Old Cellar Holes in New England

[cdaigle430]

Steel toes - that would have a person scratching their head for a while. But, who could stop looking for new, or old, knife? It just wouldn't be right. Glad you found it.

I don't know much of anything about metal detectors. I looked at them online once, read reviews, etc. and it looks like a decent one costs $600-$800 ? I asked my son how much he paid for his, it was about $130. I think he was just interested in getting it from a shelf in his garage to a shelf in mine :laughing: It did find the ring in ball field grass. They knew about where it had to be because she felt it slip off when she took her ball glove off, but just couldn't spot it.
Dave.

A few people here have used them for root cellers, but as others have mentioned its a good idea to check on the history before you do anything to it. Alo-you can be liable for anyone who falls in or gets hurt even if they are tresspassing.

 

[forgeblast]

This site seems to have every detector listed with reviews
Kellyco Metal Detector Comparison

 

[dave1949]

This site seems to have every detector listed with reviews
Kellyco Metal Detector Comparison

Thanks, I will check it out.
Dave.

 

[Combustix]

You have a root cellar in the making

 

[Piston]

Dave,

You could also lay pipe in the hole and fill in for your geothermal heating system too!
Carl

Is that really a possibility? It sounds interesting because I have a large hole/depression/ditch (whatever you wanna call it) that I want to fill in, and if I could incorporate geothermal with filling in the hole, maybe it would cut down on the costs quite a bit.

There is also a cellar hole on my grandfather's land with similar large cut granite stones. He has pictures of the house (right next to it) and the old barn that used to be on the stone foundation, that is now a hole. The barn burned before the '60's when he bought the place, and there is still some charring on the timbers in his house as the fire spread to the house. They saved the house but lost the barn.

 

[Carl_NH]

Piston,

For geothermal if I recall you need about 200-300' of trench then you coil pipe in the trenches - they can be in a serpentine pattern so a cellar hole 20x30 could support maybe 6 or 7 30' long runs with enough distance between them to dissapate the energy.

The heat exchange comes from the ground below grade where it is 50* year round so must be below the frost line or 3' minimum and separated with enough material to absorb the heat.

The piping and trenching is only part of the cost of geothermmal - maybe 25-30% - the controls and pumps etc are not inexpensive either..

 

[tcreeley]

When we moved to Maine the land was an open field near the road, rock wall lines and an apple tree or two. We moved here and built all at once. There was the cellar hole surrounded by a rock pile- now covered with grass and dirt. Up here, people make rocks piles as well as build walls. There had been a floor over the cellar hole at one time, and the remains of a Model T or something like that sat at the bottom. We cleaned it up. It is close by the house- I'm thinking of a root cellar for it- but no rush. Under the apple trees, on a little rise, there were a pile of rocks. I got to wondering and started moving them. It was a dug well- 13 feet deep, stone lined. The last two feet were in to ledge. We used this well for our water for 8 years (tested first). My neighbor has a 25' stone well that he discovered and removed the rocks from. -Been over 26 years now. Always has water. Our 13 ft well would run dry during drought years- so we had one drilled -65' feet. My neighbor on the other side has a pile of rocks in his field - that feels like a well. There is one across the road as well. A man I used to buy hay from told me that as a kid they used to hay my area with horses, and that the short well was used for irrigation for potatoes.
I like history, I like the old ways of doing things. In the world of technology and GMO's, tractors are the old way. As a kid, horses were the old ways.

 

[Beltzington]

"is there any reason to preserve the old cellar hole? It is a piece of history, but not much of"

Let it be, beautiful piece of land. Unless you have to use it for something wouldn't it be fine just to let old bones rest in peace?

 

[dave1949]

"is there any reason to preserve the old cellar hole? It is a piece of history, but not much of"

Let it be, beautiful piece of land. Unless you have to use it for something wouldn't it be fine just to let old bones rest in peace?

That could happen. Any junk in the area has to go, I can't abide trashed land.

I have no definite use for the area. I have two long range ideas though.

One idea is that corner of our property could be sold as a 2-3 acre house lot if we were ever forced to for financial reasons. So, it makes sense to clean it up because that will raise its market value. We would hate to do that because we are committed to keeping the property whole, but you never know. Think of it as a rainy day fund I am adding to.

The other idea is that end of our property would be a good place to have a 10-15 acre pasture. It used to be pasture, is decently drained and has reasonable soils. Having pasture land around here also raises your market value (and taxes a little). The main advantage would be if a buyer is comparing two similar properties and one has a pasture area and the other doesn't, the property with a pasture will sell easier.

I have to be realistic. The day will come when we aren't able to live in a remote rural location. I know people do it; but too often their houses are falling down around them and they need support/help from family. Our two sons live too far away to do any of that. I don't want to be in denial about that, so, long term plans and ideas are needed.
Dave.

 

[Lloyd_E]

My thoughts: (keep in mind I love history)

You have a "real" piece of early american history. I would preserve it. I would clear a 10-12 area around the cellar and fence it in - place fence well back from the perimeter of the cellar with a gate. I would also completely clean out the cellar and document - photograph/drawings with measurements as you go. You may want to get a 1st year archeology class involved... but you run the risk of finding something that perhaps would create a major head ache for you. Over the winter you could research the land grants to complement your property and findings. In the end you may want to place a simple deck structure over the base.

My brother and I built a small cabin on land that we inherited - part of grands parents' farm. We capped the old well and started to clean out the old cellar site which is slightly smaller than yours. We are finding lots of bottles, metal, plates and things which we will probably put on display in the cabin - cabin is 25' from cellar. In the end we will probably just cap it. But we do know it will be preserved and can be referenced in the future rather than covered over with field. The original farm house was on this site but was struck by lightning and burned to the ground - sometimes in 1920's.

Also, it may be a good selling point to buyers that are historically minded(small % I know) but you could always show case it.

My daughter and I found the quarry site or our homestead last spring while maple sugaring... I plan on clearing around it and building a road to it. It is an outcrop of granite showing the drill holes for feather and wedges... I know it was used for the foundation in my 200 year old house along with probably a few other homes and barns...

Good luck.

Very interesting stuff!