# Oak Orchard Acid Springs



## annie44 (Apr 20, 2007)

Thanks to my new friend and fellow collector Martin Diggins, I have added four (I already had 2) new Oak Orchard bottles to my collection.  I'm going to try to talk Marty into adding pics of some of his bottles to this thread because he has an incredible collection including the rare color variants.


----------



## annie44 (Apr 20, 2007)

The picture doesn't do this one justice - it is all bubbles, zillions of them!


----------



## annie44 (Apr 20, 2007)

Rare Alabama Genessee Co N.Y. variant...


----------



## annie44 (Apr 20, 2007)

One is C.W. Merchant, Four are H.W. Bostwick, and the other is the Alabama variant..


----------



## annie44 (Apr 20, 2007)

Now if I can just find an olive yellow and a black one I'll be all set!


----------



## annie44 (Apr 20, 2007)

Last pic...


----------



## Gunsmoke47 (Apr 20, 2007)

WOW! That's all I can say. Great bottles Cindy. There are so many beautiful MW out there. And anywhere from $50.00 to $5000.00!  What a great area to collect!!  Kelley


----------



## JOETHECROW (Apr 20, 2007)

During the late 80's My friend from Lockport and I, walked the entire area in the Alabama swamps where the Oak Orchard Spa once stood, (we located it using an actual 18oo's map his father the local historian lent to us) and also using an old marker his dad had left behind years before ,a piece of wire rope around a treetrunk, that had since grown upward and almost elluded us,...anyhow it is all currently a wildlife refuge, and the state had 'sanitized' the site....we DID find one piece of beautiful whittled emerald glass, and some ancient items squirelled away along an old hedgerow of trees....but no Oak orchard bottles,...upon hiking back to our truck,..we stopped and asked the nearby farmer about the place,...he told us two amazing things, one, when he was young, the bottles were piled everywhere and they'd skeet shoot them,..and two, ONE week before, the phone co. guy was in his basement and asked him about two on his basement ledge...and he gave em' to him...he then told us we'd have been more than welcome to them!...
 P.S. one week after our trek, the electric co. ditch witch kicked one up out of my friends front yard[] broke it of course..he still has it glued together.                   Joe


----------



## JOETHECROW (Apr 20, 2007)

Cindy,...I meant to add that your's are BEAUTIFUL! I was afraid the site would 'time me out', anyhow, I'll have one someday, hell or high water.                                                                     Joseph


----------



## capsoda (Apr 21, 2007)

Congrats on the new additions Cindy. They are great looking bottles.[]


----------



## annie44 (Apr 21, 2007)

Thanks Kelley and Warren!
 Joe- what a great story!  It's painful to even think of them skeet shooting these bottles back in the day!  It must have been fun to explore the Alabama swamps, even though no intact bottles were found.
 Cindy


----------



## JOETHECROW (Apr 21, 2007)

It was great fun, Cindy...I particularly remember the cat~ tails being more than head high, and having to wear waders to get back in there...we were ready to give up when we sat down for a breather and to consult the map (difficult surroundings to get your bearings in)...and about thirty feet from where we sat, my friend spotted the cable up in the tree...<laughing>, anyhow there's more, Last fall this same friend looked me up where I now live, and after a brief meeting (i was at work) I agreed to call him for a bottle dig...(We've not dug together in at least 20 years),,,So anyway, writing you my story inspired me to impulsively call him, and tommorow (Sunday) He's making the two hour drive down here ,and him and I and my current digging friend are heading deep into the forest to finish an1860~70's shinglemill settlement dump we found in the fall!...So indirectly,...Thank you. It'll be weird but fun..maybe we'll find an Oak Orchard bottle to bring the story full circle[].                                      Thanks, Bye for now....Joe


----------



## Road Dog (Apr 21, 2007)

> ORIGINAL: annie44
> 
> Rare Alabama Genessee Co N.Y. variant...


 Glad to see ya got one. I knew you were searchin. Looks Purty.


----------



## annie44 (Apr 21, 2007)

Thanks Road Dog - the Alabama Genessee Co has a small repair on the outside of the lip, where an open air bubble was filled in.  It was well done, and looks good, but is noticeable none the less.  If the bottle was perfect, I probably couldn't have afforded it, so I am happy to have one in my collection.

 Joe - Good luck on your dig.  Post some pics after to show us what you found!

 Cindy


----------



## bearswede (Apr 22, 2007)

Great bottles, Cindy! Good diggin', Joe... Bring home the bacon, err... Mineral Waters...

  Now, how did some swamps in NY State come to be named "Alabama"...?


  Ron


----------



## JOETHECROW (Apr 22, 2007)

Hmmm, Good question Ron...maybe someone relocated and it reminded them of back home somehow?...Gettin' ready to get ready to head out here,...one interesting thing my friend Bob reminded me of on the phone yesterday...He informed me that his father (the local historian) is now in a nursing home, He then asked me if I remembered the old photo his dad had showed us of the Spa...We think there was a seperate pic of four (or five) stone spring holes w/ wooden covers, and his dad told us that each spring had different alleged properties and used a different colored bottle to designate which spring it came from....I had kinda forgotten about that.Well, it's a Good digging day so,....Adios,    Joe


----------



## bearswede (Apr 22, 2007)

Very interesting stuff there, Joe... Have a blast digging!!!!!


  Ron

  PS... We have a barn down the road here in western Massachusetts that reads "Wyoming Valley"... And I think it's actually named for a place in Pennsylvania!


----------



## JOETHECROW (Apr 23, 2007)

Well, as often the case in life, things didn't play out just the way we might have thought or wished...My old freind Bob had a crisis at the marina he now runs, and couldn't make the trip,...My other friend and I did...one of the first hot days here w/ no leaf cover yet (it's raining though, as I write this) and I'll bet it's going to green up real quick, anyhow we did the 45 min. hike and things were as we'd left them last fall (vr. remote area)..we dug unbothered for 2 or three hours but most all the goodies were broken....just to avoid getting skunked, I brought home a 7' aqua sunken panel med,...vr. old, but not pontiled, and vr crude with a way crooked neck,....I like it alot!...the rest of the day we drove all over hell's half acre checking out leads, but all were too new. Sorry I've no easy way to post some pics,..I'll be remedying that soon,...thanks for all the responses.                                                                 Joe
 P.S. one of the pieces was an amazingly old dk. olive/brown stoddardish neck and shoulder, but super pronounced lady's leg bulge with a laid on ring lip...wish I knew what it would have been....we also found 90% of a 2 gallon grock w/ cobalt stylised bee motif which had me sifting and searching for the other piece(s).  
                                                                            So long,      Joe


----------

