Today's gets

[Wheelah23]

Today turned out to be a nice one! At last night's bottle club meeting, I talked with Tom to figure out when to dig a privy. He said no digging tomorrow, but he could come over to probe any permissions I got. Well, with that knowledge, I set out to get some permissions... I went to the library to get myself a list of a bunch of old houses, because it conveniently has files on 80% of the houses here in Glen Ridge! I scraped together some addresses of pre-1890 homes. I have about a dozen on that list so far, but I was only at the library for less than an hour. I had time to ask for permission twice today, and both people gave me a thumbs up! One house was built in 1889, and didn't get plumbing until 1917. I know ABM privies are bad, but there's local bottles from around 1910 that I REALLY want, so I'll dig any privy, pretty much. As I was checking out the lay of the land, I noticed a familiar shape sticking out of the ground in the backyard. I walked over and picked it up, and to my glee, it was indeed a Hutter stopper! Obviously that is as good an indication as any of antique bottle activity, so I'm itching to get back there. The stopper is from a Newark firm I don't recognize, Munz & Kappmeier. The other house was built in 1865 and got plumbing in 1904. I just found out I can't probe tomorrow, but maybe the week after. Either way, there's a chance for some good bottles here. There's a couple unoccupied c.1880-1890 houses I could check out as well, they probably have privies too. Can't wait to dig these things!

I also bought this little milk glass plate at a house sale. It's got spiky hobnails, and aside from that, I don't know much about it... Fenton? I bet it's worth more than the 50 cents I paid...

 

[Wheelah23]

plate

 

[Wheelah23]

I've dug broken things with this on the base before.

 

[madman]

KEEP US POSTED! SOUNDS GOOD

 

[Wheelah23]

Turns out I can probe the 1865 house tomorrow! Yay! There's even a ring of stones in a circle partially exposed on the surface, but I think it might just be a well. Still, there may be good stuff in it.

 

[KBbottles]

Or a cistern that could have been filled in early enough with trash. Good luck!!!!

 

[Wheelah23]

Well, I got back just now... Good news! We went to the 1889 house first, which has a huge backyard. After an hour of probing, we had found nothing. Tom was surprised at how rocky the soil is, which is something I am sort of used to around here. Probing is difficult, now I've got blisters on my hands! This is the first time I've used the probe I got last year. But anyway, at least I got some practice. Tom ended up finding the privy, which was directly in line with the original back door of the house. I ain't got no experience with probing, so it's a good thing he was there to find it. Once he marked off the boundaries of the stone wall, I corroborated them by probing at an angle. Ideally, we will dig the privy next weekend. It seems likely at this point. I'm excited about this one, because a few houses up the street is where a local bottler lived, Petro Scola. Hopefully I'll get some of those bottles!

The 1865 house went well too. I actually hit a soft spot that left ash on the tip, but when Tom came over to check, he said it was too shallow. I had found an old hole, just not a privy. He found the privy, which was also in line with the back door. I was able to distinctly feel the privy-ness too. We marked off the walls, which are probably stone. There's a big oak tree next to it, probably planted for shade, but we're not worrying about the roots having penetrated the privy. We'll dig that one in a couple weeks, probably. Next door is an 1871 house, and we may be able to convince her to let us dig if she sees the privy being dug.

All in all, a good day! Can't wait to dig my first privy!

 

[Wheelah23]

Youse won't be minding if'n I bump this a bit, right? [&:]

 

[KBbottles]

Hey, Great job getting those permissions! Can't wait to see what your first privy digging experience brings. Both sound promising. Take lots of pictures. Hope you are keeping some sort of album besides on the forum of all of your digs. It will be fun to look back on over the years and will be something great to bring along with you when asking for more permissions.

 

[Wheelah23]

ORIGINAL: KBbottles

Hey, Great job getting those permissions!  Can't wait to see what your first privy digging experience brings.  Both sound promising.   Take lots of pictures.  Hope you are keeping some sort of album besides on the forum of all of your digs.  It will be fun to look back on over the years and will be something great to bring along with you when asking for more permissions.    

I definitely will be taking lots of pictures. The 1865 house was built by a famous resident of the town, Samuel Benson, so some of the finds may be donated to the historical society. The Benson family was huge around here, there is even a street named after them. They built a lot of the older, Civil War era houses. In a small town like this, I'm sure permissions will spread like wildfire! I may even let an article be written about the dig, but I've heard that can potentially cause problems with archies. Anyway, I'm sure the digs themselves will be memorable enough!