I spent most of the summer, off and on, digging in my backyard. Must of been part of a old dump in the late 1800s to about the twenties. I found cork type bottles, lightning stopper types, a few with bottle caps still on, and a few with most of their paper labels intact! I figured since we moved in there had to be something out there. Everytime we dug a hole a piece of clay pipe or a clay marble would be found. Every year my son and I have dug around just seeing what we would find. This year we hit pay dirt finally. Digging down a slightly lumpy spot on the ground we began to find parts of embossed bottles and lots of rusty cans. When I say dig I mean dig, the average length down was about 3 to 5 feet for finding stuff. The amount of bottles found numbered about 100 unbroken and a trash can full of broken. At this point I am still sorting them but most are beer, soda, vaseline, whiskey, and medicine. The oldest bottle we found was a small pharmacy bottle from 1888. It is embossed H.C. PEARSALL PHARMACIST GLEN'S FALLS, NY marked DP & CO PAT'D MAY 15 88 F. A little local research revealed that Howard Pearsall was in business from 1888 to about 1894. Also found were quite a few D LA FLAM 15 WEST STREET GLENS FALLS, NY
The trouble was that West Street does not exist anymore in my city. Turns out it was my street's old name until about 1926 or so. The man in question, Dennis La Flam , operated a bottling plant and saloon until 1903 when he died.
W.H.VAN BENTHUYSON 23 WEST STREET GLENS FALLS, NY bottles were also in great abundance and for good reason. He was a bartender in La Flam's saloon and bought the place when he died. Using older maps my son and I discovered it was located just a few houses away from ours it now. He , as well as all the other bottles I've traced, went out with prohibition. Using makers names on the bottoms of the bottles I found most of them were made in the 1890's to about 1915, give or take.
As you can tell I've been doing research on our finds so I have not had time to develop the pictures we took. I will post them first chance I get. I've dug a few bottle dumps before but this was the best. Just the time I spent with my son was worth it all. Next year I know where I will be, in the backyard, hopefully bonding with my son a little more.
The trouble was that West Street does not exist anymore in my city. Turns out it was my street's old name until about 1926 or so. The man in question, Dennis La Flam , operated a bottling plant and saloon until 1903 when he died.
W.H.VAN BENTHUYSON 23 WEST STREET GLENS FALLS, NY bottles were also in great abundance and for good reason. He was a bartender in La Flam's saloon and bought the place when he died. Using older maps my son and I discovered it was located just a few houses away from ours it now. He , as well as all the other bottles I've traced, went out with prohibition. Using makers names on the bottoms of the bottles I found most of them were made in the 1890's to about 1915, give or take.
As you can tell I've been doing research on our finds so I have not had time to develop the pictures we took. I will post them first chance I get. I've dug a few bottle dumps before but this was the best. Just the time I spent with my son was worth it all. Next year I know where I will be, in the backyard, hopefully bonding with my son a little more.
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