Really Cool Weekend at an old 1917 school

[txkickergirl]

Just got in from my ranch weekend. We own 250 acres in Freer TX. Who would of thought but it happens to be the site of the first school house there and another old house. The history is loaded, but as you can see from the pics, I have some work to do clearing brush just to get serious about working this site. I found this button about 10ft in back of the school house, but as I uncoved it I hit a solid rock. No biggie until I started uncovering it and find out this rock isn't just a rock, it has a square shape and is the size of a coffin best I can tell. Next weekend I plan to uncover the whole thing to see what I got. It is only about 2" below the dirt. Any how I am real excited about this area and can't wait to show ya'll more. I found a lot of bali bottles(not canning jars) I wil get all the pics up later, but wanted to post a few now.

The Rileys pitched a tent three-fourths of a mile west of the current townsite. Several other settlers arrived the next year, including J. A. Powers, who built the first house on the site in 1917 but who left the Rosita valley three years later; William Patton Norton; and Daniel J. Freer. In 1917 Riley, Powers, and John Short built a one-room schoolhouse; nine pupils attended that first school in the Freer area. Virgil Guffey, another settler, was the teacher.

from http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/FF/hgf6.html

 

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[DCMatt]

My brother found a big slab in the ground near his house. He started digging around it to figure it out. A neighbor drove by and told him it was the cover to the septic pit! Needless to say, he covered it up again...

I have NO idea when they started building septic systems like that. Just thought I'd pass along the info so you know what you MIGHT be getting in to...

DCMatt

 

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[EDDE]

Looking forward to more posts about this site; I've seen quite a few of those old slabs. Around here, they tend to date in the early 18's.

same here mid to late 1800's here for illinois

 

[txkickergirl]

Sounds to me like the stone covers a stairway that goes down into a cavern where Confederate gold is hidden! Gotta' be optimistic and besides it will get you motivated! Great stuff! Monty

if only!!!! lol

 

[txkickergirl]

Great site and awesome buttom! It looks like you'll have plenty to keep yourself busy for a while.
As for the slab... What happens if you uncover someone?

uhhhhhhh......cover them back up.

yeah..... cover them back up would be my first thought.
I plan to dig the stone out and take pics and look for markings, I doubt I will try to move the slab. Don't want any ghosts after me , but if indeed it is a grave, I think the lest I can do is clear it away and clean it up, perhaps find out who it belongs to.

 

[Daisy]

I was just thinking of the legal implications of finding a body on one's property. There I go again, watching too much CSI. LOL Don't mind me.

 

[txkickergirl]

I was just thinking of the legal implications of finding a body on one's property. There I go again, watching too much CSI. LOL Don't mind me.

I am sure there is a lot more bodies out there on private land then you would think, a lot of settlers did not use graveyards, they just buried their dead on the property. Some would use rocks as markers but more often than not they would just plot them and go back to work.
I would be more worried about bodies not in the ground out there on the ranch, since mexico illegals use it to cross.

Either way, if its a legal issue they are welcome to dig the poor person up and move them...not I not I!

 

[Nashoba]

Been fighting the Brush on my latest site,................Fossis

Nothing a Day with the CHAINSAW won't fix for me

Does anyone know about stone slab graves? not ones built up like a wall, but more like putting a slab over a grave? Won't know about the markings until I uncover it all

Graves were done that way frequently in order to keep out critters like coyotes.......Be careful though. It could be an old well or privy hole? :P
Sweet button btw!
~Nash~