I never really thought much of old bottles and stuff but over the years, reading about the stuff you find I have been getting into it more and more. I try to keep my eyes peeled whenever I hike through the woods now.
I am just wondering, what are these 'bottle holes' you speak of? Are they just areas where lots of garbage has accumulated or are/were they specific places that bottles were dumped like a landfill deal if they weren't going to be recycled for whatever reason?
"A shadow is cast wherever he stands, stacks of green paper in his red right hand"
Oh, and just an FYI...I don't know how legal it is or if they want you doing it, but there were no 'no trespassing signs' or anything, but in the corner of the Holtsville Ecology site (former landfill closed/converted in the 70's IIRC?) There is often freshly dug up areas by where they keep the mulch. In the dirt you find PILES of old stuff, and it's amazing how intact it all is. I have found pieces of newspapers from the 70's that were perfectly readable, old flyers, cans/bottles ect... Most of it isn't THAT old, everything I found that was dated was from the 70's but it's still cool to check out. Found an old coke bottle there and even an old set of Hooker headers lol
"A shadow is cast wherever he stands, stacks of green paper in his red right hand"
Originally Posted by nocturnal396
Before people had a town dump, people would dump there trash behind the farm or down the road in the ditch or down the side of a hill. They would also use there old out house holes to dump garbage.
Hence the term "privy dig!"
Bottle holes out here are usually way out along a tree line next to a farm lot. They would dig out the ground and make a hole and fill it up with bottles, glass and metal. When the hole was reasonably full, they would cover it over with the dirt pile left on the side from years before when they dug the hole.
As you can guess, the dirt would settle and wash thru the hole and expose the dumpings to some extent giving you a hint as to where it was located even though leaves would fall on top of that.
I just bought a brand new $40 potato fork which i was told is good for digging. Curiosity got the best of me. I will post my findings and experiences here with this tool later.
"YOU CAN'T STAY YOUNG FOREVER, BUT YOU CAN BE IMMATURE FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!!"
The potato fork was only a moderate success. Why you ask? (....why Larry?). Because the ground up there has quite a network of roots. While it did help breaking the ground up, I couldn't rely on it to pick up the ground. It just softened it to the point that it made digging with my small shovel easier...saved my back. I did come home with about a dozen+ nice gems including a sweet Evan's Dairy of Amityville half pint and a Birely's soda pop bottle!
"YOU CAN'T STAY YOUNG FOREVER, BUT YOU CAN BE IMMATURE FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!!"
JUST A VERY SMALL PART OF WHERE I WAS DIGGING TODAY:
"YOU CAN'T STAY YOUNG FOREVER, BUT YOU CAN BE IMMATURE FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!!"
THE OTHER DAY I PARKED @ HALLOCKVILLE AND WALKED TO THE SOUND THRU THE OLD LILCO PROPERTY FORMERLY THE OLD LEVON SAND PITS TO THE BEACH. IT WAS DEAD STILL, BARELY A BREEZE. I WENT TO CHECK OUT A SPUR OFF A TRAIL IN A CREVIS FULL OF BOTTLES INTRODUCED TO US LAST WEEK BY ANOTHER BOTTLE DIGGER. AFTER MUCH SNIPPING AND CLIPPING OF VINES AND BRANCHES MY FINDS WERE QUITE WEAK....ONE BOTTLE, A PLAIN JANE.
LATER AFTER LEAVING THE CREVIS, I WANDERED UP THE BEACH FURTHER TO THE EAST AND LOOKED AT ALL THE LANDSLIDES THAT MUST'VE OCCURRED DURING THAT HEAVY RAIN FROM ALMOST 3 WEEKS AGO. I HAPPEN TO SPOT A NARROW SLIDE THAT LITERALLY GLISTENING WITH SPARKLES OF WHAT I ASSUMED WAS GLASS AND IT PIQUED MY CURIOSITY. I WALKED OVER TO WHERE THE LANDSLIDE MET THE BEACH AND WAS PLEASED TO SEE WHAT LOOKED TO BE THE PROMISE OF MORE....
SO I STARTED UP THE HILL AN ALMOST 45º ANGLE, CLIMBING OVER WHOLE TREES AND DERIS FROM A STAIRWAY THAT I GUESS WAS ONCE THERE. I KEPT FINDING MEDICINES AND COMPLETE UNBROKEN BEER BOTTLES EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE SURROUNDED BY BIG ROCKS AND CONCRETE....
I WAS TRULY GETING CAUGHT UP IN THE CLIMB TRYING TO AVOID EVERY CREVIS AND TRYING TO KEEP MY FOOTING. THE GROUND SEEMED SOLID AND DRY, BUT THE CONCERN WAS SLIPPING AND FALLING ESPECIALLY WHILE BEING ALONE. I WENT UP JUST SO FAR AND DECIDED THAT THE 6 BOTTLES I FOUND WERE ENOUGH UNTIL I COULD RETURN WITH A SPOTTER BUDDY AS BACK UP. THE AREA I WAS CLIMBING IS OUTLINED IN RED AND I WENT AS FAR AS THE ARROW APPROX:
"YOU CAN'T STAY YOUNG FOREVER, BUT YOU CAN BE IMMATURE FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!!"
