Brittany Blanchard is an alum of the CHRM program, having received her master's degree in 2024. Her thesis is titled Give the People a Place to Drink: An Archaeological Investigation of Eighteenth-Century Tavern Assemblages in the Chesapeake Bay, Site 44FX3194. Blanchard used archeological and archival data to determine the association of a stone foundation identified during survey at Old Colchester Park and Preserve in Fairfax County, with a historic tavern operating in Colchester during the 18th and early 19th centuries. Her thesis is relevant to historic town development in Fairfax County, the history of Colchester specifically, and the context and character of 18th-century tavern architecture and material culture at port towns in the Chesapeake Bay region. The remains of the stone foundation at 44FX3194 are notably shallow, and occur in direct proximity with an adjacent roadway (as seen in the photo). Work on the site also informs future conservation efforts within the county-operated archeological preserve.

Following below is an archived profile.

Brittany graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University in May 2018 with a B.S. in Anthropology. She completed her field school at the historic Fort Germanna site in 2017 and returned as an intern archaeologist the following year. She began working with the Fairfax County Park Authority as a Field Archaeologist in August 2018 and has worked with several CRM firms in the Middle Atlantic region on various phase I, II, and III projects. When the opportunity arises, Brittany enjoys volunteering at dig sites and teaching entry-level archaeologists the basics for archaeological excavations and documentation.