Help me find the outhouse....

[AugustMoose87]

SO I have a late 19th century homestead I have been working lately. I've covered most of the ground in close proximity to the house, and found mostly modern stuff. Now, I'm no expert, but I am guessing a house originally build in the 1880's would not have had the septic system it currently has, and there was at some point an outhouse, but I am struggling to find any evidence of it. So I'm hoping you guys might be able to help me, with either some parameters, web based research, or if someone is nearby, on site research.


So, for parameters... what are some figures I can use to focus my search? how close is the closest to the house it would likely be, and how far away? Was there any convention as far as uphill, down hill, level with, to the north/east/south/west, etc. I would think there would be a preference towards being down wind of the house, but the wind is so odd around here, I am not sure I could pick a single direction and say "that is downwind most often".


Web research... here is an aerial of the property. If anyone is interested in doing further research of their own, PM me and I'll give you the coordinates, I just don't want to post them since it is an area closed to the public.

House (1887) in the upper left, large barn (1919) lower right, small barn (1930) upper right. All of the lines you can see in the ground are small irrigation ditches, and the obvious things are not outhouses - propane tank, garden shed, burn pile, tree stumps, etc.


On site research... If anyone is in or around the Longmont CO area and wants to look around the site with me, PM me.

THANKS!!!!

 

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[Helix]

I am guessing that's a garden or animal corral below the house and not the outline of a foundation? I also would guess you might be missing a few buildings from the original lay out. Chicken coop, tool shed, ect. It always helps to know what was were back in the day. If I was just to make a quick guess I would say out the back door between house and garden or where the shed is or possibly towards the barns more. They liked to put them also in the center area of all the buildings not far from everything. During the winter at night they sure didn't want it far that's for sure, 30'-40' give or take out your back door.

 

[CincinnatiKid]

It will obviously be far enough from home that the stench won't be detectable in sweltering summer heat, yet close enough you wouldn't freeze when running to it in winter.
Look for slight square depressions.
Appears to be a great site. What are your finds thus far? Are they found in random locations or might you be able to plot a path?
GL
Peace ✌

 

[AugustMoose87]

Yes, that is a fence around a small orchard and garden, with a shed between them. Admittedly, that is one of the few areas near the house I haven't hunted yet, in part because I need to take a weed whip there and cut all the weeds down so I can swing a detector. The shed may or may not be one of my "missing buildings" from back in the day. I'm still trying to figure out about how old it is, but it certainly isn't modern. Also worth noting, there are 2 horseshoe pits on the right side of the garden.

So far everything has been modern except and early 20th century shotgun shell. Only other find of interest was what I'm guessing was a modern cache made by a kid - just shy of $2 in clad change all in one hole. Oldest coin was '64, newest was '86. And I haven't discerned any type of pattern, other than they moved their burn barrel a LOT. I must have found 40 or so different spots with aluminum foil, cans, etc. in ashes.

I made a quick map to help show where I have detected... anything inside the yellow, or in some cases under the yellow where I did a perimeter check.


I was also hoping I would get a better/deeper detector from Santa, but that didn't happen. The one I'm currently using is only good for coin sized stuff to about 6" - thinking something that goes deeper may help me find some older stuff, even if it is just nails.

 

[CincinnatiKid]

Does home have additions?
Your recent plotting looks good.
What is north, (in picture), of "driveway?
Peace ✌

 

[G.A.P.metal]

Read the book "50 Yards to the Outhouse".... by Willie Makit,and Betty Donte ! LoL
Gary

 

[1320]

It is very possible that the home could have been built with indoor plumbing, not likely but possible. Agree with the Kid...look for a small square area, most rural homes didn't have the hand dug, stone lined, 15 feet deep outhouses. The Kid asked a very good question as well....additions. It's possible that the additions were built over top of the outhouse. And if there's been heavy equipment in/around the home, forget about finding the outhouse. If you're finding mostly modern stuff there's a good chance the dirt has been disturbed. What type of machine do you have and how would you rate your skill level with it?

 

[Benbuck6]

I would say try between the 2 trees behind the house in the section you have not detected...grass seems to be greener and trees seem to be lined up as if planted on either side of something. In other words, I tend to think you just missed it.

