paleomaxx
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- Upstate, NY
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- Primary Interest:
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Since finding the Jackpot Site some weeks back I've been convinced that there were more 18th century settlements along this road. During the past few weeks I've been exploring more and getting to know the neighbors as well since a good portion of the historic road has been resettled. It paid off this past week when I stumbled on another spot along the top of a ridge not even 100 feet away from a modern home.
Despite the squarish shape of the depression I was skeptical since it was built into a bedrock outcrop which is unusual and no trace of the foundation stones could be seen. It was also buried in brush which makes a proper grid difficult. Initially I didn't get many signals at all, but after 15 minutes or so I found a small pewter button and a few steps away a small fragment of a pewter spoon. Hardly any iron signals though, so I still wasn't convinced. Behind the foundation is an incredibly steep slope that continues down several hundred feet. It wasn't until I rounded the site and started going down that slope that I started getting signals. It was slow going due to the terrain and the brush, but after a couple good finds I hammered it every which way I could and by the end of two searches I had a simply astounding array of relics!
Above are just the non-ferrous finds, but even the ferrous finds were much more interesting than usual.
I found more sheet iron fragments than anywhere else I've been, but instead of being an annoying modern contamination I actually think they suggest that a tinsmith lived here. As evidence there were quite a few partially finished pieces like a candlestick mold and clipped handles, as well as cleanly snipped fragments. I also found a few large iron castings and one superb find which may be my best 18th century iron relic ever!
It's a cast iron figure of a man smoking a clay tobacco pipe! The style of the pipe bowl strongly suggests 18th century and my best guess is that it's a broken andiron. I'll keep looking for more pieces, but even with just these two it will make for a beautiful display.
Lots of late 18th and early 19th century relics. The pewter shoe buckle fragments are interesting, especially considering they're the exact same pattern as the one I found at the Jackpot Site. Also of note is the musket ramrod tube which I only rarely come across. Multiple intact Chippendale furniture plates, a good assortment of brass halter buckles, and a nice early batwing buckle round out the finds. There were several nicely designed pewter buttons which are always nice to see, but about halfway down the hill I pulled out another which blew me away:
Right out of the soil, a nearly perfect Continental Army USA button!!!
This is in the top 10 best preserved pewter buttons I've ever dug and the chances that it's a USA button are simply staggering. It didn't require much cleaning, but a little work and it's worthy of any museum display:
It also raises some interesting questions since I've now found USA buttons at two different homesteads along this road. The Jackpot Site button was 19mm and this one is 23mm and a slightly different style. The chop marks on the back are also odd, especially because I found them on a copper coin too:
It's a 1787 Connecticut copper, Miller 37.8-LL which is actually an R5 so rare. Unfortunately the contemporary damage doesn't make it much of a display coin, but the chop marks are interesting in that they aren't on both sides so it wasn't clippers, but more like a blade of some sort that was being hammered down. Just like on the button.
I found two other coins. Another decent CT copper:
Also a 1787, but a Miller 11.1-E which is R2 so fairly common. The last copper is in pretty rough shape:
Under the right lighting you can make out that it's a 1788 New Jersey copper. Oddly the side with the shield is completely wiped out which doesn't usually happen since it's such a bold feature on the coin. It almost seems like it was intentionally polished down.
One more mystery is a small gilted copper pendent:
Very beautiful design and much of the detail was preserved. I'm thinking it's 1810's or 1820's but other than that I don't have much to go on.
Once again, this was an incredible site to stumble on and coupled with the other one down the road this is turning into quite a historical hotspot. I'm still working on the research and I was recently told by one of the longtime locals that the small cemetery that I was shown used to be much larger. Apparently in the 1940's many of the larger headstones were raided for building materials by townspeople and at one time there may have been closer to 50 larger headstones and who knows how many smaller ones. While that is heartbreaking, it does suggest that this was a larger 18th century community that I first thought and that maybe there are quite a few lost homesteads along this road and up into the hill.
