Small three-sided cellar hole?

[Outdoorsman258]

I am working a farm that I have dated back to 1750. I am trying to figure out what this little cellar hole was for. It is about 6 feet deep, 10 feet long and 18 feet wide. On end has no wall, more like a ramp. Only thing I have found has been nails around the hole. I have circled it on the LIDAR map in blue. It is close to where the farmer got gravel. Anyone got an idea of what it might have been for?

 

[Rock Jock]

I wonder if it was a sort of bin, loadout or hopper for some material removed from whatever was being worked (quarry?) toward the end of the old road in the LIDAR image. It looks like the erosional geology at the end of the road appears different from the surrounding terrain. It almost looks like the terminus of an anticline with a different rock type in the core of the anticline. Is that a road or just a continuous layer of more resistant rock along the rim on the far right side of the image? Could that be piles of low grade rock removed from a mine of some sort near the end of the road?

 

[Outdoorsman258]

The top of the hill looks like a gravel pit. Looks like they dug the top of the hill. The road goes past the hole and leads back to where the main house was. On the road I have found a lot ox shoes and what looks like barn door hinges.

 

[spence]

The top of the hill looks like a gravel pit. Looks like they dug the top of the hill. The road goes past the hole and leads back to where the main house was. On the road I have found a lot ox shoes and what looks like barn door hinges.

Horse or ox barn ?

 

[Outdoorsman258]

Maybe a small stable while they worked the pit on top of the hill?

 

[spence]

Horse or ox barn ?

What's the chance the 4th wall had the rocks pilferred for another project ?

 

[Metal Pig]

I found something incredibly similar to that at an abandoned farm near me. My first impression was that it was a root cellar. I didn't find a lot of metal within the walls there but I did find some old glass, 1940's Id say and possibly earlier. I was there with a Tesoro about 3 years ago. Now that I have a Legend on the way, I'll probably be going back after the snow melts. I think that place has a lot more to give up still. The grounds are a mess, really. Tons of wire, parts of cars and farming implements, etc. Plus it's very overgrown with huge pricker bushes and there are lots of ticks. Not exactly a "fun" place to hunt.

 

[spence]

I found something incredibly similar to that at an abandoned farm near me. My first impression was that it was a root cellar. I didn't find a lot of metal within the walls there but I did find some old glass, 1940's Id say and possibly earlier. I was there with a Tesoro about 3 years ago. Now that I have a Legend on the way, I'll probably be going back after the snow melts. I think that place has a lot more to give up still. The grounds are a mess, really. Tons of wire, parts of cars and farming implements, etc. Plus it's very overgrown with huge pricker bushes and there are lots of ticks. Not exactly a "fun" place to hunt.

Haha, love it. A friend of mine wears chest waders when he goes on hunts like that. Good luck!

 

[Metal Pig]

Haha, love it. A friend of mine wears chest waders when he goes on hunts like that. Good luck!

I do actually have some water resistant coveralls from my surveying days, like 20 years old. I should dig them out. BTW, if you go to Coleman Military Surplus (.com) they have some great one-piece suits for aircraft mechanics, rain suits etc. Hell, they even have chemical hazard suits that completely cover you! Imagine how seeing someone dressed like that swinging a metal detector in the woods would freak some people out!

 

[spence]

I do actually have some water resistant coveralls from my surveying days, like 20 years old. I should dig them out. BTW, if you go to Coleman Military Surplus (.com) they have some great one-piece suits for aircraft mechanics, rain suits etc. Hell, they even have chemical hazard suits that completely cover you! Imagine how seeing someone dressed like that swinging a metal detector in the woods would freak some people out!

Stay back metal detecting in progress dangerous fumes and radiation !

 

[Kansashunter]

I love the old unexplained. Especially when you just run across them in the woods!!

 

[hoser]

Don't they call those root or potato cellars. Sounds cool though. Got to be some goodies there somewhere. Good luck.

 

[GeoAngelo]

First impression is foundation for a bank barn. Less wood needed to construct this type of structure as you've got built in headroom from the foundation being dug into a hillside or slope.

 

[stetam]

Like GeoAngelo said, its a bank barn foundation. Guaranteed

Steve

 

[Iggyks]

I am working a farm that I have dated back to 1750. I am trying to figure out what this little cellar hole was for. It is about 6 feet deep, 10 feet long and 18 feet wide. On end has no wall, more like a ramp. Only thing I have found has been nails around the hole. I have circled it on the LIDAR map in blue. It is close to where the farmer got gravel. Anyone got an idea of what it might have been for?

Does the back wall face the north?

 

[Metal Pig]

Does the back wall face the no

 

[Metal Pig]

I didn't quite realize how big the structure you are describing was at first. Maybe it was a carriage house? The dimensions sound perfect for a wagon plus a couple of hitched horses. Not that the horses would stay there but they still might be required to back it in and then be unhitched. Maybe kind of depends on whether it was a simple passenger buggy or some kind of hay wagon. However I wouldn't expect a hay wagon would really need to be sheltered like that. I'm just brainstorming... don't mind me...

 

[BuckHill]

whatever it is it looks like a promising spot for sure, I can smell the copper from here!

 

[Mach]

Maybe a small building to store tools. We get a lot of those around old cranberry bogs.