OKAY HERE IS WHAT I BROUGHT HOME....
THE 2 TALL AQUAS ON THE RIGHT ARE EMBOSSED WELZ & ZERNICK BREWERY BOTTLES FROM BROOKLYN PROBABLY AROUND THE 20'S AND 30'S
THE 1 TALL AQUA ON THE LEFT IS AN EMBOSSED S. LEIBMANN & SONS BREWERY BOTTLE ALSO FROM THE 20'S-30'S ERA.
THE TALL BROWN CENTER LEFT HAS NO EMBOSSMENTS ON THE SIDES OR SHOULDER, BUT HAS THESE MARKINGS ON THE BOTTOM MAKING ME THINK IT'S ANHEUSER-BUSCH FROM 1926? MAYBE A MICHELOB OR BUDWEISER HAVING ONCE A PAPER LABEL....
THE TALL DARK GREEN CENTER RIGHT BOTTLE HAS NO EMBOSSMENTS ON IT EITHER BUT SHOWED THIS UNIQUE ETCHING ON THE SIDE AND NOT SHOWING ANY SEAM:
THE HEAVY GLASS BOTTOM LOOKS LIKE A WINE BOTTLE STYLE.
THE SIDE SEEM ON THIS UNUSUAL SHAPED BOTTLE SAYS TURN OF THE CENTURY(?), BUT HAVE NO IDEAS OF WHAT IT COULD'VE BEEN...JUST THOUGHT IT WAS NEAT AND NEAT COMES HOME WITH ME!
HERE'S ANOTHER UNIDENTIFIABLE BOTTLE IN THE NEAT STATUS CATEGORY. IT ONLY HAS A "4" ON THE BOTTOM WITH NO OTHER MARKINGS:
THE LITTLE COBALT BLUE BOTTLE WAS A BROMO-SELTZER THAT I SLIPPED INTO MY POCKET FOR SAFE KEEPING AND TO GIVE TO MY SISTER SINCE SHE LOVES THE COLOR.
THERE WERE A FEW MEDICINE BOTTLES AS WELL WHICH HAD PAPER LABELS AND NO EMBOSSMENTS....KINDA GENERIC BUT STILL HAD THE "NEAT" QUALITIES. LOL!
HOPE TO HIT IT AGAIN SOON BEFORE IT GETS WILD WITH VINES AND HOT OUT!
Last edited by DOC; 04-24-2010 at 01:02 PM.
"YOU CAN'T STAY YOUNG FOREVER, BUT YOU CAN BE IMMATURE FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!!"
Maybe that wide mouth is a Horseradish bottle?
Okay, i went back with buddy back-up yesterday. I claimed a couple and my buddy pete went up the landslide even further and grabbed whatever he saw on top and half buried. At one point when i was washing some of the bottles in the water, he said "you should go find something to carry these back to the car in." i had to walk pretty far up the beach a ways, but found a decent 5-gallon bucket with a handle (bonus!). When i brought it back to the hill i asked if the bucket was overkill and he said "no...that's perfect!" he loaded it up and between the two of us, we managed to get back down safely to the beach.
Here is the take for 30 or so minutes of picking...
AND HIS LOCATION ON THE BLUFF'S LANDSLIDE AT ONE POINT GOING BEYOND WHERE I WENT ORIGINALLY...
HE GRABBED A BOTTLE THAT I COULDN'T GRAB THE OTHER DAY WHILE ALONE FOR ME THAT I CALLE DIBBS ON....
A 100 YEAR OLD BROMO-SELTZER COBALT BLUE BOTTLE THANKFULLY IN ONE PIECE...PERFECT...NO CHIPS!
HE PRETTY MUCH TOOK ALL THE REST LIKE THIS RRR RADWAY & CO NY BOTTLE...
WE DID SOME RESEARCH AND FOUND OUT THAT "RRR" STANDS FOR "RADWAY RESCUE REMEDY" 6" TALL BOTTLE LIGHT AQUA IN COLOR.
ANOTHER COOL OUT OF STATE FIND WAS THIS OLD PHILLY JOHN WYETH & BROS. BEER BOTTLE ABOUT 100 YEARS OLD OR OLDER...
ALSO IN THE MIX WAS A STONEWARE BOTTLE MISSING THE MOUTH UNFORT. THIS IS AN 18TH CENTURY BEER BOTTLE AS CLOSE AS WE CAN TELL.
ON THE WAY DOWN THE HILL I SPOTTED THIS MUDDIED ENCRUSTED SHARD OF GLASS WITH EMBOSSING ON IT AND CLEANED IT UP IN THE SOUND....
THE GREAT ATLANTIC & PACIFIC TEA COMPANY, JERSEY CITY, NJ.
JUST GOES TO SHOW YOU WHAT IS STILL BURIED OUT THERE IN THE WILDERNESS FROM MANY DECADES AGO!
HAPPY HUNTING!
"YOU CAN'T STAY YOUNG FOREVER, BUT YOU CAN BE IMMATURE FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!!"
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