Inside Old Foundations

[deepwoods]

Has anyone here had any luck digging in old, dirt filled foundations? Ive located the foundation of an old grist mill on the property of a very large house built in 1857 - the owner is very touchy about any digging in the yard but is open to digging inside the foundation. Is it worth a shot?

 

[capsoda]

Hey John, People used old bottles for fill in foundations especially comercial foundations.
My wife and I dug part of a foundation that was full of soda bottles. Unfortunetly 99.9% of them were Chero Cola soda water bottles from Colombus, Georgia.

And I mean hundreds. We eventually gave up.

 

[Caretaker maine]

John, I dug one out last summer and took over 100 bottles out of it, all 1900 or earlyer, I have dug some of my best bottles out of cellar holes

 

[deepwoods]

Thanks for the info folks. Now Im startin to chomp at the bit - this spot looks oold.

 

[cowseatmaize]

I'd say give it a try. A couple things you could do though is research the mill. Some mills in remote areas were used into to 1900's. If it was dismantled in 1920 you won't find much if anthing that old.
You could also try going down at first to see if the fill gets older at the bottom.
That's just a couple ideas that could save you a lot of work if you don't want a bunch of new stuff.

 

[deepwoods]

Thanks Eric. Now Im going to reach for over-sized chrome spoon, and gather forth an intimate quantity of dried muffin remnants..

 

[jerseybones]

New member here, have a great digging in old foundations story that I will write another time. Just wanted to say YES! dig it now, because you will live to regret not knowing what was in there and from my experience you really want to check inside a dirt foundation of that age with a metal detector also. Good Hunting

 

[jerseybones]

So here's the story, and why you should never pass up a foundation or any other dig that is available to you. A grammar school friend and myself started digging bottles in our early teens. A year or two later after we had some idea of what we were doing we were told of two filled in foundations just a few yards into the woods near our highschool. We were told of them by a fellow digger who was a few years ahead of us in school. He said they were full of trash and that he had dug down a few feet and quit because the trash looked to be early 1950s and seeing that this was about 1969 didnt seem worth any further effort but he thought seeing we had only started digging more recently than him, we might want to check them out. So we did and agreed that they didnt look worth messing with, In 1969 when we started digging we didnt dig anywhere that wasnt totally blown bottles if we even saw one machine made bottle we usually headed for better digs ( but that was then) Flash foward to 2001, A little older and wiser but still digging when we can. After digging a trash pit behing a local older home that had 50s and 60s trash on top but then getting a few nice prohabition whiskeys,some early20s milk bottles( rare local ones) and even a nice stoneware jug and a few local blob tops from around 1900 on the bottom. We simultaneously remember the old foundation that we never dug and decide to see if they are still there. The next weekend we check them out, yep they look the same except very overgrown and alot bigger than either of us remembered. We decide to dig the one thats not quite full, first to see if theres much of anything interesting. Took almost all day to finish the first one, nothing to take home till the last foot of trash when all of a sudden it turns solidly to early 40 and 30s junk...seems like someone cleaned out a kitchen of misc. fiesta ware all in perfect condition including a large platter and water pitcher among other pieces. We check the books when we get home and wow! some pieces are rare! Total haul about $1000 worth. Now we cant wait for the next weekend to dig the other hole. Same deal following Sunday. We dig most of the day through 50s and 60s garbage but even a few keepers in there, some interesing local pyroglazed sodas, and a few odd household items (more on that in a minute) we get near the bottom and same deal, no fiestaware but a large mix of miscellaneous dishes some decent stoneware kitchen bowls and stuff like that, nothing really killer by itself but all together a few $100 worth so we are very glad we dug them.,even though we didnt get any "keeper" bottles. So we are taking a break before filling the holes back in, when my friend hands me something he had put on the side as a watsit? There were lots of weird pieces of junk in these holes but "most" was just that worthless junk. But this piece caught my eye. He said what do you think it is? It looks like brass or bronze. I said dont you recognize it? He says no! I'm tired just tell me what it is.I say try and open the top and you will know. Its very caked with dirt but he manages to open it and says oh yea its a desk top ink holder which he realizes when he sees the glass insert inside which still has dried ink in it. He says do you thinks its worth anything? I say check the bottom for a stamp he cleans off the center and says nah no stamp, should we keep it? I say put it on the side and I will check it out when we are done filling in. We tear through the fill in pretty quickly and stop for water and a break before hauling our goodies and tools back to the truck. I say let me checkout that desk ink now, As I look at it and heft it in my hands I can tell its no piece of imported junk this thing says Quality to me ,so I take some water and clean up the bottom. Hey it does have a stamp I tell him its just right on the edge not in the middle where you would expect. Watsit say? he says I cant quite make it out, needs a little more cleaning, Holy Crap! ..WHAT! he says.Isay... it says..........Tiffany.! Well it cleaned up perfectly the glass liner was cracked and leaked( probably why it got tossed)but not an issue. And it turns out that these pattern of desk inks are fairly rare and sell from 3 to 5 Thousand at auction! Not a bad days work and thats the long story of why you never know whats gonna be in those foundations or any other dig!. So I say Dig 'em all!

 

[capsoda]

Great story Kenneth. Good point in a very enjoyable package.