Hunter Research, an archaeological consulting firm with offices on West State Street, celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.
Speaking at a recent event celebrating the firm’s anniversary, Ian Burrow, a partner and vice president of the firm, noted one of their most significant discoveries which occurred in the Trenton area.
“Finding William Richards’ 18th century stoneware pottery on Route 29,” he said.
The discovery of two 18th century stoneware potteries owned by William Richards, one on Route 29 and the other behind the Eagle Tavern at Broad and Ferry Streets, gave Trenton claim to two of the four archaeologically documented stoneware kilns on the eastern seaboard from that period.
“Proving that America’s first spaghetti factory was in Trenton,” he said.
Giovanni Battista Sartori, papal consul to the United States, lived at the foot of Federal Street starting about 1800. Sartori built a factory for the manufacture of pasta, a continuation of a business begun in Trenton several years earlier by Philadelphia merchant Nicholas Fresneye.
Another landmark find, “despite all the odds,” Burrows said, was finding Benjamin Yard’s 1740’s steel furnace next to Petty’s Run.
Excavations carried out in conjunction with the now stalled Capitol Park plan revealed the remains of Yard’s steel mill, the only colonial-era steel furnace to have been located and excavated.
The site has become better known not for its archaeological significance, but instead because the State of New Jersey has shut the site down. It is located within sight of the state house.
Richard Hunter founded the namesake firm as a sole proprietorship in 1986, choosing to locate the business in New Jersey’s capital city. Three years later, the company incorporated as Hunter Research, Inc. Burrow joined the firm in 1988, becoming a partner four years later.
From the very beginning of its existence, Hunter Research has garnered awards and notice for the quality of its work. The firm’s archaeological investigations at the Old Barracks in 1988–89, won it the first New Jersey Historic Preservation award in 1990. Since then, Hunter has regularly been cited for its high-quality, effective and efficient work.
The firm initially focused on archaeological studies, specializing in historical, industrial and urban archaeology. Over the past decade, the company has broadened its expertise to cover the full range of cultural resource and historic preservation services.
In recent years, they have also developed particular skills in communicating the results of our work to the general public through popular publications, exhibits and schools programs.
Hunter Research retains a full-time staff of between 15 and 30 cultural resource professionals. The main offices and laboratories occupy a pair of restored early 20th-century townhouses on West State Street opposite the New Jersey State House in the center of Trenton.
A satellite facility with office and laboratory space near Odessa, Del. serves projects conducted in Delaware and Maryland.
Not content to just maintain offices in Trenton, Richard Hunter has become an active member of the business and preservation community. He’s served as the president of the Trenton Downtown Association and supports the Old Barracks Association, the Trenton Historical Society and other organizations.
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