 |
| Source: Sorry - not sure where I found this. If you can find the source I'll be glad to post it. |
It seems the older I get, the more I think back to the distant past of my childhood, especially in the small silent hours before sunrise. There was the shady area by the pussy willow tree where I happily created roads in the dirt with my toy tractor and where the little yellow duck I won at the county fair ate a toadstool and died. It was the first time I felt that type of sadness. Nobody else in this world has ever, or will ever, know that spot like I do. Like the many barns and outbuildings that have fallen down or been removed, or the huge old oak tree that was a landmark during both my mother's and my own childhood, the green valley of my youth is now looks very different - but only to the eye.
One of the most magical places was the spring house. I wish I had a photo to show you. In fact, it almost makes me mad that I don't. Although I found many pictures of historic "spring houses," they all seem to be different and none more like the one I'm talking about than the hobbit house shown above. Just take away the front windows and make the door rectangular.
This spring house was under a spreading oak on a green hillside not far from an old red barn. It was a little stone building, mostly buried so that only a small part of the roof and one wall on the lower side of the hill was visible. Bending down to enter the low door, the first thing you saw on the opposite wall was a short pipe extending from the stone wall. Cool water trickled constantly from the pipe into a trough. that ran around all three sides of the building, except for the side where the door was. They were used to cool forty pound milk cans, so were a foot or a foot and a half wide and a about two feet deep.
The spring water always flowed, and it was always cool in the old spring house, no matter how hot the summer was. The earth itself covered most of the roof and most of three sides of the stone building.
The spring water kept the milk cans cool without any other source of power required. I always called it a spring house, but being in dairy country, it was sometimes called a milk house.
If cool living water flowing year-round from an unseen source isn't enchanting enough, that wasn't the most magical thing. You could occasionally catch a glimpse of a very strange and elusive creature that it seemed you could only find there. That craature, a salamander, not only was elusive but could actually regenerate body parts.
I really wish I had a photo of that magical little building that peaked out of the hillside. In fact, it almost makes me mad that I can't even find a photo of a similar spring house to show. Despite the many spring house photos I've seen, they all seem to be different, and the closest thing I found is photo of the hobbit house shown above. Take away the front windows and make the door rectangular and plain, and you pretty much have it.
---
For more about spring houses - The Spring House :: Wayne County Historical Society (waynehistorypa.com)
I also found this..
(Taken from The Good Old Days, The Spring House, R.J. McGinnis, F. & W. Publishing Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, page 76.)
"Pioneers looked for a spring and built their homes near it. It kept their thirst (and that of their animals) satisfied and their food from spoiling. It was the only refrigeration known for years. Usually a house or building was built over the spring out of rock and a tree was planted near the door. A stone trough was built in the spring house. Through it ran cold, slow flowing spring water. Earthenware crocks of milk were placed, neck deep, in the water. It was always cool in the spring house, even in the warmest of days. A gourd dipper hung in the spring house so men coming in from the hot field could stop for a draft of cold water.
---
Maybe you didn't get much about metal detecting from all of that, but here are some hints.
Talk to the elderly. They'll be glad to tell you where things were back in the day. I know where there were buildings, ball fields, dumps and picnic areas, and where kids used to sled ride even though there are no longer any obvious visible signs of those activities.
If you get a chance, go back to your old stomping grounds and detect the areas you know from times gone by. I once had the opportunity to go back and metal detect some of the areas where I grew up, including the area by the pussy willow tree and was pleased to find some of my old toys including metal soldiers and trucks. I showed some of those in this blog years ago. I also detected the area where there was a Little League baseball field. I knew where the benches were and where Coca Cola was sold and was able to pick up some silver coins in those areas. Those finds have an extra sentimental value. They bring back memories, including those of deceased relatives.
 |
| Some of My Old Toys That I Found. |
I'd love to go back again and explore some of the places where the old barns were, and also a couple of bottle dumps. I hope to get a chance to do that again someday. I'm more skilled now than the last time I was there.
I know where my dad picked up arrow heads by the creek when he was young, as well as other areas where arrow heads were found.
I'd have a big advantage over most of the detectorists in the area that were not around seventy years ago. I also have the knowledge of my parents and relatives about what was there even before my time. And I have a lot of old photos that were taken before my time.
But if you can't go back to the place of your roots, you can talk to the old people that did grow up where you might metal detect.
---
There isn't anything very exciting in the surf predictions, and the tides aren't big either.
Good hunting,
TreasiureGuide@comcast.ne3t