 

[GaRebel1861]

Read the book "50 Yards to the Outhouse".... by Willie Makit,and Betty Donte ! LoL
Gary

Good one!

 

[Helix]

Also a spring steel probe is what you need not a detector looking for a privy pit. A probe is the preferred method used by most when looking for a pit. You might want to do some looking in to learning about probing for privies - outhouses.

 

[AugustMoose87]

Does home have additions? ... What is north, (in picture), of "driveway?

Yes, though I'm struggling with figuring out where the original house was, and where doors may have been. That are is a tree row. Some of the trees are fairly old, but most of them are fairly young. That is another area like the garden that I want to detect, but have been avoiding since I need to first clear out all the dead limbs and then weed whip.

And if there's been heavy equipment in/around the home, forget about finding the outhouse. If you're finding mostly modern stuff there's a good chance the dirt has been disturbed. What type of machine do you have and how would you rate your skill level with it?

I don't know anything one way or the other, but I just have this suspicion that there has been some degree of earth moving - in part because of the burn-pile scattering, and the extensive ditch systems. I have a Titan 1000 (basically a BH Discover 1100) and I would say I'm about a 7-8 out of 10 with it - It isn't my first detector, I've got a good 70-ish hours with it. To be frank, I feel like at this point, I am being limited by the machine rather than the other way around. I detect with it at the 3rd of 4 sensitivity settings, because I get constant falsing on 4. I do an initial sweep discriminating out the lowest of the 3 metal settings, and then go back over with no discrimination, and I dig every target... All I feel I could improve upon is working on learning what targets will give me what types of signals so that I can start selectively digging.

I would say try between the 2 trees behind the house in the section you have not detected...grass seems to be greener and trees seem to be lined up as if planted on either side of something. In other words, I tend to think you just missed it.

That is actually the next area I had in mind, so once the snow melts, I will check that area (and maybe the garden too).

Also a spring steel probe is what you need not a detector looking for a privy pit. A probe is the preferred method used by most when looking for a pit. You might want to do some looking in to learning about probing for privies - outhouses.

That was part of why I wanted to get some ideas on how close/far from the house I should be looking, so that once I know I have detected those areas I know where to focus the probing. I'm just afraid that probing will not help me since I'm thinking there has been some amount of earth moving.

 

[woodrat]

Is it possible the home wasn't built on this site and maybe moved there

 

[AugustMoose87]

No, I found a few maps (I want to say one was 1901) that show the house in that location.

 

[TabWhisperer]

It always seem like they are about 100ft straight behind the house. Usually clotheslines seem to be directly behind a back door maybe 20 feet away from the building. Let me know if you need some help on site.

 

[Jason in Enid]

first, find out where the prevailing winds come from. The outhouse will NOT be in that direction.

 

[coazon de oro]

In a place that old, I would say that it could be under one of those trees. The unpacked covered hole makes it easy for trees to take root. Outhouses were often replaced, or moved to a new hole close to the old one, so you may have several holes, the problem is that they are quite deep for most metal detector.

Homar

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

I have found that the best way to find an outhouse that is long gone, is to look where there are flowers blooming away from the house. Usually just a patch away from everything else. They used to plant flowering trees (like Lilacs) right near the outhouses. You might also look to see if the grass is greener, or taller, in any particular spot.

Mrs.O

 

[AugustMoose87]

There is a fairly large lillac bush south of the house about 20 yards...

 

[J hoss]

Most of your outhouses here in western Ky were to the east of the house if at all possible due to wind seldom comes from the east.

 

[AugustMoose87]

Well, I thought I may have found it...

As I started detecting away from the house, I got some signals that made me think I was swinging over some old, rusty iron. The spot was just under a light pole that served as the juncture point for the electric lines to all the buildings... And the hot area was about 3'x3'... So I'm thinking it is central to all the buildings, and when they installed the electric lines, the picked the central location, and figured "hey, a light over the out house would be nice..." So I start digging, thinking I may find either a foundation of some kind, or a bunch of nuts, bolts, nails and screws. Long story short, this is what I dig up...



I'm thinking maybe it is the steel rim to a wooden wheel.