Last week me and a detecting buddy both had the same idea to explore an area of woods by us. We knew there were old houses there from the late 1800s plus potential British activity (stay tuned on this). So, one afternoon we said why not, let’s check it out! After a couple hours, we did find one of the houses, but nothing metal to speak of. As I came over a little hill, in the pit of a fallen tree I spotted a couple of bottles. I called Joe over and as we got closer, we could see the bottles but also broken glass and pottery, and what we thought were shells (clam and oyster). We did some digging and what we very quickly discovered was a 150 year old trash dump.
One quick aside. Most, if not all houses before the modern trash system would bury their own trash. This would include glass, pottery, shells and metals (and more). If you’re ever walking in the woods or digging in you’re own garden and come across any of that stuff, you’ve found an old dump! And if you remember some of my older posts and videos, I was able to rediscover an old homesite by spotting broken glass on the surface during a walk in the woods.
The two bottles that were on the surface were maple syrups from Vermont! They were pretty big when it comes to older bottles and complete! So, we are going to start with those for this new series on said trash dump.
These bottles were most likely produced in the 1870s to 1880s. The bottles could have been filled with maple syrup and shipped, or the syrup was shipped and bottled at the final destination. The second shipping option would be the safer way to minimize breaking any of the glass.
More specifically, they are from Stowe, Vermont and have the name Vernon M. Smith embossed on it. I wasn’t able to find much information but the tiny bit I did is pretty amazing! Vernon Morton Smith served in the Civil War!! Private Smith served in the 3rd Vermont Infantry Regiment for the Union from 1861 to 1863 when he was discharged due to disability.
Stay tuned for more bottles and even more history!
cshapgoeseast 