# Bottle dump I dug in 1978



## Oriole62 (Jan 19, 2022)

When I was in high school I used to dig bottles from the 1910s at a dump in Florida. I now live in Massachusetts but I am thinking about flying down there and seeing if there are any bottles  Do you think it is worth it?


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## WesternPA-collector (Jan 19, 2022)

Welcome to this site. It's probably not worth your cost and time, unless you have some of both to waste. 1978 was a long time ago. Florida is a growing state that's constantly getting new development. The location could have changed drastically by now. Have you looked at aerial views to see if it looks the same?


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## CanadianBottles (Jan 19, 2022)

There's also the issue that most of the easily accessible dumps which were easy pickings in the 70s have been thoroughly dug in the decades since.  If it was in a spot which is relatively easy to find there have likely been a lot of people digging there since you were last there.


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## Jstorm (Jan 19, 2022)

CanadianBottles said:


> There's also the issue that most of the easily accessible dumps which were easy pickings in the 70s have been thoroughly dug in the decades since.  If it was in a spot which is relatively easy to find there have likely been a lot of people digging there since you were last there.


If you do find enough probably will need to rent a car because of weight in your suit case!


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## J.R. Collector (Jan 19, 2022)

Agreed with all comments. Unless you know your spot is untouched and in a spot with lots of trash, like an old pharmacy or Coca-Cola Bottling plant, etc. Florida isn't very old when it comes to a long history of settlements compared to , Maryland or Pennsylvania.


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## PlaneDiggerCam (Jan 19, 2022)

Oriole62 said:


> When I was in high school I used to dig bottles from the 1910s at a dump in Florida. I now live in Massachusetts but I am thinking about flying down there and seeing if there are any bottles  Do you think it is worth it?


Honestly, I think you will have better luck here in New England and older stuff too!


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## DavidW (Jan 19, 2022)

There's gotta be some really old and good dumps in Massachusetts, since the state has a VERY  long history,  but  ( I'd guess) with lots of development spreading across the land,  there are no longer many places that are accessible (?)   But maybe if you did some researching of your local area you might find some likely places to look???    Are you able to try using a metal detector in your own back yard?  I know if you are in apartments or condos it wouldn't work,  but if you have a single family home, no telling what lies under the surface if you live in an area that has been inhabited by European immigrants since the 1600s!


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## hemihampton (Jan 19, 2022)

Go to Google Earth & see what the area looks like now. I've gone back to old dumps many years later that was still there. Good Luck. LEON.


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## Len (Jan 19, 2022)

Was FL site your first?  Do that hw as mentioned above. Then if you have the means, go back and see that old bottle site flame.  Hope you get lucky!


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## willong (Jan 19, 2022)

Tossing in my two cents and echoing what some others have already stated, Google Earth is a great resource to check the "progress" of development in your old digging neighborhood. I use Google Earth Pro--it's probably still a free download--for its additional features. One feature I particularly like is the ability to page back through previous years of satellite imagery. Older imagery is not as high resolution, but it will reveal if an area is regrowing after a clear-cut timber harvest, forest fire or similar event. Of course, if the most recent view reveals that the area has been developed into elbow-to-elbow apartment complexes--this actually happened to a large area where I hunted rabbits as a kid (and once stumbled upon a small sinkhole that revealed a buried dump before I was in to bottle digging)--then you need not waste your traveling expenses.

Personally, if I was located in Massachusetts, I would be learning the lay of the land, so to speak, right there in the New England region. Frankly, I'm quite envious of the digging still available to Eastern and Midwestern bottle diggers today. While the antique bottle craze kicked off in the West in 1959 when an urban renewal project in Sacramento cut through an old dump that held bottles of the Gold Rush era, historically, western states never had as old, large or enduring populations as the eastern portion of the country did. The easy pickins of desert ghost towns' dumps was exhausted decades ago. 

Many portions of New England have actually reverted to woodlands where homestead farms once prevailed. Searching old maps to locate lands occupied prior to 1900 that now show up as forests on Google Earth would be how I would begin bottle hunting were I living in the East. But then, I am particularly fond of strolling through forests anyhow. 

I suggest that you watch a few YouTube videos posted by producers such as Crick Diggers to garner an idea of what can be found along the eastern seaboard today. At least one member of the Crick Diggers crew is actually making his living through bottle digging. While they obtain permission and probe out privy pits on numerous old residential properties, they also dig dumps. Since I've been viewing--less than the past twelve months--Crick Diggers have been digging at least three extensive dumps and several smaller ones! (I never had such opportunity living in western Washington State, even in 1970.)

Watch the following--ignore the BS title--and it should whet your appetite:  




And, if you end up finding a dump too extensive to excavate by yourself in a lifetime, please know that I own a backhoe!


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## Bohdan (Jan 26, 2022)

Oriole62 said:


> When I was in high school I used to dig bottles from the 1910s at a dump in Florida. I now live in Massachusetts but I am thinking about flying down there and seeing if there are any bottles  Do you think it is worth it?


Oh yes yes yes .
Just jump on a plane - hell charter one. Another reason for another unnecessary aircraft flight.
Think about it.


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