Sample Digs | A team from UVM consulting archeologists, including Al Aldenoliber and Sylvia Carr, pictured here hard at work, have been busy doing sampling digs around the 1848 Gothic Revival Cottage at the Justin Morrill Homestead in Strafford. The State of Vermont owns the home of the author of the Land Grant College Acts, and is seeking to improve drainage and lessen the impact of moisture at the site by putting a curtain drain around the building. The crew is looking for artifacts, examining soil structure, and most importantly any underground structures like some of the stone lined drainage channels Morrill himself put in at his Homestead. They also keep a sharp eye out for any artifacts or evidence from before European settlement. (Herald / John Freitag)