East_Tn_Bottle_Guy
Well-Known Member
Hello, all! It's been a long while since I last posted and an even longer while since I've actually looked for bottles because I've been getting into traditional woodworking. But that's not why I'm here. I'm here to show the bottle I just found. But first, some context.
I've posted before about bottles I found in the attic of an old farm house that my family moved into a couple years ago. It's a century farm in East Tn that has been in the Brown family (not my family) since 1835. Unfortunately, I'm not sure where the original house was built, but the one currently standing is at least 100 years old (I think over been told it was built in the 1920s but the style was popular in the 1890s and the bottles I found in the attic seemed older than 20s).
So, the privy. There's 2 dips in the yard next to the house that for a long time I've been wanting to dig. One weird thing though is that it's upwind soooo... doesn't seem like the smartest idea to me but on the other side of the house is a road, so it might have been the only option. But I stuck my soil probe (I need to get a bottle probe but don't have one) into the hole and around it and, honestly, it felt softer next to the hole than in it. I was confused but was like "screw it" and dug the hole anyway.
At first there wasn't much glass (kind of disappointing because I've found more glass that the chickens scratched up and digging a ditch for water pipes than the actual bottle hole lol). Then there was shards and pieces of a flower pot. "OK. So it's not just an accidental shard. There's actually something here."
I kept digging and found more shards and flower pot pieces and metal junk. Then, I put my shovel straight down onto the side of something and pushed down. At first I didn't know if it was a rock or bottle, but then saw glass and was astonished that it didn't break in half. I pulled it out and... it was WHOLE! At first I just saw one side and thought it was slick... then flipped it over and BAM! Surprise number 2! It says
"SC Wells & co
Leroy, N.Y."
And on the sides it says
"established" "in 1870"
It's not too old (could someone help me date it? Sorry I only have one picture right now. More tomorrow), but it's the first privy bottle I've dug and it's embossed.
I'll dig more tomorrow.
I've posted before about bottles I found in the attic of an old farm house that my family moved into a couple years ago. It's a century farm in East Tn that has been in the Brown family (not my family) since 1835. Unfortunately, I'm not sure where the original house was built, but the one currently standing is at least 100 years old (I think over been told it was built in the 1920s but the style was popular in the 1890s and the bottles I found in the attic seemed older than 20s).
So, the privy. There's 2 dips in the yard next to the house that for a long time I've been wanting to dig. One weird thing though is that it's upwind soooo... doesn't seem like the smartest idea to me but on the other side of the house is a road, so it might have been the only option. But I stuck my soil probe (I need to get a bottle probe but don't have one) into the hole and around it and, honestly, it felt softer next to the hole than in it. I was confused but was like "screw it" and dug the hole anyway.
At first there wasn't much glass (kind of disappointing because I've found more glass that the chickens scratched up and digging a ditch for water pipes than the actual bottle hole lol). Then there was shards and pieces of a flower pot. "OK. So it's not just an accidental shard. There's actually something here."
I kept digging and found more shards and flower pot pieces and metal junk. Then, I put my shovel straight down onto the side of something and pushed down. At first I didn't know if it was a rock or bottle, but then saw glass and was astonished that it didn't break in half. I pulled it out and... it was WHOLE! At first I just saw one side and thought it was slick... then flipped it over and BAM! Surprise number 2! It says
"SC Wells & co
Leroy, N.Y."
And on the sides it says
"established" "in 1870"
It's not too old (could someone help me date it? Sorry I only have one picture right now. More tomorrow), but it's the first privy bottle I've dug and it's embossed.
I'll dig more tomorrow.
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