chapter which is just being opened up in our day. This house, the Hepburn-Reonalds house, built between 1734 and 1742, is of a type not seen before in this study. The structure had a family porch without steps down to the street, rather like a balcony, a protected place to sit and look at life on the street. Below, in the basement was a shop, and in the illustration a man is seen about to enter the street door of the shop. Unfortunately, the house does not exist today; the drawing is “conjectural,” that is, it is an estimate based upon study and analysis of ruins (figure 58) at Brunswick Town. Knowledge of this kind of house in North Carolina, and of the town is a dramatic development of the last few years. [Illustration: FIGURE 57. CONJECTURAL DRAWING OF THE HEPBURN-REONALDS HOUSE, BRUNSWICK TOWN.] [Illustration: FIGURE 58. RUIN OF THE HEPBURN-REONALDS HOUSE.] [Illustration: FIGURE 59. DETAIL FROM SAUTHIER’s DRAWING OF BRUNSWICK TOWN IN 1769.] Brunswick Town, founded in 1726, was a thriving port town in colonial times, as might be imagined from the map (figure 59), a detail from Sauthier’s drawing of Brunswick Town in 1769. At the time of the Revolution the town was burned and fell to ruins. During the War between the States, many bricks and stones were taken from Brunswick Town’s ruins for use in the construction of Fort Anderson, adjacent to the town site. Our photograph of the ruins of the Hepburn-Reonalds house shows this-one may see that many of the stones and bricks from the chimneys have been removed. During the century after the war the remaining foundations of the town’s buildings all but disappeared into the ground, being covered by washes of soil and dense jungle of brush and trees. Only the great brick walls of St. Philip’s Church (marked “A” in the map) remained as a reminder of the once thriving town. In 1958, however, the State Department of Archives and History began a project to clear the land, dig out the foundations of houses, and search for objects left by the colonists, all in order to recover an image of the town and the way of life of its citizens. Thus far some sixty ruins have been discovered by the archaeologist in charge of the work. In digging around a ruin he works very carefully; all the soil removed is sifted, thereby bringing to light coins, buckles, broken pottery, door hinges, and other items. Some of the richest finds have been uncovered in garbage and refuse pits.