Old Home Site

[Trying not to break it]

hi penny, i think you are doing really good on finding the privy. you'r ahead of me on that. the one is probably a syrup bottle, i couldn't tell if the other one is cork top or not. are there any markings on the bottom of the bottles? that might help with age or glass maker. good luck, if you found one privy, there may be older ones there. rhona

 

[pplinker]

Hi Rhona,

Thank you for looking at the pictures, but as stated, finding the privy was just luck. Persistence, but i can't seem to stop. I lay awake thinking about finding old stuff i could prob buy at a flea market instead of working my butt off, but it is FASCINATING! To answer your question, the green bottle bottom has a P with a circle around it. Then 550 is in the center of the bottom. Below that is the number 9 with a dot under it. There's no writing on the sides, so it must have had a paper label. It's not a screw cap top, so it must have been a corked type.

Tomorrow (if i'm able) i'll go dig some more. These were about 3 feet down is all the further i got today, hoping to find more tomorrow.

Penny

 

[RICKJJ59W]

The seeds in a privy were not thrown in,they were (deposited) in.[] Aka in human waste.What ever they ate,went in the pit.
For digging a privy by your self, your doing a hellofa job.Just don't get over your head.get help.
If your finding shoes,and bottles KEEP ON DIGGIN!

 

[Trying not to break it]

hi penny, the p in a circle is pierce glass co. (1917-C1980) port allegany, pa.. most of the bottles i have found from them seem to have that pale green color, i think it's pretty. the deeper you go the older the bottles should be. good luck, keep us posted, rhona

 

[FloridaDigger]

Good job Penny; ..glad it was a privy. Privys were often used as both a bathroom & garbage pit; ..not always separate. Seeds were both "deposited" (as RICK stated) AND thrown in as kitchen waste. Digging two separate areas was a chore; ..so often the privy served as both; ...and thanks to BALTBOTTLES for his insight on the concrete issue. Down here in Florida we dont have the honor of digging pontil age stuff; ..so I have not seen one like yours with concrete topper. Dig it all the way to the bottom; ..thats were the good stuff is!.....

 

[Wilkie]

I know of an abandoned home sight in Cordelia that has a concrete foundation just 10 feet from the back door. It looks "just" like the one you found. I can see old saw blades and other metal objects mixed into the concrete mixture. I thought to myself, "that's the right shape for a privy" but I talked myself out of digging it, thinking, "no way, can't be". Now I guess I'll have to go back there and check it out.

 

[Wilkie]

what part of the country you in Penny? Just wondering if it's a regional thing.

 

[pplinker]

Rickjj59W, thanks for the unsavory info on the seeds,,,,,,ewwwwww!

Trying not to break it....thanks for the info on Pierce glass company. good to know, i guess you experienced folks know just about any little detail that i would consider impossible to track down.

FLa Digger, thanks for your encouragement on this. The concrete was misleading. I'd sort of think a concrete foundation would mean the family had some extra money to be that fancy with an outhouse foundation. But i read somewhere that WPA program built outhouses in this region and i believe they did use concrete on some of them. I dug all the way to the bottom but it was only 4 feet! Then the dirt became hard. Found a marble and a beer bottle but the bottle is all, besides the two pictured above.

Ya know the absense of bottles makes sense to me. I keep reading about finding good bottles in privies, but it makes more sense that if someone has to dig those holes, it'd be stupid to put trash down them and soon you'd have to dig another hole. I know the trash dumping happened a lot, but i think it happened more with renters, or with public toilets. I can just picture the man of the house (on a farm) getting angry with the kids if he sees anything but doogies floating down below because if the hole fills up too quick, he has to dig another one!

Anyway i did all that digging for two pretty much worthless bottles but i don't mind because it was a good experience. How many people can say they dug up an outhouse? NORMAL people i mean!, LOL. Now i just have to find the dump, there has to be a dump.

Oh, and Wilkie.....i'm in West Virginia. Your concrete thing sounds like mine, it's probably an outhouse, i hope you dig it to at least satisfy your curiosity about it. Be sure to post your results!

Penny

.

 

[baltbottles]

what was the privy lined with below the concrete footer? was it wood or brick or was it concrete all the way to the bottom?

Chris

 

[pplinker]

Hi Chris,

The concrete footer rested on a lining of rocks about a foot thick. Then it was just dirt walls below that.

Penny