Oldest thing you own?
- Thread starter Indiana
- Start date
Been a while since I decoded the VIN. My yard tractor is a TEA-20, made sometime between 1947 and 1956. Still gets the yard work done though.
About 10 years ago I excavated a 5'x5' square hole in my back yard 6.5' deep.
To place a concrete anchor block that supports a free standing antenna tower.
My soil below the topsoil layer is clay infused sand.
First few feet down were riven with constuction debris from when the houses in the area were built
And the soil excavated for basements was spread out.
Broken bricks, steel bands that once held brick bundles together etc.
Then about 5' down I came across a layer of limestones, edges smoothed from eons of lapping of water.
A shingle beach is what we call this sort of arrangement.
On the top of the stones a black carbon layer was present.
I am in south Sauga, about 6km north of present day Lake Ontario.
At some time on the distant past this lake was a lot bigger.
And this spot was once a lake edge when a forest fire burned through to leave this carbon deposit layer.
A wee little wooden box dated 1720. I’m not sure if it was made in England or North America but my ancestor brought it with them when they came north as Loyalists, from what was to become the US, and settled in what is now eastern Ontario.
At one point it likely would have held family jewellery or documents, sadly no more.
At one point it likely would have held family jewellery or documents, sadly no more.
This pen and ink drawing from 1842:
It was looted from a house in France by a German soldier during World War I. My Grandfather salvaged it from his dead body, and kept it in his army uniform until he was discharged, hence the fold lines.
It was looted from a house in France by a German soldier during World War I. My Grandfather salvaged it from his dead body, and kept it in his army uniform until he was discharged, hence the fold lines.
