Yesterday I went to the pines alone with the object of visiting three sites I had made brief visits to previously: Red Oak Grove, Union Clay, and Howardsville. I figured that by going alone I could take my time and canvass the sites thoroughly. I was armed with GPS plots of the corner points at Red Oak and Union Clay, as best I could determine them from old aerials. I am dedicating this thread just to the finds at Union Clay, since they are more interesting. I'll make a separate album and thread for ROG and Howardsville.
I entered the site near the southwest corner, and immediately spotted a few shards such as we photographed last time. They might even been the same ones.
There really isn't a heck of a lot in the southern part of the site that I could see, and as I moved north I stopped seeing any shards at all. The going was very tough, with thigh- to waste-high brush, lots of deadfall, and plenty of ticks. At about the middle of the site are the remains of an old road that used to twist through there. I spotted this piece of iron pipe sticking out of the bank at the side of the road. Perhaps it was part of a gate.
Moving onward I came across this piece, which seemed older and somewhat different from the glaze and composition of the other pieces in the area.
Not far beyond that I spotted this piece partially embedded in the roots of a tree. I was now in the northeastern part of the site, and was starting to see shards again, and beginning to hope there might be something interesting after all.
I came across an area with two medium-sized and fairly unappetizing flooded pits. Again this increased my interest as I couldn't see any natural reason for them to be there.
I had been on the lookout for an hour at this point, for anything with an impression. This was the first piece I saw that qualified.
Just a little beyond that I spotted some more shards, and larger pieces than I had seen before. There are some photos in the album linked at the end. Still, nothing of any scale; certainly no structures or anything that even qualified as a cellar hole as far as I could see. Not long after seeing the second or third shard north of the flooded pit, I saw this.
There is a rather large dump of broken clay pipe. The pile spreads out under the brush to a diameter of perhaps 30 or 40 feet. All the pieces in the pile are period as far as I can tell, and there is a great diversity of configurations and styles.
I saw some of the largest nearly-intact pieces that I have seen anywhere on the site up to this point.
Additionally there was plenty of brick scattered around, whole and partial. Here are two of the more interesting ones.
In the first image we see what may be an 'N' and then 'Co. NJ'. In the second the inscription is illegible. Using some post-processing methods on the image I think it may show part of the word 'Clay' but I may be talking myself into seeing it, too.
Lastly, on my way back south from the area of the dump, following an old fire cut that had some motorcycle tracks in it, I spotted these iron bolts sticking up from the ground.
This is a large site, and I don't feel I've covered all of it, or even the bulk of it. But I would say I carefully searched a good 30% of it yesterday, including pushing brush aside and scanning the ground. I'd like to think there is more in there somewhere than just this pipe dump, but my guess is there is not.
The full album can be viewed here.
I entered the site near the southwest corner, and immediately spotted a few shards such as we photographed last time. They might even been the same ones.
There really isn't a heck of a lot in the southern part of the site that I could see, and as I moved north I stopped seeing any shards at all. The going was very tough, with thigh- to waste-high brush, lots of deadfall, and plenty of ticks. At about the middle of the site are the remains of an old road that used to twist through there. I spotted this piece of iron pipe sticking out of the bank at the side of the road. Perhaps it was part of a gate.
Moving onward I came across this piece, which seemed older and somewhat different from the glaze and composition of the other pieces in the area.
Not far beyond that I spotted this piece partially embedded in the roots of a tree. I was now in the northeastern part of the site, and was starting to see shards again, and beginning to hope there might be something interesting after all.
I came across an area with two medium-sized and fairly unappetizing flooded pits. Again this increased my interest as I couldn't see any natural reason for them to be there.
I had been on the lookout for an hour at this point, for anything with an impression. This was the first piece I saw that qualified.
Just a little beyond that I spotted some more shards, and larger pieces than I had seen before. There are some photos in the album linked at the end. Still, nothing of any scale; certainly no structures or anything that even qualified as a cellar hole as far as I could see. Not long after seeing the second or third shard north of the flooded pit, I saw this.
There is a rather large dump of broken clay pipe. The pile spreads out under the brush to a diameter of perhaps 30 or 40 feet. All the pieces in the pile are period as far as I can tell, and there is a great diversity of configurations and styles.
I saw some of the largest nearly-intact pieces that I have seen anywhere on the site up to this point.
Additionally there was plenty of brick scattered around, whole and partial. Here are two of the more interesting ones.
In the first image we see what may be an 'N' and then 'Co. NJ'. In the second the inscription is illegible. Using some post-processing methods on the image I think it may show part of the word 'Clay' but I may be talking myself into seeing it, too.
Lastly, on my way back south from the area of the dump, following an old fire cut that had some motorcycle tracks in it, I spotted these iron bolts sticking up from the ground.
This is a large site, and I don't feel I've covered all of it, or even the bulk of it. But I would say I carefully searched a good 30% of it yesterday, including pushing brush aside and scanning the ground. I'd like to think there is more in there somewhere than just this pipe dump, but my guess is there is not.
The full album can be viewed here.
It was hard enough to maneuver in there without stepping on anything. The photos don't necessarily do it justice: it's a pretty large and spread-out pile.
