Nearly empty privy

[villagenut]

Well that's what I suppose it was. My probe easily sank to four feet within a two foot circle of ground. I was actually looking for the outhouse for the old site, the Sanborn maps here did not show them. At one foot I found the first of four barrel bands with the staves completely gone. That was a good sign as many folks would line their privy with oak barrels with the ends cut off. In my local, the water table is not too far down there so most privies are shallow and new ones were probably dug more often than deeper ones. Anyways, besides these two bottles there was a second broken Bromo some porcelain shards, a few nails, two "lightning closures" and a large tin wash tub that was threw in before it got filled. I am guessing this was the last outhouse on the property due to these being ABM bottles and the sheer lack of material within it. I am not super sure when indoor toilets were added to this old home from about 1880...long gone. I plan on some more probing here so perhaps next time I will find a better and older one. This one was probably not used for very long.

 

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[cje]

The older outhouse pits shouldn't be far away. Do you ever screen the soil?

 

[villagenut]

The older outhouse pits shouldn't be far away. Do you ever screen the soil?

I have high hopes but time is running out for my sites that I have been digging for the past 30 some years. Yes I have screened tons of dirt but that's a lot of work that right now, there is no time for. Sadly the entire historic properties are being bought up,homes torn down, majestic oaks being uprooted, construction fences being put up....several blocks worth of land including the old streets...and before long at all there will be apartments and storefronts gracing what was once the beginning of this County ....so sad. I wish I had time for the sifter, but this is the last lot that they have not fenced off as of yet, several of my little project sites came to an abrupt end with the expanding of the fenceline. Soon this old oak next to the hole I dug, will be a parking lot, no room for an old tree. They pave paradise, put up a parking lot.... Let me get off my soap box, sorry for the rant.

 

[epackage]

Could have been dipped several times over the years..

 

[bottlehunterofcoscob]

Good luck in future digs, hope you're able to save some history in time

 

[NJKLAGT]

Nice to see a privy dig on here again!

Your finds are interesting - a lone cup handle, lids without jars, a single shard of this or that. I might agree with epackage on this one, may have been dipped at least once. When everything was cleaned out, whoever did it was just trying to get it done and over with, and so the odd shard or tiny little thing got left behind in the residual muck. As the hole was used again, items like the syrup and bromos occasionally found their way in. But I think some of those bits and pieces look like they belong to an older group of objects that were once in the pit.

That sucks about the parking lot! They should really build some sort of perimeter around such great trees to preserve them. But it takes up the space for 2 or 3 cars - that ridiculous way of thinking. If anything the tree would probably look awesome in the parking lot and attract more business. Heck, a lot of tourists go south just for those trees alone. Let them buy their lunch and park under this tree and eat in the shade.

 

[Goldenplug]

Time to move.. Lol.

 

[scruggs]

Nice finds...Good job!