Here are a few pics from work. This is a historic foundation feature that Patty and I recorded last month. It was located in a clearing next to a small seasonal drainage, with no other associated cultural remains. Artifacts found in a shovel test were structurally-related and gave a rough age of late 19th-mid 20th century.

A closeup of the foundation showing the large cut stones employed in its construction. This was small - probably only about 3.5 x 4m with the highest walls ~1m

Patty screening the shovel test within the feature - cut and wire nails, a carriage bolt, metal frags, burned glass... however, nothing domestic per se

And here's me taking a GPS waypoint for the corner of the feature 

Recently I've run into several websites and blogs where folks have pledged to read "52 books or novels in 52 weeks". I've never given myself a specific goal, but lately I've been devouring books at a rate of probably 3-4 per week. Here are a few recent reads:

• The Iron Industry in Pennsylvania by Gerald Eggert
• Archeology in the Upper Delaware by W. Fred Kinsey
• The Minisink: A Chronicle of One of America's First and Last Frontiers by Dennis Bertland
• Pennsylvania's Rails to Trails by Thomas Sexton
• Great Hikes in the Poconos by Boyd Newman
• Roadside Geology of Pennsylvania by Bradford Van Diver
• Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
• Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston
• Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky
• Oil Notes by Rick Bass
• Pennsylvania Transportation History by William Shank
• A Museum of Early American Tools by Eric Sloane
• Vanderbilt's Folly: A History of the Pennsylvania Turnpike by William Shank

I generally lean toward titles in nonfiction and history. If you have any recommendations for a future read, post a comment here or send me an e-mail. Maybe I'll actually begin to track what I am reading in the '52 Books in 52 Weeks' tradition and post some short reviews as I go along...

Brad has decided to turn the 109 once again into a softtop Land Rover. Here is a 'before' shot of the 109 with hardtop, roof rack, ladder, auxiliary lighting, and limb risers. 

And now, the 109 with its top removed! I think this will be fun for driving around this summer... 

Photo from the rear 

And what happened to the roof? It came off in pieces (typical Land Rover - everything bolts together). Here are the two side panels... 

The door (the metal thing is a jerry can holder). Eventually we will probably buy a fold-down tailgate style door to replace this. 

The roof panel. Rover folks call this a 'tropical roof' because of the double panels, which keep the sun from directly beating on you. Usually these have two small roof vents as well, so this style is probably somewhat rare. 

And the roof rack (sorry, didn't have time to rotate his picture). The ladder that is behind the roof rack will be transferred to the 88 after I get a new rear crossmember. 

And a few doggie pics... The three Huskies - notice the large cooling hole they've excavated and lack of ground cover in this section of the yard. This has become the canines' domain. 

A rare moment of calm for Sitka 

Tasha hopped into the hammock with Brad, and Kylie wasn't very happy with the situation... 

Here are pics from a few recent projects. These photos represent items recorded at two historic oil mining sites and a logging railroad dating from the late 19th through early 20th century...

A collapsed shack

Rusty mortise-lock doorknob...sans the door 

A rod line - this would have transferred power from the central power to a pump jack

Large holding tank

An engine... rusted, but otherwise reasonably intact

We usually only find the cement motor mounts that these rested upon - the machinery is gone from most sites 

It's difficult to see in this picture, but this is a late 19th century railroad grade 

Phantom railroad ties - these are evenly spaced indentations in the ground where ties would have been placed, and track on top. Sometimes the ties were removed when the track was no longer used, and recycled elsewhere on a new track. Occasionally we find sections of rail and ties that are still in the ground. Rails and ties are not present at most historic railroad grades that we record. We look for other clues which indicate a grade may have been present, including tie marks, elevated tramways, borrow pits along the sides, and water crossings. Often topography and an absence of vegetation can be a clue that a grade may be present, though sometimes it's difficult to tell the difference between a grade, a historic road, and a grade that may have been reused as a road.

Yesterday I was lucky enough to stumble upon a historic map showing our neighborhood that dates to 1923. Most of the buildings depicted in this image are no longer in existence.

A detail of our property showing the house (w/addition and summer kitchen), old wood and wagon shed, bank barn, and another outbuilding. The head race near the property boundary diverted water from the creek to power a sawmill just downstream. Much of the old raceway has been filled in with soil, but is still visible today.

Research into the house's history continues...

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to purchase some books at the local library's annual sale. I picked up a few gems, including a reprint of the 1894-95 Montgomery Ward mail order catalog. Here are a few of the more interesting items from the catalog that were available for purchase 110 years ago. Click on any of the illustrations for a larger view, and to read the descriptions.


The well-dressed woman of 1894