pvg_320
Member
Been digging a farmstead in the woods...abandoned 1870's per local map records.
I have dug through the roof rock layer of the collapsed cellar, fouund an 1881 local med on the rim of the cellar, lots of fragments. After picking out the limestone roof pieces from a 3x3 area, I've gone down into what I guess is the fill or the floor - not sure which. Not finding a lot of trash, but some windowpane here and there keeps me scratching through the area. Any of you cellar hole diggers have any tips? Do you find stuff under the roof? OR are you digging dumps inside of the cellar area?
There's also what appears to be a cistern nearby - I found it as a three foot depression with limestone sticking out. I've dug down another 5 1/2 feet or so, pulling monster limestone all the way. The liner has shaped up to be a limestone oval.
The whiteware and old brick pieces keep me going. Have any of you woods diggers had any luck with cisterns? Could this be a privy? I'm thinking it's too deep for a farm privy.
Please share any cistern or cellar stories you have, hopefully they'll motivate and keep me going. I spent 4 hours there yesterday and moved a lot of rocks and dirt, with just some shards to show for it.
Hoping the bottom of the oval stone liner will reveal SOMETHING. I'm going to get a partner or two, to help go deeper, since it's over 8 feet below ground level now.
I have dug through the roof rock layer of the collapsed cellar, fouund an 1881 local med on the rim of the cellar, lots of fragments. After picking out the limestone roof pieces from a 3x3 area, I've gone down into what I guess is the fill or the floor - not sure which. Not finding a lot of trash, but some windowpane here and there keeps me scratching through the area. Any of you cellar hole diggers have any tips? Do you find stuff under the roof? OR are you digging dumps inside of the cellar area?
There's also what appears to be a cistern nearby - I found it as a three foot depression with limestone sticking out. I've dug down another 5 1/2 feet or so, pulling monster limestone all the way. The liner has shaped up to be a limestone oval.
The whiteware and old brick pieces keep me going. Have any of you woods diggers had any luck with cisterns? Could this be a privy? I'm thinking it's too deep for a farm privy.
Please share any cistern or cellar stories you have, hopefully they'll motivate and keep me going. I spent 4 hours there yesterday and moved a lot of rocks and dirt, with just some shards to show for it.
Hoping the bottom of the oval stone liner will reveal SOMETHING. I'm going to get a partner or two, to help go deeper, since it's over 8 feet below ground level now.
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