Exploring the back .40

On New Year's Day we took a walk out into one of the three lots we bought in back of the house.  These were previously owned by Kevin T., whose father Bill T. built our house.  We got in touch with Kevin shortly after moving in and acquired these lots, he had bought them mainly to provide a buffer for Bill's property.

For a long time we've known that there was a large hole in the closest lot - the others are characterized by second growth woods, a cliff, and Beaver Run - and that's what we spent some time on Saturday checking out.

The first photo here showns the dugout area - it's about 20x40, and very much a rectangle.  The sides slope down and into the hole, as the excavation has given way over the years.  We figure it is a foundation for an old house or barn.

The stuff we found in the foundation included this can of asphalt roof patch, "Fix-a-leak" - it came from the Munson Company in Philadelphia.  You can still find the company listing on the web, and it is is still in Pennsylvania.  The address on the can predates zip codes, putting it in the '50's or '60's time frame, my guess.

In the foundation there were also a couple of jars for sour cream, and then juice cans.  We are guessing all this stuff came from our house at one point or another.  Maybe we should have let it be, but now it's sitting out there on the old stump in the middle of the foundation.

Adding to our impression that this is a homestead of some kind are the piles of rock nearby, as if a yard was cleared, or perhaps for the foundation excavation.  And nearby, there is a clearing that looks like an old driveway or road, just slightly downhill and possible still on our property.

If you continue on down the other two lots, you eventually get to Beaver Run - it runs through our lots and a neighbors.  Along the property line, there is the remnant of an old concrete bridge, some culverts, and a little bit of masonry that looks like it might have been gate posts or a chimney.  It's hard to assess, so we'll just keep it in the back of our minds until we find out more.

The house itself is sited at the crest of the little hill here, facing east - so before the woods grew up, there would be a beautiful view of Hawksbill mountain.  In my own thinking, I figure the house had been taken down by the 1920's or 1930's, when a golf course was built through here before the neighboring Jordan Hollow Farm Inn was developed.  Maybe it was simply never built before all the development got started.  

There is other debris back there, including this pile of old 40's, mixed in with some juice cans and cremora bottles.  We figure these probably date from the 70's era or later.

In the old foundation, there is a big gas grill - the cylinder has been removed, fortunately - rusting away, and part of an old bed frame.  Mary found one of the butterfly chairs in here also.

Nearby is a pile of scrap woods from some renovation job.  Scraps of paint color on the wood suggests it came from our house, and the materials are very modern.  They've decayed extensively sense we first found them.  We will leave them to it.