Diggin' for the first time....

[kybluegrass]

Hi, I am new here, and new to digging for bottles. I am an avid detectorist and have been a relic hunter for many years. But recently I've gotten interested in bottles.

I live on a farm close to Louisville KY and we have an old home site that was built in the early 1800's. A cistern that was covered over, was discovered about 10 years ago. My dad has live here all his life and was born in 1935 and he never knew this cistern existed until some dirt fell in over it. We spent a couple of hours digging through it and stopped digging after it was found to be full of bricks and foundation chunks.

Recently I've decided to try digging more some and see what else is in it. It sure is hard digging with brick and cement chunks in nearly every shovel full. But I'd like to get an idea of the age of these things I've pulled out of the top 2 ft. and get some advice on whether it is a waste of time to look for anything that would survive under all this brick and rock.

 

[kybluegrass]

Another one...

side view

 

[kybluegrass]

soda?

Pretty light blue!

 

[kybluegrass]

bottom closeup

 

[kybluegrass]

doll face

 

[kybluegrass]

door knob

 

[cowseatmaize]

The deeper you go the older it might get. Then again, it might have been filled in all at once in 1934. The 2 you show are probably 1910-20. If your family has owned it since early 1800 you may want to continue just to see what your great grand parents might have dropped in there. Especially if it turns out to be a privy or well. There's a bunch of deep hole diggers here to really help and I'm sure they'll check in.

 

[dollarbill]

First welcome to the Forum Ky . On the cistern Id dig it .Ya just never know what will survive.Even under all that brick and rock.You should allso look for the privy and any dirt floors like cellers, smokehouse .people hide trash in a lot of diffrent places but theres allways the small dump or trash pile out there to. Good luck diggen and finding. bill

 

[lexdigger]

I would do a test hole down one of the walls about four or five feet deep. If you're pulling out good stuff at that point then you'll want to open it up and dig it! You'll need some help, a bucket with a rope tied to it, a ladder, digging tools, etc. Cisterns can be a challenge to dig but there can be alot of good stuff in them. We usually dig them if we're getting blown glass out of them. Good Luck! Chris

P.S. Good to see other Ky. diggers on here!

 

[kybluegrass]

Thanks for the replies I'm going to keep at it. This is an interesting place. Our family has owned it since 1909. The army trained on it in 1908 and there was a civil war camp here for a month in 1861. You never know what you could pull out of the ground.

At this old home site there are two cement lined holes. The one I'm digging out was a cistern, the other may have been a well. I know that the well was used back in the 40's, 50's, and 60's to dump dead hogs, and trash in. Dad said there is probably over a hundred hogs in it. On top of that it has more trash in it from the 70's and 80's. I'm not too keen in digging that one.[:'(] There is also a root cellar that is filled with old farm trash from the last 60 or so years. I'll take some pictures of this area and post them some time.