# A Tenn. Country Physician ,  his Pharmacy , and a roadside bottle dump.



## CreekWalker (Jun 22, 2018)

I've been working in north Tennessee , repairing roads and bridges. And since,&nbsp; I was interested in the possibility of a relic discovery , near my job sites, I went to the local library to study the old county property maps , showing towns, homes, and businesses in the vicinity. What I noticed, besides the locations of relocated creeks, roads, the rural schools, churches, country stores and seasonal businesses, was a 1930's home of a country physician, marked with a medical symbol. The road at the time was named after, said doctor, although it had since been changed, and it's location was less that a half mile from the job site, therefore , a check of the state city directory, showed a once thriving community in the 1880's, ... it , by depression years of the 1930's , was just a side note on the old map from that era. So the town became a ghost town,&nbsp; that had altogether, vanished into history. But a few locals stayed on, and farms retook the former town square and main street. So checking the drainage maps,I&nbsp; found the town was surrounded by a couple of town creeks, one running thru and dumping into the side creek on the local highway. There was no trash pickup in the olden days, business and home owners, loaded their junk on a wagon, and filled the creeks and stream with a myriad of discarded items. I didn't have to travel far, I stopped. There was glass everywhere, I looked! Not just modern amber beers, and wine coolers, but,&nbsp; old glass , lime green, , light blues, olive green and cobalt blue. Bottles and other items, were literally falling out of the ditch bank, dating from Victorian times, to the 1940's.&nbsp; I never warked further, than 20 feet off the roadside. But before, I took one step, I had searched the old books, compared the old maps to new, and (google earth). Found out , as is the case, with many defunct , forgotten TN towns, the railroad or the new highway had been laid to far from the center of their town, so most folks moved , and relocated near the new thorough fare . But the physician stayed, now a country doctor, he patched up the injured farmers , set kids broken bones, and delivered babies,... the grateful locals, named the old road after him. But by the 1980's , he was a long forgotten memory, the road renamed for the town everyone moved to. His home and practice was gone, no doubt , it had a pharmacy to revile any drugstore from the era.&nbsp; &nbsp;He had a very good business, looking at the hundreds of slick , clear glass bottles , long unlabeled , strewn in the road side conveyance. So I'll post the photos, lots of bottles, I left there,&nbsp; the most unexpected find, was a silver standing liberty quarter, got to bring my metal detector, several 1900 era straight side embossed soda bottles, a brass soda fountain dispenser, meds of all types,(no pontils)&nbsp; some broken stoneware, modern embossed sodas, maybe even the door pulls from the residence. Just some really cool stuff,&nbsp; that was found, I really enjoyed a plan, that came together, after the research, it's was, at the least, a great experience. Such a huge pile, like this in the middle of nowhere! I'll be back, for sure.


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## CreekWalker (Jun 22, 2018)

My 1st view.


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## CreekWalker (Jun 22, 2018)

Further along.


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## CreekWalker (Jun 22, 2018)

Upsteam in ankle deep water, a brass register plate and the silver quarter.


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## CreekWalker (Jun 22, 2018)

The bottles, medicine and others.


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## CreekWalker (Jun 22, 2018)

The sodas  found, after following the glass trail upsteam, where the banks were a few feet high, and spotted several old lettered bases, after probing the banks.


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## hemihampton (Jun 23, 2018)

Sounds Interesting. Any Pics? LEON.


OOPS, Forget my last comment, I see the pics now.


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## CreekWalker (Jun 23, 2018)

The brass item , which may be from soda fountain, ID it please and comment. Notice the amber soda has a tombstone shaped slug plate , its from Nashville. I've found this brand in Memphis digs, will post better pics on the soda forum, it has two tone amber glass, very dark on the bottom, light amber from the shoulder up the neck to the crown top.


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## CreekWalker (Jun 23, 2018)

Slow go , Hemi.


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## hemihampton (Jun 23, 2018)

That one aqua squat soda looks like it could be as old as 1870's possibly. any embossing on it? LEON.


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## hemihampton (Jun 23, 2018)

My Mistake, I started typing but then left to watch the news for a few minutes, then came back to finish typing. by then you posted pics I was not aware of. LEON.


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## hemihampton (Jun 23, 2018)

I've never seen a Tombstone slugplate on anything but a Hutchinson/Hutch bottle before & wondered if they came on non hutch bottles? Hmmmmm, Interesting.LEON.


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## CreekWalker (Jun 23, 2018)

I'll have more on tomorrow, getting late. Last is amber Diehl and Lord, with an old Memphis soda, 
a Heinrich , cast aside, during the horse and buggy days, found about 100 miles from Memphis.


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## CreekWalker (Jun 23, 2018)

Yes it does! Stepped on it, flush in the bottom and saw the blob top, so I dug it out, sort of a uncommon marking, although the brand is found often in Memphis.


