PhilaBottles
Well-Known Member
For those who havnt seen it yet, enjoy...
October 28th, 2007 Wilmington DE
I got a call to come dig on two parking lots in an old section of Wilmington. The lots are owned by Alan, a new privy digger who contacted Chris through his website. When I arrived and met up with Chris, Doug, Alan, and Alans son Alex, we noted that there was one house still standing in the middle of Alans two lots so we could see the property lines and most importantly where the back yards were. This helped us decide where the privy line was. Let me explain what a privy line is...When all the houses were built around the same time, the outhouse pits were built at the same time too. Luckily, Chris and Doug knew what to expect in Wilmington since they have dug several pits there already. We decided to punch a hole in the one lot because of a distinct sink. The asphalt had a sink in it right where the backyard would have been. After 3 layers of asphalt and some digging, we discovered a shared bricklined privy. The pits on this particular block were built to be shared with the nieghbor. This can be a good thing because of cleaning issues. If one neighbor didnt want to dish out the money to get the privy cleaned, the other neighbor wasnt going to pay for it all. Chris quickly set up the tripod, we whipped out the chairs, and took turns diggin the hole. At about 5 to 6 feet into the hole, I started to hit some 1880's trash. We all got excited because these holes tend to run about 14 to 18 feet from what Doug said. About another foot or two, I found a pictoral local beer with a crazy pegasus on it, and a bunch of local meds and druggists. Alan quickly rushed me to get out and him and his son got in the hole. They got some more trash and filled some buckets to get us down another 3 feet. By this time, 1860's and earlier stuff started popping out. As Doug pulled the buckets and I dumped them, I kept as much pottery as I could for later reconstruction. Alan got out of the hole after little luck with whole bottles besides a nice green open pontiled 1830's snuff (probably from a Jersey glass house), and an open pontiled 12 sided aqua ink. Now it was Chris's time to dig. Right away Chris found an open pontiled green utility bottle and another open pontiled snuff but broken. This pit was mixed around a lot when it saw cleaning. The pit was cleaned, but not very well. There was a ton of old trash and heartbreakers. There were 1870's local pharmacies mixed with 1830's glass. A few more bottles later, Chris declared bottom at about 12 feet.
After a big hole, a couple boxes of Dunkin Donuts Munchkins (assorted), and filling in the hole, we had a chance to inspect the finds and flip coins for the picks.
We got tons of tobacco and opium pipes.
1 face pipe
Several local druggists
1 pictoral amber blob beer from Wilmington
3 tall food bottles
1 half dime
A few Philadelphia druggists and medicines
4 Wilmington aqua squats
a two piece break Mocha bowl
an OP green utility
an OP green snuff
a gothic style medicine
an OP 12 sided umbrella ink in aqua
and several misc. inks, meds, perfumes and unembossed pontils
Everyone went home happy, and overall it was a good dig with great people.
Matt.
October 28th, 2007 Wilmington DE
I got a call to come dig on two parking lots in an old section of Wilmington. The lots are owned by Alan, a new privy digger who contacted Chris through his website. When I arrived and met up with Chris, Doug, Alan, and Alans son Alex, we noted that there was one house still standing in the middle of Alans two lots so we could see the property lines and most importantly where the back yards were. This helped us decide where the privy line was. Let me explain what a privy line is...When all the houses were built around the same time, the outhouse pits were built at the same time too. Luckily, Chris and Doug knew what to expect in Wilmington since they have dug several pits there already. We decided to punch a hole in the one lot because of a distinct sink. The asphalt had a sink in it right where the backyard would have been. After 3 layers of asphalt and some digging, we discovered a shared bricklined privy. The pits on this particular block were built to be shared with the nieghbor. This can be a good thing because of cleaning issues. If one neighbor didnt want to dish out the money to get the privy cleaned, the other neighbor wasnt going to pay for it all. Chris quickly set up the tripod, we whipped out the chairs, and took turns diggin the hole. At about 5 to 6 feet into the hole, I started to hit some 1880's trash. We all got excited because these holes tend to run about 14 to 18 feet from what Doug said. About another foot or two, I found a pictoral local beer with a crazy pegasus on it, and a bunch of local meds and druggists. Alan quickly rushed me to get out and him and his son got in the hole. They got some more trash and filled some buckets to get us down another 3 feet. By this time, 1860's and earlier stuff started popping out. As Doug pulled the buckets and I dumped them, I kept as much pottery as I could for later reconstruction. Alan got out of the hole after little luck with whole bottles besides a nice green open pontiled 1830's snuff (probably from a Jersey glass house), and an open pontiled 12 sided aqua ink. Now it was Chris's time to dig. Right away Chris found an open pontiled green utility bottle and another open pontiled snuff but broken. This pit was mixed around a lot when it saw cleaning. The pit was cleaned, but not very well. There was a ton of old trash and heartbreakers. There were 1870's local pharmacies mixed with 1830's glass. A few more bottles later, Chris declared bottom at about 12 feet.
After a big hole, a couple boxes of Dunkin Donuts Munchkins (assorted), and filling in the hole, we had a chance to inspect the finds and flip coins for the picks.
We got tons of tobacco and opium pipes.
1 face pipe
Several local druggists
1 pictoral amber blob beer from Wilmington
3 tall food bottles
1 half dime
A few Philadelphia druggists and medicines
4 Wilmington aqua squats
a two piece break Mocha bowl
an OP green utility
an OP green snuff
a gothic style medicine
an OP 12 sided umbrella ink in aqua
and several misc. inks, meds, perfumes and unembossed pontils
Everyone went home happy, and overall it was a good dig with great people.
Matt.
