Re: 1785 coin discussion, cellar hole continuation

[Digger_O'Dell]

Instead of clogging up a post of a great coin find, I thought I would start a new thread discussing my cellar hole dilemma. The last reply was by Dell:

"take pictures next time your there or anywhere really you think some very old areas are or suppose to be , we might be able to spot something that is a bit subtle to what your use to"

As it's currently an hour drive away, it's not practical to head out to snap a few photos, but I do have a few pics from the last time I was there. The first photos are of the cellar hole itself. It's mostly filled in but you nan still see the outline of the walls. The second photo is a drawing showing the wall outline.



This is a close-up of the pot discarded inside the hole



The next photo is of the stone lined well. Someone put some fence around it since it looks like people have been hiking along the edge of the field bordering the well, probably so nobody falls in.



The rest of the photos are items found at nearby fields. Maybe related, maybe not. First is a musket ball, which was found near the well. The bells and hoe were found several fields over. about 1/2 mile away. The real interesting find was a pewter pipe bowl, found in another nearby field about 1/4 mile away.

[del]

this building looks to be at the base of a hill , yes ?

[Digger_O'Dell]

this building looks to be at the base of a hill , yes ?

The whole area is quite flat, although the land does rise a bit headed away from the fields, which are low areas, often wet or even underwater for a while in spring after the snow melts. We have the occasional small knoll or glacial mounds, but mostly flat due to the glaciers. Farther West, we have what's called the Kettle Moraine, which is where the last glaciers melted and left HUGE mounds and craters, and it can be very rugged.

Below is a snip from the satellite view. The red arrow shows approximately where the well is located. The cellar hole is directly West. just on the other side of the hiking path. It's very difficult to find from the path due to thick growth along the edge of the trail. The whole area is now public park (unmarked on the map, looking like a private farm). The fields to the East are now public garden plots for the city folks, and extend farther East through a lot of old farms that got taxed out of existence. The road seen to the West is the original dirt road, still very rough and narrow, and intersects with 2 main roads to the North and South.

[del]

just out of curiosity are there any old stagecoach roads close by or do you suspect the fields and well are just associated with older farms ?

[Digger_O'Dell]

The main road about a mile South I think was one of the earlier military roads used during the Indian wars, and later for transport of goods between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River. Research mentions a river crossing on that road about 4 miles East, use starting in the 1840s or so, give or take.
In the satellite photo, towards the upper left there's a stone silo that just juts above the trees, and it's next to what's left of an old barn which still has standing walls on 2 sides, built into a small rise. The rest is just rubble and more modern trash from being a local party site. The barn and silo has a later building style, probably 1880s era as it used mortar. Distance is nearly a mile from the cellar.