Historical Maps

[rebel1]

Does anyone know where I can find historical maps that show where old houses and old dumps use to be?

 

[UnderMiner]

Where are you located? I use the NYC-based service urbanarchive, it overlays historical images on maps of my area.

Urban Archive

Urban Archive is a technology nonprofit that promotes historical research and discovery.

www.urbanarchive.nyc

 

[PlaneDiggerCam]

Usually, for all over the country, you can use https://www.historicaerials.com/viewer. You can use the historic topo maps and aerials to find home sites, field boundaries, and trails that could lead to dumps.
For CT, the best aerial viewers that have produced great results for me are https://cslib.contentdm.oclc.org/cu...pages/indexes/digital_idx_map_state_1934.html
and
https://cslib.contentdm.oclc.org/cu...pages/indexes/digital_idx_map_state_1965.html

I've found countless farm and village dumps through these sites! Sometimes even if the aerials are from the 1930s or newer you can find 1800s dump sites with a bit more knowledge on the area and research overall.

 

[rebel1]

Usually, for all over the country, you can use https://www.historicaerials.com/viewer. You can use the historic topo maps and aerials to find home sites, field boundaries, and trails that could lead to dumps.
For CT, the best aerial viewers that have produced great results for me are https://cslib.contentdm.oclc.org/cu...pages/indexes/digital_idx_map_state_1934.html
and
https://cslib.contentdm.oclc.org/cu...pages/indexes/digital_idx_map_state_1965.html

I've found countless farm and village dumps through these sites! Sometimes even if the aerials are from the 1930s or newer you can find 1800s dump sites with a bit more knowledge on the area and research overall.

Thank you. I will take a look.

 

[rebel1]

Where are you located? I use the NYC-based service urbanarchive, it overlays historical images on maps of my area.

Urban Archive

Urban Archive is a technology nonprofit that promotes historical research and discovery.

www.urbanarchive.nyc

I live in Alabama. I will take a look. Thanks.

 

[CanadianBottles]

In my experience there aren't too many old maps with dumps marked on them from the era of dumps you would actually want to find. Finding the dump using old maps generally takes a bit of deduction and on the ground searching (this can be done with modern maps as well if you know enough about a town's history and how to gauge the age of a neighbourhood from its street pattern). Old newspapers will often tell give the location of dumps though, and you can see them on old aerial photos if you can get access to high-enough resolution copies. And sometimes a municipality will make maps of all known historic dump sites available for free online.

 

[UnderMiner]

@CanadianBottles agreed. The vast majority of the dump sites I found were simply by accident through the course of exploring and digging around in random places. The banks of rivers are a good place to start as it requires less digging and it's easy to clean the bottles in the water.

 

[rebel1]

In my experience there aren't too many old maps with dumps marked on them from the era of dumps you would actually want to find. Finding the dump using old maps generally takes a bit of deduction and on the ground searching (this can be done with modern maps as well if you know enough about a town's history and how to gauge the age of a neighbourhood from its street pattern). Old newspapers will often tell give the location of dumps though, and you can see them on old aerial photos if you can get access to high-enough resolution copies. And sometimes a municipality will make maps of all known historic dump sites available for free online.

Thank you for the advice.

 

[rebel1]

@CanadianBottles agreed. The vast majority of the dump sites I found were simply by accident through the course of exploring and digging around in random places. The banks of rivers are a good place to start as it requires less digging and it's easy to clean the bottles in the water.

Actually I am planning on wading creeks. I'm a young 77 year old and not sure if I can dig a six foot hole but I can wade a creek. My problem is getting the old maps to work for me. Harvie

 

[Len]

Hi Rebel 1,
You whippersnapper! There's more than one or two of us that wish we had your gumption. No matter in wet or dry just take your time and bottle hunt smart. Be patient with those maps and like Canadian Bottles said above, a little common sense deduction goes a long way. Good Hunting!