I'll keep you guys posted and I'm really hoping that these are just the first two in a series of sites!
Despite the squarish shape of the depression I was skeptical since it was built into a bedrock outcrop which is unusual and no trace of the foundation stones could be seen. It was also buried in brush which makes a proper grid difficult. Initially I didn't get many signals at all, but after 15 minutes or so I found a small pewter button and a few steps away a small fragment of a pewter spoon. Hardly any iron signals though, so I still wasn't convinced. Behind the foundation is an incredibly steep slope that continues down several hundred feet. It wasn't until I rounded the site and started going down that slope that I started getting signals. It was slow going due to the terrain and the brush, but after a couple good finds I hammered it every which way I could and by the end of two searches I had a simply astounding array of relics!
Above are just the non-ferrous finds, but even the ferrous finds were much more interesting than usual.
I found more sheet iron fragments than anywhere else I've been, but instead of being an annoying modern contamination I actually think they suggest that a tinsmith lived here. As evidence there were quite a few partially finished pieces like a candlestick mold and clipped handles, as well as cleanly snipped fragments. I also found a few large iron castings and one superb find which may be my best 18th century iron relic ever!
It's a cast iron figure of a man smoking a clay tobacco pipe! The style of the pipe bowl strongly suggests 18th century and my best guess is that it's a broken andiron. I'll keep looking for more pieces, but even with just these two it will make for a beautiful display.
Lots of late 18th and early 19th century relics. The pewter shoe buckle fragments are interesting, especially considering they're the exact same pattern as the one I found at the Jackpot Site. Also of note is the musket ramrod tube which I only rarely come across. Multiple intact Chippendale furniture plates, a good assortment of brass halter buckles, and a nice early batwing buckle round out the finds. There were several nicely designed pewter buttons which are always nice to see, but about halfway down the hill I pulled out another which blew me away:
Right out of the soil, a nearly perfect Continental Army USA button!!!
This is in the top 10 best preserved pewter buttons I've ever dug and the chances that it's a USA button are simply staggering. It didn't require much cleaning, but a little work and it's worthy of any museum display:
It also raises some interesting questions since I've now found USA buttons at two different homesteads along this road. The Jackpot Site button was 19mm and this one is 23mm and a slightly different style. The chop marks on the back are also odd, especially because I found them on a copper coin too:
It's a 1787 Connecticut copper, Miller 37.8-LL which is actually an R5 so rare. Unfortunately the contemporary damage doesn't make it much of a display coin, but the chop marks are interesting in that they aren't on both sides so it wasn't clippers, but more like a blade of some sort that was being hammered down. Just like on the button.
I found two other coins. Another decent CT copper:
Also a 1787, but a Miller 11.1-E which is R2 so fairly common. The last copper is in pretty rough shape:
Under the right lighting you can make out that it's a 1788 New Jersey copper. Oddly the side with the shield is completely wiped out which doesn't usually happen since it's such a bold feature on the coin. It almost seems like it was intentionally polished down.
One more mystery is a small gilted copper pendent:
Very beautiful design and much of the detail was preserved. I'm thinking it's 1810's or 1820's but other than that I don't have much to go on.
Once again, this was an incredible site to stumble on and coupled with the other one down the road this is turning into quite a historical hotspot. I'm still working on the research and I was recently told by one of the longtime locals that the small cemetery that I was shown used to be much larger. Apparently in the 1940's many of the larger headstones were raided for building materials by townspeople and at one time there may have been closer to 50 larger headstones and who knows how many smaller ones. While that is heartbreaking, it does suggest that this was a larger 18th century community that I first thought and that maybe there are quite a few lost homesteads along this road and up into the hill.
I'll keep you guys posted and I'm really hoping that these are just the first two in a series of sites!
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But when I do strike pay dirt it tends to be areas like this where old sites are clustered and have been missed because there are no map references nor obvious foundation holes for people to have spotted. I wish I could do it every weekend, but most times I'm just chasing ghosts in the woods.
