Braving the heat for #9! :hot:

[Bill Ladd]

Though the weekend here was around 100 degree's & most folks were inside by air conditioners or swimming, I hate just sitting inside when it's nice. We do enough of that at work. So, I loaded my pack with water, picked an area of woods I had yet to hike, & went for it by myself. I was in search of cellar hole #9 for 2006. Rob & I have been marking a bunch of 'em & hoping the heat gets better & the overgrowth goes down. Then just before the hunters take over the woods, we go nuts swingin' on all of 'em! Also, having just borrowed a T2 I wanted to stockpile good lookin' sites to try it.
Being so hot, & by myself I wanted to keep it easy & stay pretty much on a trail that mounatin bikers use. Soon it widened into what looked like a serious cart road among the pine trees.....
[attachment 31467 CatHouseTrail1.jpg]
After going about 2 miles in, going through 2 bottled waters & only seeing pine & no stone work at all, I took another trail back toward the car. It was really 2 hot to hike that far & I was low on water & spent. Then through the pines I finally saw stone.....
Look close...there's the typical grey granite in the very center trying to hide amid small heavy pines.
[attachment 31468 CatTrail2.jpg]
I thought......"Finally a stone wall to follow".......
but it was even better. It's was a surprising barn foundation built into the side of a small rise.....
[attachment 31469 CatTRbarn3.jpg]
I checked it out quickly, took a final water break, & then saw some nice stone walls behind it. I hopped over them looking for a house foundation.....
[attachment 31470 CatTrailWall1.jpg]
I came upon some large granite slabs....look close & you can see "pin & feather" marks. These indicate some quarry-type work was going on here. This is how they made things like foundation stones, hitching posts, etc.......was this a home site or a quarry?? Now I'm not sure.....
[attachment 31471 CatTrailQuarry.jpg]
IF it was a quarry workers area that's not a bad thing....we found some nice coins & buttons at another Colonial quarry area. But it featured a house foundtion, & I have not found one here yet. I thought I had it in this thicket here......but nope,looks like it's another barn foundation with only 3 sides.
[attachment 31473 CatTrBarn4.jpg]
The site is a mystery, but it has great potential. I was out of water & quit looking for more foundations. But it's another site we have lined up for the T2 trial...& of course # 9 for 2006! (where's that dancing chicken GIF)
More to come.......
(Hopefully more nice largies)
HH, BIll

 

[NEBeachcomber]

Hello Bill,

Thanks for the nice, cool walk through your woods in search of cellar holes. I only had to drink two bottles of soda during the trip!

As a thought... have you ever considered scoping out your favorite wooded area from above? Try using one of the Internet's free satellite mapping systems like "TerraServer-USA" satellite view, plug in a zip code and then zoom in to see if you can see the foundations or plateaus by looking downward from the top of the trees instead of through them.

-Rick

 

[Anonymous]

WTG Bill,

Your patience and persistence scores you another possible site, I wonder how old it may be "early-mid 1850's?"

Congrats,
Paul (Ca)

 

[Anonymous]

Rick is right Bill,

I use Google earth to locate old sites or to check the terrain before attempting to hike in. In the picture below you can still see the old trail used by the Indians, Spanish explorers and then as a stage route. This water hole out in the middle of nowhere was used for centuries, Checking the terrain from satellite before hand quickly eliminates unnecessarily hiking and sometimes can show signs of old structures or an old trail such as the pic below.

Plus, You can get the proper Lan/Lon from Google and walk right to the site with a GPS. Just another tool to use if you're not already using it. But in your case, Most of the cellar holes are hidden underneath the trees and brush so using satellite may not be as affective.

Good reply Rick,
Paul (Ca)

 

[Bill W.]

With most of the this site loos like it's under pine trees so it wouldn't matter if you looked at terraserver... He should have brought more water! I wonder if Bill got his T2 yet?

-Bill

 

[Bill Ladd]

Of course we always hope that they go back to Colonial times....but I think your right, the style of the cut stone work looks post-1700 (as compared to the last toppled in hole we found). Hopefully early 1800's.....Usually once we get a coil down, if we start seeing things like shoe buckles turn up we know it's pretty early....
One thing we always hope is that is was NOT active into the turn of the century. Cause then you get involved with ALOT more trash targets masking the early stuff.
HH,
Bill

 

[Bill Ladd]

& yes, I do use arial photo's (terraserver). I'll have to check the google one. But, you guys were also correct, the heavy tree cover does not show foundations. But it CAN show important features like streams, cart roads, etc. Recently, looking @ a photo of the ridge we've been hiking, I noticed trees all in rows that I believe was once farm fields. I utilize topos mostly, & this year it just seems like we've done real well playing hunches (& reading the land better than the competition).
Yes, I should have had alot more water, but the problem was I found the site on the way back to the car after a 2.5 mile hike in 100 degree heat. I was totally drained, & didn't even have the energy to assemble the T2. If I found the site early on I would have been dig'n. No biggie....I was more glad to add another site to our list.
HH,
Bill

 

[Mark in NC]

n/t

 

[Anonymous]

there are sum out there who have never find a large penny