Buried
Elite Member
I'm sure some of you have came across old photos of buildings, schools, etc, that really have no landmark features, but you know where the property is located, but the building is no longer there.
For example, we'll use this old school house photo that I used to find out where exactly the old school was located on the property.
I scouted this location and could never find the building, using historicaerials, the topo maps of when the school was actually there, just had a square, and it was no where close to where the property actually was, some of the old topo maps were just rough sketches anyways.
Anyway, I studied this photo and noticed that some of the kids were squinting, and then I noticed the shadows on the ground. Seeing how the sun rises in the east, and normal school hours were from 8 - 3, I measured the angle of the shadows coming from the people, and concluded that these children were roughly facing east, northeast.
Armed with that, I lined up the shadow angles with the angle of the school house in the photo and concluded that the school house was built with a north/south location.
I pulled up google earth and zoomed in on the location, drew a rectangle on the property about the size of the north/south school building, then I put a circle where the kids would be sitting. Drew my lines out of the shadows on the ground and found the perfect spot where the school would fit in the property.
After doing that, I drove out to the old location and within 2 minutes, I found two old pipes in the ground, one on the north end, and another in a southern location which would be where I assumed the southern end of the school would be according to my calculations.
I may have gotten lucky with what I was working with, but it all just hit me while staring at this photo and maybe it may help someone out there with only a photo as a lead.
Let me know if this works for you
For example, we'll use this old school house photo that I used to find out where exactly the old school was located on the property.
I scouted this location and could never find the building, using historicaerials, the topo maps of when the school was actually there, just had a square, and it was no where close to where the property actually was, some of the old topo maps were just rough sketches anyways.
Anyway, I studied this photo and noticed that some of the kids were squinting, and then I noticed the shadows on the ground. Seeing how the sun rises in the east, and normal school hours were from 8 - 3, I measured the angle of the shadows coming from the people, and concluded that these children were roughly facing east, northeast.
Armed with that, I lined up the shadow angles with the angle of the school house in the photo and concluded that the school house was built with a north/south location.
I pulled up google earth and zoomed in on the location, drew a rectangle on the property about the size of the north/south school building, then I put a circle where the kids would be sitting. Drew my lines out of the shadows on the ground and found the perfect spot where the school would fit in the property.
After doing that, I drove out to the old location and within 2 minutes, I found two old pipes in the ground, one on the north end, and another in a southern location which would be where I assumed the southern end of the school would be according to my calculations.
I may have gotten lucky with what I was working with, but it all just hit me while staring at this photo and maybe it may help someone out there with only a photo as a lead.
Let me know if this works for you