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## CreekWalker (Jun 23, 2018)

It's the oldest soda , so far, a heart stopper , really! I like the color of this green soda, marked with a 3 only.


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## CreekWalker (Jun 23, 2018)

Found several Dr. Bull's flasks, most broke, this one has a busted shoulder, 1880's patent dates.


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## CanadianBottles (Jun 23, 2018)

That squat soda is beautiful!  I wonder if it's a late throw or you're into an older part of the dump.  If you've got a dump from the 1870s you've got a really good site.  Those early 20th century sodas are nice as well, especially the amber one.  Looks like a site with some great potential!


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## CreekWalker (Jun 23, 2018)

Looks like it could be. Here's some meds,  thats not broke, most were slick, but got a couple of sample bottles.


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## CreekWalker (Jun 23, 2018)

Here's a three inch long, DR. KILMER'S SWAMP ROOT KIDNEY CURE BINGHAMPTON , N.Y. Has 20 on the base.


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## CreekWalker (Jun 23, 2018)

And a 3 inch long, S.B. CARPENTER, DRUGGIST & PHARMACIST, HELENA ARK. , marked W.T. & Co. , a good old American glass maker.


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## CreekWalker (Jun 23, 2018)

I'll have more sodas on some, after they clean up.


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## hemihampton (Jun 24, 2018)

You need to find some straight sided Cokes. Do the ones you found have the 1915 date or 1923 or just D-Patent? LEON.


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## CreekWalker (Jun 24, 2018)

Found several, except a couple , all were damaged. Most had top and neck damage, chipped bases. Towns marked were mostly Jackson, and Memphis. One Union City marked base, stuck out of the bank, dug it out , hoping for a 1923, but early patent D. Did find several Chero Cola's. Two decent Memphis straight side Cokes were found.


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## sunrunner (Jun 25, 2018)

always good to research . have discovered a lot of forgotten dumps that way.


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## CreekWalker (Jun 26, 2018)

It works for me, sunrunner. Saves alot of gas and walking. Closed country store locations near a creek , where the owner dumped his trash and obsolete soda bottles. Such as when the 1915 Cokes were replaced by the 1923's. The local plant didn't want them, so they were dumped. Found a store like that in Covington , 20 years ago. Some of the amber SS Cokes, (3 variaties) , blue 1915 and lime green 1915, was not on the Coke list at the time, sold them as Unknown types, with some bringing $350 to $500 each. Bring a few years ago, when gold was higher than it is now, $50 a gram, computer processes, memory sticks, and mother boards were heavily gold plated on the circuits, I researched all local computer shops , in the area, and found several near creeks and dump sites. One site had 25 Pentium Pro, processors in a neat pile with over 100 total gold plated ones, by AMD, SUN micro-systems, Intel, etc. At the time the Pentium Pro sold for $25-30. Still do. So I went the the guys shop, he had retired, but still had alot of 1980's and 90's PC's and parts . Made a offer, he accepted , and moved the rest in 3 truck loads for salvage. I remember , I had recouped the purchase price in a couple of weeks. Sold until the price of gold went down. But that was an example of doing your research, that paid off, works the same for bottles or any other relics. It you look for native American relics, was there a village, check the old maps, of local history, start on private land with permission, same goes for Civil War sites, read sent home local letters, or memoirs by the Union and Confederate soldiers. So a soldiers mentions we had a camp , post or base on farmer Brown's farm, near Anywhere, USA. Now check the archives , who was farmer Brown, check the period land grants , deeds records, for the county and Anywhere, USA town. Best site found since the 1980's , was last year's campsite and site of a skirmish, in Madison County. Dozens of dropped bullets , eagle buttons, musket parts, buckles, knives, bayonets, all rusted up, but near Medon, and Brittan Lane battlefield sites. I made a display for the landowner, now in his 70's , who was thrilled, and who gave additional permission. I posted the finds, last year, here on ABN and before that, a Forrest camp site, a few years ago, also posted on here. Located native American site, located in the same way , which was posted on here also. As many of you know, old maps, your local library , google earth , taking notes, comparing with a journal of past finds, and your own research, who with like minded hunters,  is always your best bet in locating bottles and relics.


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## BottleDiver94 (Jun 27, 2018)

Good thing I did not find all I would be gone so long that my Wife would wonder if I had run off with another woman!


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## westKYdigger (Jun 27, 2018)

Love those local meds, especially when they show up in unexpected places.  Here's some info about S.B. Carpenter i got from Johnnie Fletcher's Arkansas Bottle Book.


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## CreekWalker (Jun 27, 2018)

Haha. Mine worries about me too. My fishing trips mostly.


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## CreekWalker (Jun 28, 2018)

Great information, Fletcher’s has been a good resource and started a revival of interest in Ark. bottles. I wonder if these bottles were reused, possibly with a new label.  Thanks.


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