# Historical Maps



## rebel1 (Dec 12, 2022)

Does anyone know where I can find historical maps that show where old houses and old dumps use to be?


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## UnderMiner (Dec 12, 2022)

Where are you located? I use the NYC-based service urbanarchive, it overlays historical images on maps of my area. 








						Urban Archive
					

Urban Archive is a technology nonprofit that promotes historical research and discovery.




					www.urbanarchive.nyc


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## PlaneDiggerCam (Dec 12, 2022)

Usually, for all over the country, you can use https://www.historicaerials.com/viewer. You can use the historic topo maps and aerials to find home sites, field boundaries, and trails that could lead to dumps. 
For CT, the best aerial viewers that have produced great results for me are https://cslib.contentdm.oclc.org/cu...pages/indexes/digital_idx_map_state_1934.html
and
https://cslib.contentdm.oclc.org/cu...pages/indexes/digital_idx_map_state_1965.html

I've found countless farm and village dumps through these sites! Sometimes even if the aerials are from the 1930s or newer you can find 1800s dump sites with a bit more knowledge on the area and research overall.


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## rebel1 (Dec 13, 2022)

PlaneDiggerCam said:


> Usually, for all over the country, you can use https://www.historicaerials.com/viewer. You can use the historic topo maps and aerials to find home sites, field boundaries, and trails that could lead to dumps.
> For CT, the best aerial viewers that have produced great results for me are https://cslib.contentdm.oclc.org/cu...pages/indexes/digital_idx_map_state_1934.html
> and
> https://cslib.contentdm.oclc.org/cu...pages/indexes/digital_idx_map_state_1965.html
> ...


Thank you. I will take a look.


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## rebel1 (Dec 13, 2022)

UnderMiner said:


> Where are you located? I use the NYC-based service urbanarchive, it overlays historical images on maps of my area.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I live in Alabama. I will take a look. Thanks.


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## CanadianBottles (Dec 13, 2022)

In my experience there aren't too many old maps with dumps marked on them from the era of dumps you would actually want to find.  Finding the dump using old maps generally takes a bit of deduction and on the ground searching (this can be done with modern maps as well if you know enough about a town's history and how to gauge the age of a neighbourhood from its street pattern).  Old newspapers will often tell give the location of dumps though, and you can see them on old aerial photos if you can get access to high-enough resolution copies.  And sometimes a municipality will make maps of all known historic dump sites available for free online.


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## UnderMiner (Dec 14, 2022)

@CanadianBottles agreed. The vast majority of the dump sites I found were simply by accident through the course of exploring and digging around in random places. The banks of rivers are a good place to start as it requires less digging and it's easy to clean the bottles in the water.


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## rebel1 (Dec 14, 2022)

CanadianBottles said:


> In my experience there aren't too many old maps with dumps marked on them from the era of dumps you would actually want to find.  Finding the dump using old maps generally takes a bit of deduction and on the ground searching (this can be done with modern maps as well if you know enough about a town's history and how to gauge the age of a neighbourhood from its street pattern).  Old newspapers will often tell give the location of dumps though, and you can see them on old aerial photos if you can get access to high-enough resolution copies.  And sometimes a municipality will make maps of all known historic dump sites available for free online.


Thank you for the advice.


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## rebel1 (Dec 14, 2022)

UnderMiner said:


> @CanadianBottles agreed. The vast majority of the dump sites I found were simply by accident through the course of exploring and digging around in random places. The banks of rivers are a good place to start as it requires less digging and it's easy to clean the bottles in the water.


Actually I am planning on wading creeks. I'm a young 77 year old and not sure if I can dig a six foot hole but I can wade a creek. My problem is getting the old maps to work for me. Harvie


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## Len (Dec 14, 2022)

Hi Rebel 1,
You whippersnapper! There's more than one or two of us that wish we had your gumption. No matter in wet or dry just take your time and bottle hunt smart. Be patient with those maps and like Canadian Bottles said above, a little common sense deduction goes a long way. Good Hunting!


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## hemihampton (Dec 14, 2022)

rebel1 said:


> I live in Alabama. I will take a look. Thanks.




curious, where in Alabama? I got relatives in Scottsboro in north east. LEON.


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## rebel1 (Dec 15, 2022)

hemihampton said:


> curious, where in Alabama? I got relatives in Scottsboro in north east. LEON.


Opelika, Alabama.


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## bobbyjack (Dec 27, 2022)

rebel1 said:


> Does anyone know where I can find historical maps that show where old houses and old dumps use to be?


you go line libary of congress and look for sandborn fire insurance maps  they get you what you want i think


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## rebel1 (Dec 27, 2022)

bobbyjack said:


> you go line libary of congress and look for sandborn fire insurance maps  they get you what you want i think


Thanks, I'll take a look.


