Historical Significance of Sites

[jk666]

When you find a fruitful dump or privy, do you do research to try and figure out where the bottles may have come from?

I have a local spot in a town park with hundreds(?) of bottles on the surface alone. They are all along a stone wall for maybe 50 yards. I assume it was an old property line and the inhabitants either dumped at the edge of their property or just over it into someone else's. The bottles are mostly from the early 1920s and range from beer, soda and alcohol to medicine and apothecary type bottles. As it's with a town park I'm only taking things on the surface. If those date to the 1920s, I wonder what I'd find if I were to dig a little.

Looking at old maps, I can't nail down who might have used this dump.

 

[andy volkerts]

I have done research on sites where I have found bottles mostly to get an idea of where their may be more bottles. Its kind of hard to find info on the bottles themselves unless they are labled or embossed. Also if you can get your towns or cities Aldermans or council records they often will say where dumps were used and where at and time frames of use. In this case if the old maps don't help, your city council records may have info regarding who lived where and when. also city directories are helpful sources of information. If you can dig a little when no ones around and you can cover up your holes, you may find some older stuff, don't destroy the landscape if you can help it. just for giggles you might want to see if your town may be up for letting you clean up the junk and do a little digging at the same time, sometimes something may be worked out. also look for areas that may have been below the level of the current landscape, or have been filled in in the past, those are good dump sites.....Good luck......Andy

 

[jk666]

I do some work with my town's historical society and I asked if we had some contacts with the next town over. The cleanup idea has also been kicked around. The dump site isn't adjacent to the trail, a stone wall separates them, so they might never notice any 'digging' anyway.

 

[RCO]

i often research the history of a location I was digging or swimming at , it gives you a better idea what was there at some point . as often old buildings and such are long gone by now , so there is few obvious clues as to history of site .
find acquiring local history books is the best way to learn about local history , often not a lot online and older books still have really good info in them

 

[jk666]

This is a great site for old maps.

http://www.davidrumsey.com

 

[andy volkerts]

Sure is!!........Andy

 

[jk666]

Went back to this spot last night and just goes on forever. One end seems to be more beer and alcohol bottles and the opposite end is more medicine and chemical bottles. What's odd is that this is on the top of a small hill.

 

[Privyprowlerz]

hello jk. one place you may wish to start is by finding your localities Sanborn maps. these are generally 1890's to 1920's and were laid out for the use by insurance companies. if you can be persistent, you can obtain these free online. I will include one from my local area.

good luck my friend,

Jim

 

[andy volkerts]

Went back to this spot last night and just goes on forever. One end seems to be more beer and alcohol bottles and the opposite end is more medicine and chemical bottles. What's odd is that this is on the top of a small hill.

would be a real kick in the butt, if that small hill turned out to be a dump!!

 

[jk666]

I thought about that, but it's got rock outcrops etc. Yesterday I found a spot along the stone wall that's at least 10 square feet of foot deep broken glass. I', thinking it's too large to be an estate dump, it has to be a town dump. Still investigating, thanks for the Sanborn info.