Where did colonial people put fireplace/cooking ashes?

dlax

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I can't seem to find much online about this. I have permission to hunt my neighbors property and I really want to get an idea of the old layout so I'm not wandering aimlessly. I'm trying to recreate in my mind where the homes, outbuildings, etc would have been.

At one entrance to an old stone wall enclosure there is a LOT of black wood char in the soil when I dig, clearly someone was regularly dumping fire ashes there for quite a while. If they were from late 1800s or even earlier, would they have already been decomposed by now? If it is old and related to the dwelling, where would people dump ashes in relation to their stoves/fireplaces.

Thanks for any insight or references to check out!
 
I know this probably doesn't help much, but when we clean out our fireplace, we just dump the ashes in the backyard behind an old magnolia tree. Just seemed like a convenient place at the time and we've been dumping them there for the last 20 years or so.

Ashes last for quite a while. Geologists use ash layers to date certain events, e.g. the chronology of volcanic eruptions or the the last mass extinction 65 million years ago.
 
I know this probably doesn't help much, but when we clean out our fireplace, we just dump the ashes in the backyard behind an old magnolia tree. Just seemed like a convenient place at the time and we've been dumping them there for the last 20 years or so.

Ashes last for quite a while. Geologists use ash layers to date certain events, e.g. the chronology of volcanic eruptions or the the last mass extinction 65 million years ago.

Thanks. I figured ashes were dumped wherever would be convenient. But you never know what some experts could chime in with. I plan to tour the property with my neighbor soon and will ask if they have been personally dumping them there. If not, then perhaps it is from earlier settlers.
 
Ashes and charred wood will stay there for a very long time, 100's of years if not thousands in the right conditions,...so, you might just be onto it!
Mud
 
Ashes and charred wood will stay there for a very long time, 100's of years if not thousands in the right conditions,...so, you might just be onto it!
Mud

You might be looking at some remains of the actual house.
Many homes burned.

If you start to find a lot of charred square nails, they might be telling a story.

I've been working colonial sites hard this year. When you get into a field of iron, dig a sampling. If you are picking up square nails and ancient building materials, you are onto something. If the sampling shows more modern materials, they were likely just dumped there.
 
Most of the old houses were not built on flat ground but rather. On a slope to drain rain water from the house. Keep that in mind.
 
You might be looking at some remains of the actual house.
Many homes burned.

If you start to find a lot of charred square nails, they might be telling a story.

I've been working colonial sites hard this year. When you get into a field of iron, dig a sampling. If you are picking up square nails and ancient building materials, you are onto something. If the sampling shows more modern materials, they were likely just dumped there.

Thanks, good tip. There was a LOT of iron, which usually I dig out of curiosity, but my little pinpointer quit working so I skipped it for my first trip over there. I'll take a look at the nails next time to see if they offer a clue. I did pull one huge one that was all twisted, but it was too rusted to tell its shape.
 
Most of the old houses were not built on flat ground but rather. On a slope to drain rain water from the house. Keep that in mind.

Thanks. The area is quite hilly overall, sloping down to the river. Maybe I'll snap some pics the next time I can get down there and see what you all think.
 
Out the back door. People have been throwing their garbage off the back side of the house as far as history goes back. And outhouses were generally downwind of the main structure for obvious reasons...
 
I've dug bottle dumps before that have had multiple layers of ashes. Seems like it would likely be thrown in the trash pit from time to time. Sounds like a great spot! HH!
 
As others have said, wherever was convenient, preferably somewhere you wouldn't track them back into the house. Unless they were making soap, then there would be a dedicated bin for them.
 
Out the back door. People have been throwing their garbage off the back side of the house as far as history goes back. And outhouses were generally downwind of the main structure for obvious reasons...

This is a key in finding these privys many imes you can reduce the property in half due to this.

Growing up in ta rural areal, I've known this for quite some time, spend some time in Iowa and there is no doubt why the hog set ups are easT of the house. LOL
 
Photo of area in question

Here is a photo of the area I suspect may have had a home on. I am standing on what was an old road down to the shipyard, so probably a bit of traffic back in the day. The entrance in the stonewall seems more elaborate than the usual breaks in the wall, making me think this clearing just enclosed by the wall was not just another field.

The yellow circle indicates where there is a lot of ash in the dirt. It could be recent, from the present-day owner's bon fires, etc. I still need to tour with the owner, that will hopefully give some answers. Given all of your input, I don't know if they would have tossed their ash basically into the road, so it is probably more recent ashes.

Anyway, just thought I will post a follow-up picture in case anyone is interested!
FergProp2_circle.jpg
 

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