So I hunted my own cellar today...

Rustic

Sr. Member
Jul 10, 2015
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western MA
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Metal Detecting
My house was built in 1825 by a man named Willard Church, and today it finally occurred to me that maybe I should go down into the dirt floored basement and see if he left anything behind. Sure enough, I found this nice button right up against the stones of the foundation, about 5 inches down in the dirt.

I can't help but think that, when Willard lifted a particularly heavy stone up into place for the foundation, he scraped off a button from his jacket, where it has lain ever since. I soaked it in olive oil for a few hours, which is why the back looks wet. What a great little keepsake.

When I move one day, I'll make up a little time capsule with this button, and a few other things I recovered in the yard (a small toy truck, a token, a silver thimble and a silver cross) along with a few little things of my own (maybe a couple photos of my family, some recent coinage, and a poem or two) and re bury them in a corner down there for someone else to find someday... hopefully there will be a metal detectorist around in a hundred years to find it, and maybe even add to the cache.
 

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Upvote 6
I like it! I have relics from my yard and keep them together. They are part of the history. Your place should hold many old treasures.
HH
 

Cool find and story! I wonder if Willard was kin to Senator Carl Church and my Mom's side of the family as well??!! We have Church and Upchurch on my Mom's side and I met and knew Senator Carl Church's nephew when I was in the U.S. Army in West Germany. He was a spitting image of my Mom's sister, my Aunt Betty, right down to the freckles!


Frank
 

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