city finds before the dozer (UPDATED 1/17/07)

[bill gent]

these homes are scheduled to be dozed to nothing for a DOT project in the city 4 are 1840 homes and 1 is pre 1820 rest (of 30) are 1930-60 homes.

Today me and some fellow officers went into the homes to rescue what we could to preserve city history before it's broken. some chemical bottles (joked they were gonna call it in when i left about a meth cooker driving a k9 car) great friends huh? and also found a beautiful antique gas cast iron stove with porcieln fronts we will contact a dealer to see if hes interested in buying it and will give the entire amount to the old woman that had lived in the home all her life and is now in a retirement apartment
We did also locate a city beer bottle (that went out of business in the early 19900s few intact bottles remain) (I own 1 of 8)

Believe it or not the blue house to the left is actually older . There were also homes with hidden cellars could be because this was part of thr underground RR, The Penn RR depot was across the street (still active tracts) and was a depot for field artilliary during the CW . We did dig and found oysters shells about a little over 2 foot down

 

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Don't forget to check the frame lumber. Many times houses of that era were framed with walnut or oak. I salvaged a trailer load of cabinet grade oak from an old house on our farm. Worth some bucks.

 

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[mchamby]

Great thread sounds like you all have quite the adventure.
HH
Mchamby

 

[bbqbull]

What a great story. Thanks for the photos also. Dang it I hate progress at times. Terrible to destroy this history IMHO. Keep yourself safe also while in the area.

Mike

 

[bill gent]

Just not going to get the chance to do that (salvage the frame) once the dozer comes in thats it. As well DOT has as usual punched many a hole in the roofs of all the homes to aid the rotting process as well the city fire company from time to time uses the homes for fire practice, We have tried to rescue the oldest home there but to rehab it to what it was and move it would have exceeded the worth. We have salvaged and searched the buildings, dopeheads have stripped it of the window weights and copper pipe in search of their next hit.

The only salvageable items will be the bricks laid sometime in the 1820's and 1840s which I already have some of. As stated in the previous post we are also trying to rescue the main chimney once we have the county OK before the dozer we will cut it away at a reasonable length and store it at the city warehouse until the proper time when (I hope after appointment to city chief historian and museum manager) we can move it to the final display area along with all the other artifacts the three of us have found and city has in their possession.

The city has significant history dating back to the 1600's and believe it or not, no history museum so we are trying to convert the Apple tree House here in Jersey City to a living and display museum . The home dates back to the late 1600s and was used by George Washington during the war and battle of Paulis Hook

 

[Scots Gaelic]

Well, Bill the best of luck to you. I have had many the pleasure to go through old houses. I always try to think "if grand'ma were to hide something, where would that be". That is probably the best advise grand'ma gave me!