LOCAL DIGGING??

[LEANBACON]

Hello all. Hope everyone has gone digging lately. Was just wondering if anyone knows of any sites that might be good for digging in the NYC area. I'm new to bottle collecting and would love to start digging. if you live in the area,i would gladly be someone's assitant if you need one. Up until now,i've only found bottles while diving. i'd like to start digging on land for a while. any info, greatly appreciated

 

[Tandy]

[] Hi LEANBACON,
being an Aussie and multi kilometres away, I am not able to assist you in finding somewhere to dig in New York City, but I can offer a form of collecting that you may not have considered.

It is called mud treading.

To do this mud treading, you need access to an old port where there are mangroves and relatively shallow water. We have a couple about 250+ kms away, which have given up many fantastic bottles. In the early days of both our histories, ships would have used these old ports, and the sailors on board would have thrown their bottles overboard, to float for a while and then sink. Gradually, due to tidal action and storms, many of these bottles migrate towards the beginnings of the mangroves.

We tend to wait until the lowest tide occurs, and then walk out into the sea so we are in water up to our chests. From here on, just walk up and down, using your feet to search for bottles. If they were thrown overboard, they should be there for you to tread on.

I strongly suggest that you wear strong "Adidas" type shoes and long socks. There may well be broken glass there also. You will probably find modern bottles there also, but the best bottles will be at least 150 years old, black, clear or green glass and quite possibly embossed.

As there must be an old port that would fit the description, I wish you all the very best of luck for summer mud treading.

[]

 

[LEANBACON]

Dear Tandy, Thanks so much for the advice. Thats a wonderful idea that i never thought of. My biggest wish would be to Dive in the EAST RIVER. That would be the river on the east side of Manhattan, NYC. It's bound to yeild great finds, but the water has extreme currents and the water itself is highly poluted, so no chance in diving there. Anyhow, thanks again for the wonderful advice.

 

[deepwoods]

Lean - I thought of the River too,but I wasnt going to mention it,because of its notoriousness as being the spot where"the boys"dumped bodies,going back to the turn of the century- I dont know if I'd have the stomach for that. How about the Hudson? Also some lakes around the catskills and the Saratoga area were spas and resorts in the 1800s - Ive heard stories about divers finding tons of good bottles in some of them. Get a chance to look at the digging stories in Antique Bottle and Glass online yet?

 

[LEANBACON]

YES!!! THE BOYS! lol
HAHAHAA. many a person have been known to wear cement shoes, and tried walking to Brooklyn. I'm not one for placing bets, but i think the percentage of people who actuially made it over, is SLIM TO NONE!. But think of the possibilities? i would have to honestly say that in the east river, there's got to be thousands of bottles to be collected. The reason why i say the east side of manhattan, is because it hasn't chaged in over a hundred years. The west side, especially, the lower west side has changed dramatically. The dirt removed for the world trade, was used to build an extension on the lower west side of manhattan. Before the world trade was erected, nothing existed west, of the west side highway. now there's a whole other community there, with at least 10-20 new High rises that overlook Jersey. The possibilty of finding anything on that side would be very slime also.

 

[Oldtimer]

Lean B , get my PM?