Some Colonial buttons....

[Anonymous]

I found a cellar hole in the woods and gave it a shot myself this weekend. It was very hot so I only tried with the Excel around the foundation for a couple hours. I hiked though some real thick woods with the Excel in my pack. It's a really small cellar, & very intact, but I didn't hit on any coins
Not yet anyways...I did dig up lots of pieces of a cast iron pot, & all these buttons all 1700's which was sorta a good sign. They may have lived off the land & had no money I also kept a 1700's rosehead nail that was in the same hole as a button. I'll have to get back there again.......

 

[Jackpine Savage]

Bill,

Do you think that was a small dwelling or an outbuilding? I can't imagine living in something that size. Maybe it was a hermit.

If only they lost half as many coins as they did buttons that would be nice.

Tom

 

[Bill Ladd]

That is what we call a "half basement" or in other words, just the root cellar. The house sat on top of it, & this was under 1 corner of the house. A cellar of 8X10 I think, with stairs going down. I should have brushed the leaves off cause you can still walk right down. This is one of the best examples I have ever found. Many are toppled after over 200 years or the stones get taken away by others. It was near that early mill site I found before, & I was hoping it was the mill owners house (mill owners had $$) But usually richer folks, or tavern owners had "full basements". So, this is perhaps just a poor workers house or farmer who just had some clothing (buttons), a cooking pot, & not much else. We run into this alot. The site looks killer & you hope it's dripping with Large Cents & Spanish $ilver, but these people just lived off the land....

 

[Jackpine Savage]

Bill,

I can't tell for sure from the pics but can't see any evidence of a larger foundation around the cellar. Maybe it was seperate and you need to look around for the main house.

Tom

 

[Jackpine Savage]

I have to wonder if its actually a root cellar. You wouldn't get many spuds and onions and such in something that size. Certainly not enough to get even a small family thru the winter. Of course they could have stored the taters in insulated ground pits. Don't know how they did it around you, but here root cellars were BIG.

Tom

 

[Don in SJ]

Even though we do not have many rock foundations in our sandy area, I do have one site identical to your picture, the cellar hole is almost identical in appearance and I agree that it was just part of the entire footprint and not a seperate building.
Oh, at my site like that, no old coins either, thimbles, buttons and pieces of pot iron....

D

 

[Bill Ladd]

& all those points kinda lead me to believe this person had very little. Lived of the land & didn't have tons of food to even store. Probably lucky to even have had that for a basement. In my experiences, detecting-wise at places like this you can almost predict how your gonna do by cellar size. Bigger, full cellars produce coins, shoe buckles & lots a relics.
Your right, this one is so small there should be a larger mill house foundation out there someplace. There's lots a woods left to cover & it's very overgrown right now....

 

[sandnsea49]

That probably explains why when I checked an old home abandond home I didn't find any coins either. Just junk and nails. lots of nails. Probably didn't have anything to lose. Thanks, Tom

 

[Tony (NC)]

I don't see any ocean around there! I thought you had a patch over one eye and sand in your shoes! Surf's up!

 

[Bill Ladd]

n/t

 

[Jackpine Savage]

Good luck there Bill!

Tom