Finds Made Recently at Mid-1800's homesite

[VTColonialDigger]

Well I haven't posted much here recently, but wanted to share a few finds I made around Thanksgiving. I noticed a homesite marked on multiple 1860's maps which was already on land I had permission to, so I had to check it out. Turns out the site was older than I thought, as I found hand forged nails and my hunting buddy found a colonial fork. Based on the artifacts it would seem the place was lived in from the late 1700s- mid 1800s. Unfortunately, swinging was hard as the homesite was in an old overgrown field , but I was still able to pull out a few good things. I was particularly happy with the Civil War era eagle button. The oval shaped iron piece is what I believe to be a spoon handle. The hooked iron object with the notch is still a mystery to me, but I think what it could be is the trigger system for an old-time animal trap. The best I can figure is that bait would go on the hook side and if an animal pulled on it, it would release a door or other mechanism caught on the notched side. This is the only function that has made any sense to me, so please post any further ideas!

Thanks for looking

VT

 

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[Hunk-a-lead]

Well I haven't posted much here recently, but wanted to share a few finds I made around Thanksgiving. I noticed a homesite marked on multiple 1860's maps which was already on land I had permission to, so I had to check it out. Turns out the site was older than I thought, as I found hand forged nails and my hunting buddy found a colonial fork. Based on the artifacts it would seem the place was lived in from the late 1700s- mid 1800s. Unfortunately, swinging was hard as the homesite was in an old overgrown field , but I was still able to pull out a few good things. I was particularly happy with the Civil War era eagle button. The oval shaped iron piece is what I believe to be a spoon handle. The hooked iron object with the notch is still a mystery to me, but I think what it could be is the trigger system for an old-time animal trap. The best I can figure is that bait would go on the hook side and if an animal pulled on it, it would release a door or other mechanism caught on the notched side. This is the only function that has made any sense to me, so please post any further ideas!

Thanks for looking

VT


View attachment 2181813

looks like fun, wtg