1800s McCoy Estate Foundation Findings

1liquigirl

Sr. Member
Jun 13, 2005
393
13
Bellefonte, PA
1800's McCoy Estate Foundation Findings

I found these items 'yesterday' (sorry for my posting time, but had to clean the pieces up a bit first) in an old foundation known as the old McCoy Estate and apple orchard. There is dirt inside each room with outlying foundation of the house still standing as well (to a height of a few feet, but one has a concrete floor with little troughs, which could have been a barn. To reach it requires a long hike of about 2 miles I'd guess, up the side of a mountain in our valley, some areas are very steep going. Judging the looks of things, I don't believe the sight has been MDed before, although people do camp near there. I found an older Pepsi bottle without its label, with a Nintendo Game Piece cap on it close to the foundation, just laying there. Also, near the path into the estate, there is a pile of rocks, which looks to be an old Indian grave or just a regular grave, with many years of moss growing on it, maybe just a pile of rocks, but the correct size to be otherwise. Good thing the brush was bare so I could see it from the path. I'll post pictures of this and the looks of the foundation on the next trip there, although I need to do some recovering from this one, huff, huff :P. I'm posting a few pics below. I'm not sure what the one object is, there are a few close ups of it. My friend told me, he saw something similar to this at his great grandfather's barn, but never saw one in one piece. He said it could be an item used to hang tools, like wheelbarrows, etc. It was hung over a rail, or track, to move the items quickly. And that on the back (the curved inward side), a wheel would be attached to move it on the track, the wheel would attach to the area furthest away from the ring part. There is a rounded off bolt through the front side that is bent and is folded over touching the iron piece in the back in the correct spot for a wheel. Also there is lettering on it as well, but it is hard to make out. My guess is B(or R)-E-A(or the letters N or R)-D-I-N-G. Does anyone know what it may mean? We do have a town of Reading here in Pennsylvania. Maybe it is just to tell us where it was made, but maybe not. The back curved area looks to be broken off because it is not straight at all there and may have had an identical piece structure on the other side. These pieces were all found within an hour (we were afraid of dark setting in before we made it back to the truck, and it was sleeting on us the whole time we were there), all pieces are made of iron. Thanks ahead of time for any help or oppinions on this piece. ;D
 

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Re: 1800's McCoy Estate Foundation Findings

If the concrete that the pump was in is in the foundation it probably is a cistern. My Parents house use to have a summer kitchen with a small pump that came from the cistern underneath it. first "indoor plumbing". there probably is a well around also. They usually are in back or to the side. I would check the side of the foundation where the cistern was. usually the kitchen was in the rear of the house and there would be a back door near it.

outhouses usually were no more than 30 yards away from the house as it would be a cold walk in Jan. especially in PA :)

The well is always a good place to look. also I like to make a swing out away from the foundation. If it has been MD-ed by others they rarely search out too far from the foundation and Ive found some nice stuff there.

Good Hunting and keep us informed

Tim
 

Re: 1800's McCoy Estate Foundation Findings

Hope you find some goodies, just watch where you step and be careful. Good luck! Tsgman
 

Re: 1800's McCoy Estate Foundation Findings

Ok all, I'm going tomorrow to search some more! I'll let you know how I make out, and send more pics. If I can borrow a friend's digital camera, I'll be able to send pictures of the area as well. Until then, ta ta.
 

Re: 1800's McCoy Estate Foundation Findings

1liquigirl said:
Ok all, I'm going tomorrow to search some more! I'll let you know how I make out, and send more pics. If I can borrow a friend's digital camera, I'll be able to send pictures of the area as well. Until then, ta ta.
good luck gal, i hope you find some good stuff and look forward to the posts :)
 

Re: 1800's McCoy Estate Foundation Findings

Sweet finally someone close to the state college area! Is there a local club in Bellefonte? Seems no one going to Penn State or the surrounding area ever metal detects

HH!

-Hunter
 

Re: 1800's McCoy Estate Foundation Findings

All, my friend will be here in the next hour with the digicam, so I will have pictures of the area to post tomorrow evening as well as the finds! Yippee!

hbeaton, there are two clubs close to us, neither of which I have gone to, but here are the listings Jeff had posted: If you go to the Bald Eagle Chapter, or if you find out any more contact info on the second one, I'd be glad to hear about it. Hope this helps.

Bald Eagle Chapter, (Port Matilda, PA)
Joe Doren [email protected] (814) 342-2661
Rich Best [email protected] (570) 398-1458
Meets 1st Saturday Monthly @ 11:30 AM

CENTRE COUNTY PRECIOUS RECOVERIES
City: Bellefonte
Location: Bellefonte, PA USA
 

Re: 1800's McCoy Estate Foundation Findings

Cool finds.
Keep diggen the beep. ;D
HH
Ray
 

Re: 1800's McCoy Estate Foundation Findings

I woke up this morning to rain, what a bummer! Went back to sleep, woke up, and the weather was good. Would have only had about another hour up there, if I had gone. So I crossed off the idea of going today, but planning to go tomorrow, before the thunderstorms in the forcast. In case it rains while I'm up there, I'm going to take a trash bag to put the Garrett in. And a smaller plastic bag that zips for the camera. I could have kicked myself for going back to bed. :P Oh, well, tommorrow's the day. 'Cuz after that, it's back down to 40 degrees by day and 20's at night. I learned a valuable lesson today, go for it, whatever the cost.
 

