Old Farm Site Found Under Urbana Bike Path Project
You have to wonder what Fountain J. Busey would think if he knew that people were scavenging around his property.
Busey was a real Champaign County pioneer, arriving here in 1829 (four years before the county was established) from Shelby County, Ky., with his parents, Matthew and Sallie Busey. In 1836, he purchased a 40-acre parcel of prairie about 2 miles southeast of downtown Urbana along what is now High Cross Road, or Illinois 130.
Now, around 150 years later, the city of Urbana intends to build a $800,000, 8-foot-wide multi-use path on the east side of High Cross Road right over the original Busey property. So before construction begins, researchers from the Illinois State Archaeological Survey at the University of Illinois (formerly known as the Illinois Transportation Archaeological Research Program) are recovering and analyzing items found at the site.
Read entire article at AP
Busey was a real Champaign County pioneer, arriving here in 1829 (four years before the county was established) from Shelby County, Ky., with his parents, Matthew and Sallie Busey. In 1836, he purchased a 40-acre parcel of prairie about 2 miles southeast of downtown Urbana along what is now High Cross Road, or Illinois 130.
Now, around 150 years later, the city of Urbana intends to build a $800,000, 8-foot-wide multi-use path on the east side of High Cross Road right over the original Busey property. So before construction begins, researchers from the Illinois State Archaeological Survey at the University of Illinois (formerly known as the Illinois Transportation Archaeological Research Program) are recovering and analyzing items found at the site.