# Date of Wathen's Bottle



## jchesley (Oct 11, 2010)

Hi there-
 Last fall, I began digging a garden in the far back yard of my house just off West Cliff Drive and Woodrow Ave in Santa Cruz, CA. I was about three feet down digging some roots out and came across about 20 bottles in various shapes/sizes (I also found old food cans that were so rusted out they fell apart when I picked them up). Some were totally in-tact, others were just pieces I found and taped together. Iâ€™ve spent a lot of time attempting to date them and looking up the history of this area of Santa Cruz. I even found a photo that shows part of our lot in 1927. At that time, there was nothing on this lot. So, Iâ€™m assuming that most of these bottles are from after that time. I was told that back in the day before garbage pick-up, people would designate various holes in the furthest part of the yard from their house and put their garbage in them. Please, if anyone knows anything about the history of the west side of Santa Cruz, let me know. Here is a photo of a Wathen's distiller's bottle. Looking for the date. It is 8" tall by 4" wide. On one side it says, "WATHEN DISTILLERS SINCE 1788 REGISTERED U.S. PAT. OFFICE". On the other side it says, "FULL PINT". On the bottom it says "The AMS CO". Thanks!


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## surfaceone (Oct 13, 2010)

Hey Jillian,

 The Wathens and the Medleys were pioneering Kentucky distillers. Your bottle comes from the same general twenties time frame as the others you dug.

 The "AMS Co." was the American Medicinal Spirits Co.



From.

 As you can see, they're still distilling strong spirits. The Medleys and Wathens intermarried 2-3 generations back, I believe. They're workin on the 8th generation in the biz now. There's quite a bit of information out there on various Wathens...


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