Re: 1800's McCoy Estate Foundation Findings

Thanks to all who have posted so far, I have returned to the site to find a few more nails and another unidentifiable item, only excavating a 2x2 area before thunderstorms rolled in. I will post pictures this evening, with pictures to baffle you on the entire area. Thanks for watching. Maybe, I need to start a club, and donate or sell the items to the Bellefonte Historical Society before this is all said and done. Can't wait to post later on.
 

Re: 1800's McCoy Estate Foundation Findings

Hi all, finally started working on getting some pictures on here. I went out to the site again this past Tuesday. We worked a 2x2 area and dug up 5 more nails, various sizes and another unknown object. I believe it's part of a knife as it has wood (mostly broke off except where the metal tacks hold it to the metal), iron, and metal tacks (Which are alot like our regular small nails for hanging picture frames, only their is a nailing end on each side of the iron knife part). I'll be listing the picture of these finds here soon. We had about another hour to dig, and raced out of there as the thunderheads began to roll in and it began to start raining about 3/4 of the way back out of there. I have already listed the tree markings, carvings, and possible evidence of maple tapping pictures in the Forum: Treasure Marks and Signs and listed as 1800's McCoy Estate Trees, if you'd like to check those out. Those pictures came out great after I cut them down to the right size. The ones I'm listing now, didn't turn out so well after sizing them, but I'm trying the best I can and you still get the general idea. This is a first for me with digicam photos. The first picture is of the stone bench and first campsite area, the second is a picture of the stone chairs and stone tables at the second campsite, the third is a picture of more stone chairs overlooking the view from the second campsite (this is the first time we discovered this set of chairs and they are in the right hand area of the second picture on the slope of the mountain). Enjoy.
 

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Re: 1800's McCoy Estate Foundation Findings

Bavaria Mike, here are a few pictures of the rock piles. The first three pictures are various views of the pile that looks like a grave. I was told there was an Indian Burial Ground on the mountain somewhere. Weren't Birch Trees sacred to the Indians? I thought I heard that somewhere. There are no Birch trees anywhere on the walk up to the site and then near that pile of rocks there are many. In the third picture at regular size, I counted 12 just in the view of the camera. Just makes me wonder.
 

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Re: 1800's McCoy Estate Foundation Findings

The fourth picture is two views of a very large pile at the back corner of the orchard. This may be the trash site, as TreasureKidd suggested.
 

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Re: 1800's McCoy Estate Foundation Findings

And one more for you. The Field Clearing Pile, another very large pile sitting between the orchard and the field area. Are there any other ways to find out if the first three pictures could be a grave, without digging it up? Anyone? Until tomorrow all, I'll finish up with pictures of Tuesday's finds and Pictures of the foundation rooms.
 

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Re: 1800's McCoy Estate Foundation Findings

thanks for the pix,s ,was wondering what the site looked like :) looks like a site were you could find alot of stuff. good luck :)
 

Re: 1800's McCoy Estate Foundation Findings

1luiqi,

Very interesting site. The speculated grave sites could be just that. The location of the sites in relation to the house sites could help add some light. Although situations back then often determined grave locations, some were close to the house and some were as far as a mile from the house ( community & family). I would speculate that these grave sites (if indeed they are) could very well be slave(or migrant worker) burial sites. They are normally unmarked and have the typical rock pile piled above ground. These would generally be very close to the actual work sites and often contain more than one body.I don't know alot about the history in your area, but in the south these grave sites are scattered all over and close to any old plantation.

Good luck with your detecting,
Smartin
 

Re: 1800's McCoy Estate Foundation Findings

Sorry to Keep you all waiting so long for all the pics of the Foundation. First, I'll send you a picture of the Map I drew, to show you how the whole foundation looks. Each picture after this is in numbered order, and are referenced in the map to show you where each pictured area is located. Tomorrow I'll be sending this past Tuesday's finds, and then, sigh, no more pictures until I get back out to the site. And it's soooo cold here right now. So, it may be a while. But anyway, enjoy all the pics.
 

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Re: 1800's McCoy Estate Foundation Findings

Oops, looks like not all of the map came up, but no matter (you aren't missing much). Sorry all, I'm getting an error message. I'll post the rest as soon as I figure out what is wrong here.
 

Re: 1800's McCoy Estate Foundation Findings

Nice pics and awesome site, hope you find a cache around there! HH, Mike
 

Re: 1800's McCoy Estate Foundation Findings

Wow, Lgirl. Nice map and nice pictures. It sounds like you need to spend a few days there hunting. I love the rock chairs. :D
 

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