Is it a well, or a privy pit?

[Ghalt]

Friend has an old abandoned house on the property in the middle of his woods in Virginia.

Best guess is that it was built in 1800s, maybe occupied up to about 1950.

Now it's a pile of stones which was once the chimney, and a pile of rubbish/floor joists, etc. No walls, no roof as far as we can tell.

We can see where there used to be a road...two parallel ruts that run by the house, so we think we know where the 'front' of the house is.

On the opposite side of that, within about 20 yards of the house, is a pit. It's about 4-5 feet across and about 4 feet deep. It's sloped in so that the deepest part is only about a foot wide...so like a gently inverted cone. There are tons of canning jars and whiskey bottles all around the place, but especially near that pit.

Do you think that was a well, or an old privy? I'm not climbing in to find out if the bottom is a false bottom.

I haven't seen any other structure around to indicate either a well or an outhouse. In other words, whatever this is, where is the other? The house is somewhat near a well-established stream, but would they have gotten their water from the stream? The house is on top of a hill and this pit is up there, too.

Thanks for your insights, and any other metal-detecting bottle-digging relic-recovery tips you might have are very welcome.

 

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[stefen]

Any doubts, give it the sniff test...if it smells smoky, it may have been a trash burning pit, however, if it smell like crap and you still have a question...there's always the taste test

We had a much larger trash pit on out farm, but it was probably at least 100 years or so old.

The outhouse was moved periodically, and since it was a 1-holer, it was maybe 2-1/2 to 3 foot diameter and maybe 6 to 8 feet deep.

Outhouses were not notorously big...maybe the whole structure measured 3' X 3'.

Had a friend that has a 2-holer...but its bad enough using one by yourself...just couldn't get used to the idea of sharing or male bonding in a crappy environment

 

[Kentucky Kache]

Any doubts, give it the sniff test...if it smells smoky, it may have been a trash burning pit, however, if it smell like crap and you still have a question...there's always the taste test

We had a much larger trash pit on out farm, but it was probably at least 100 years or so old.

The outhouse was moved periodically, and since it was a 1-holer, it was maybe 2-1/2 to 3 foot diameter and maybe 6 to 8 feet deep.

Outhouses were not notorously big...maybe the whole structure measured 3' X 3'.

Had a friend that has a 2-holer...but its bad enough using one by yourself...just couldn't get used to the idea of sharing or male bonding in a crappy environment

As long as you don't hold hands during the process.

 

[Saturna]

Be glad you didn't have to use this one...