Where to dig near old house?

[Hannahbelle]

I recently located two different sites that I would love to dig at, but since I am so new at this, I have no clue where to start.
A little back ground on my "digging"....I found a bottle on the surface on the outer edge of my parent's property that they had recently moved to in Ontario - turned out to be the old farm's dump, so I have dug there.
Other than that, which I found by chance, I haven't tried anywhere else.

One of the properties I recently located is the remnants of a house from the 1800's, (about, I am not 100% sure. It is stone, and actually looks like an old castle from medieval england!!)
There is a stone fence all around the property, and also a stone fence that encloses another area that I'm thinking must have been animals of some type.
I have NO idea how to go about finding an area to dig, as the property is HUGE.

The other property is in the middle of the forest, and is just a stone foundation. The foundation is on a bit of a hill, and behind it there is a small ravine, that at the moment is filled with water.

The problem with BOTH sites is that kids have hung around them for years, and left all sorts of garbage everywhere, so seeing anything poking out of the earth, well, it's usually fairly recent.

Anyone have any ideas on how I can figure out where to start?

 

[CanadianBoy]

Hey Hannahbelle ,you need to get yourself a probe,also look for anywhere the ground as sunk slightly.
The ravine sounds like a good spot,probe down the hillside.
Where are you ?,I,m near Peterborough,Ont.

 

[Hannahbelle]

Hey CanadianBoy!
I'm near Montreal.
So, how have you gone about finding old dumps and stuff? I've been looking into the archives on the Canadian Government website, but haven't found much at all...I have a feeling that where I am close to is too urbanized, so I'm going to move on to Ontario, near where my parent's live - they are out in the country near Ottawa.

 

[CanadianBoy]

Hey annahbelle
nice to hear from you,around Ottawa's a good place to find dumps,my sister-in-law lives in Carlton Place and I think I'm going to visit and check it out this summer.
So here's a bit to get you started..................
Travel all the backroads in your area(I've traveled most of the backroads within a 60 mile area of my home,at least twice),get topographical maps of the area,both new and as old as you can find,they made some really old ones of colonization roads.
Compare the new ones to the older ones,find roads that have being closed,a great place for dumping was at the end of dead-end roads.Check out the local library,& city hall records.
Look for ravines,dried up ponds,creeks,river beds,old farmsteads,privies,ghost towns.
Get yourself a probe,if you have the money buy a metal detector.
It also helps if you are a history buff.
I have found when locating dumps that ravines along road sides contain a vast storehouse of dump items.
And for you new diggers just getting into the field (or dump) the best way to find a dump when going down a road is to think of places you would dump things fast, and unseen,then check those places out and 3 out of 4 times you'll find a dump.
And not just country roads but major highways.

I have found dumps even along super highways!!!
Us old guys get a little longgggg winded sometimes,but Hey! this is a great hobby.
And it does'nt have to cost much money,just remember to......DIG,DIG,DIG....
and post your finds here.This site is a wealth of digging knowledge.

 

[Hannahbelle]

Well, I'm going out to Ottawa this weekend, I'm going to dig around Morrisburg, which is close to Upper Canada Village - I know of alot of older areas around there, so I'm hoping to find a good dump!