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## willong (Dec 27, 2022)

CanadianBottles said:


> if you can get access to high-enough resolution copies


(Plagiarizing the Bard): Ay, there's the rub!


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## willong (Dec 27, 2022)

CanadianBottles said:


> And sometimes a municipality will make maps of all known historic dump sites available for free online.


I have never encountered that. Is it a Canadian thing? Or, is it done for environmental/pollution potential disclosure?


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## DeepSeaDan (Dec 28, 2022)

rebel1 said:


> I live in Alabama. I will take a look. Thanks.


Go to YouTube & look up "Adventure Archaeology & Southern Diggers" - Brandon runs the site & is out wading creeks & digging all over Alabama.


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## rebel1 (Dec 28, 2022)

DeepSeaDan said:


> Go to YouTube & look up "Adventure Archaeology & Southern Diggers" - Brandon runs the site & is out wading creeks & digging all over Alabama.


Yes, I've watched several of his videos. Thanks.


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## CanadianBottles (Dec 28, 2022)

willong said:


> I have never encountered that. Is it a Canadian thing? Or, is it done for environmental/pollution potential disclosure?


Yeah it's a pollution disclosure thing, to avoid people unknowingly building on landfills or warn people whose houses already are.  Not sure how common it is elsewhere, I know both Montreal and Ottawa do it.  I've never looked for other municipalities' maps, I suspect it's more common for larger cities which have the resources to try to figure out where these dumps actually are.


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## hemihampton (Dec 28, 2022)

These polluted dumps are called Superfund sites in the USA. Link below.









						List of Superfund sites - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org


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## Victoria Regina (Dec 31, 2022)

rebel1 said:


> Thanks, I'll take a look.


Sanborn maps only show structures, as they were for firemen to know what places were built of.  They ARE useful if looking for privys, however, as they show outhouses.


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## rebel1 (Jan 1, 2023)

Victoria Regina said:


> Sanborn maps only show structures, as they were for firemen to know what places were built of.  They ARE useful if looking for privys, however, as they show outhouses.


Thank you. I see you are new to this also.


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## Tigrdog1 (Jan 1, 2023)

I used to get the USGS gov topo maps and look for old county road beds which even showed abandoned house places sometimes.  Then finding these old roads, one could see the old buttercups, Spanish bayonets or wisteria plants that were dead giveaways to old house sites often next to the old road beds. Along with bricks, old bottles could be found off hill sides, and with a metal detector and patience, some old coins. Old house places are a joy as it takes you back to wondering how the family lived, etc.
Old town sites or dirt cross roads where stores might have stood can be deduced from these maps as well.
Happy and blessed new year to all!
Rik








						US Topo
					

Quick order of USGS Topographic Maps, Game Management Unit Maps for Western Big Game Hunting, and Backpacker Pro maps for popular hiking trails. To order custom-centered topo, aerial, and satellite maps or to reorder previously ordered MyTopo maps, call 877-587-9004.




					mapstore.mytopo.com


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## sewingmom (Jan 1, 2023)

In TN they have an historical property viewer on line will show you where old houses etc are located. Found out that we had a Lime Kilm on our property in the 20's.  Didn't find anything of interest there but it is neet to know. 





						TN Historical Commission Viewer
					






					tnmap.tn.gov


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## CanadianBottles (Jan 1, 2023)

hemihampton said:


> These polluted dumps are called Superfund sites in the USA. Link below.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The maps we have here detail a lot more dumps than Superfund-type sites.  I definitely wouldn't recommend digging in one of those!  The maps I'm referring to show all known sites where municipal trash was ever dumped, including small 19th century dumps.  Most aren't earmarked for any sort of remediation, just documented to avoid unpleasant surprises.  Here's the Ottawa one, for reference: https://open.ottawa.ca/datasets/8a6..._0/explore?location=45.408991,-75.694791,5.00


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## hemihampton (Jan 1, 2023)

The bad thing about land fills (town dumps) on maps is most are newer (1930+) & most are buried under a ton of dirt needing a bulldozer to find any bottles. would be nice if there was a map that showed old pre 1900 dumps. LEON


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## rebel1 (Jan 1, 2023)

Tigrdog1 said:


> I used to get the USGS gov topo maps and look for old county road beds which even showed abandoned house places sometimes.  Then finding these old roads, one could see the old buttercups, Spanish bayonets or wisteria plants that were dead giveaways to old house sites often next to the old road beds. Along with bricks, old bottles could be found off hill sides, and with a metal detector and patience, some old coins. Old house places are a joy as it takes you back to wondering how the family lived, etc.
> Old town sites or dirt cross roads where stores might have stood can be deduced from these maps as well.
> Happy and blessed new year to all!
> Rik
> ...


