Privy Dig Under Standing Outhouse

[mtfdfire22]

Never walk away from a privy with concrete walls!!! We dug one from the turn of the century and one from the 1870's this year alone. do your research. I have personally done the research to find out their were 2 concrete factories within 10 miles of each other in the area I dig and both advertisements were from the 1880's. We also have homes in the area with crude concrete block foundations that date to the mid 1860's. If i had to guess, for pre 1890's 5 houses out of every 100 were stone foundation that leaves the rest to be concrete blocks.


I have heard a dozen guys tell me they would not dig these things, including my partners, and i refused to listen. We dug some great stuff out of these concrete lined privies and i will continue digging them and posting what we find. Dont pass up on the opportunity to try it, you may end up very surprised.

Check this out......1860's house made of solid concrete block in Bay City Michigan....where I live. if they had leftovers from the house they used them to build the privy.
http://www.bcra-mls.com/scripts/Property_View.cfm?StartRow=101&RowNumber=102&PriceLow=&City=Bay%20City

 

[mtfdfire22]

second site actually showing this house was built in 1860



http://realestate.mlive.com/?temp_type=detail&tp=RE_mlive&classification=REAL+ESTATE&property=mlive.com&ad_id=621852353

 

[lil digger]

wow thats cool, shame those squats wernt hole...

 

[sandchip]

Looks to be sorta rural. How far from the house was the privy?

 

[DIGS CHESCO]

Jimbo,

It is far from the house, it was approx. 30 yards from both the house and the barn. I live between Philadphia and Lancaster PA, the area was rural up until about 25 years ago. Most of the farm pits I dig (if I can find them!), are what I call 3 bottle holes. The people who occupied these farms in the 1800's had very little disposable income, and it shows in what little they discarded. This recent dig was an exception, these folks were wealthy compared to their neighbors.

Thanks for the question.

Tom

 

[RICKJJ59W]

ORIGINAL: DIGS CHESCO

Jimbo,

It is far from the house, it was approx. 30 yards from both the house and the barn. I live between Philadphia and Lancaster PA, the area was rural up until about 25 years ago. Most of the farm pits I dig (if I can find them!), are what I call 3 bottle holes. The people who occupied these farms in the 1800's had very little disposable income, and it shows in what little they discarded. This recent dig was an exception, these folks were wealthy compared to their neighbors.

Thanks for the question.

Tom

They must hit the lottery back then [8D]

 

[tigue710]

that is strange... do you think they dipped it out over the years or moved the pit over the old pit when filling in newer pits? If they dipped it I would think there would be newer stuff too...

 

[DIGS CHESCO]

I'm guessing that the house got in door plumbing early on like maybe 1880's. The pit was dipped, the dippers just weren't very efficient. After the 1880's they must of had a dump instead of filling the privy.

Tom

 

[THE BADGER]

VERY NICE TOM,GLAD YOU DUG IT.YOU NEVER KNOW DIG UM ALL. BADGER

 

[Stardust]

Nice finds Tom... Thanks for sharing.: )