Thanks. I remember my grandparents house. It sit on rocks on all corners and the middle. You could see the ground through cracks in the floor. It was cold in the winter and cool in the summer.


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## mrcure (Jan 4, 2023)

Tigrdog1 said:


> I used to get the USGS gov topo maps and look for old county road beds which even showed abandoned house places sometimes.  Then finding these old roads, one could see the old buttercups, Spanish bayonets or wisteria plants that were dead giveaways to old house sites often next to the old road beds. Along with bricks, old bottles could be found off hill sides, and with a metal detector and patience, some old coins. Old house places are a joy as it takes you back to wondering how the family lived, etc.
> Old town sites or dirt cross roads where stores might have stood can be deduced from these maps as well.
> Happy and blessed new year to all!
> Rik
> ...


Did you purchase those maps?

 I can slightly use the image on the website as guidance but I can't zoom to the level of detail that would be practical.

@sewingmom amazing resource! I had been using this site for general property viewing and had no idea of this capability. Many many thanks to you.


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## willong (Jan 4, 2023)

CanadianBottles said:


> The maps we have here detail a lot more dumps than Superfund-type sites. I definitely wouldn't recommend digging in one of those! The maps I'm referring to show all known sites where municipal trash was ever dumped, including small 19th century dumps. Most aren't earmarked for any sort of remediation, just documented to avoid unpleasant surprises.


I did get the impression that you were talking about something more along those lines. The Superfund sites here in USA are mostly sites that were polluted by industrial operations such as mining and metal refining, chemical processing and the likes. I won't say that we have nothing like the maps you speak of that record municipal landfills; but if we do, I certainly have never encountered such. Digging through historical newspaper articles is a laborious and often fruitless method of finding landfill locations. I found reference to several such sites in the Seattle area through some vintage newspaper articles that have been scanned and posted online, though none of those are locations where one might expect to get away with digging today (one was a site I actually dug in the early 1970's; it came to light when foundation boring for overpass columns brought old junk to the surface in the late 1960's).


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## hemihampton (Jan 4, 2023)

I know some Conservation Maps in Michigan from the 1950's will show Town Dumps, but upon inspection I noticed they are all buried under a ton of Dirt. LEON.


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## willong (Jan 4, 2023)

rebel1 said:


> Does anyone know where I can find historical maps that show where old houses and old dumps use to be?


You might check with your county assessor's office to see if they maintain an archive of old plat maps. Some of the older vintage types show individual buildings in the rural areas, not just the property boundaries and ownership. A 1910 plat book in the library reference section of a county where I once lived in western Washington was of the former type and it lead me to several nice digs in 1970-71. Conversely, I could only find the type of plat maps with property lines and ownership notation for the next county north of there.

Reasoning that more than just one family would have occupied the location and contributed to the dump in an age before long commutes in private vehicles were common, I concentrated on mill sites and logging camps mostly. When I spotted a likely prospect on the plat, I would check the location against a modern map to see if reference roads and landmarks were substantially unchanged. If the area didn't appear to have been obliterated by sprawl--that process is downright convenient today with Google Earth--I would drive out to a reference point on a road, then hike in and try to find evidence of the old buildings or historical activity. Although, using a pitchfork, I mostly probed out trash dumps that had been obscured by forest duff and overgrown with moss, ferns, salal and berry vines, I sometimes also got into the creeks where bits of glass, pottery and bricks were good signs that I was on track!


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## willong (Jan 4, 2023)

rebel1 said:


> Opelika, Alabama.


rebel1, take a look at your "Conversations" (click on the envelope icon next to the bell).

I sent you a PDF version of 1907 vintage USGS map of your Opelika area.


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## rebel1 (Jan 5, 2023)

willong said:


> You might check with your county assessor's office to see if they maintain an archive of old plat maps. Some of the older vintage types show individual buildings in the rural areas, not just the property boundaries and ownership. A 1910 plat book in the library reference section of a county where I once lived in western Washington was of the former type and it lead me to several nice digs in 1970-71. Conversely, I could only find the type of plat maps with property lines and ownership notation for the next county north of there.
> 
> Reasoning that more than just one family would have occupied the location and contributed to the dump in an age before long commutes in private vehicles were common, I concentrated on mill sites and logging camps mostly. When I spotted a likely prospect on the plat, I would check the location against a modern map to see if reference roads and landmarks were substantially unchanged. If the area didn't appear to have been obliterated by sprawl--that process is downright convenient today with Google Earth--I would drive out to a reference point on a road, then hike in and try to find evidence of the old buildings or historical activity. Although, using a pitchfork, I mostly probed out trash dumps that had been obscured by forest duff and overgrown with moss, ferns, salal and berry vines, I sometimes also got into the creeks where bits of glass, pottery and bricks were good signs that I was on track!


Thanks!


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