GirlArchaeologist #4:Fun on a Farm

Field Trip to Aurora, NY, where GirlArchaeologist explores a farm built in 1835. What was that foundation from? And what is that brick installation with the iron cauldron? Don't forget to Comment, Think, Rate, and Link!!

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• archaeology
• history
• aurora
• ny
• farm
• carriage
• house
• barn
• foundation
• chimney
• brick
• 19th
• century
• cornell
• classics
• mystery
• cauldron
• structure
• mortise
• tenon
• beams

[DonQuixotedeKaw]

If these ovens were built during the civil war, my vote is for a country canning factory, to help feed the troops. There was a demand for newfangled canned fruit, as it had been discovered as a prevention and treatment for scurvy. A half of a peach a week, could save a soldier's life.

[DonQuixotedeKaw]

I was unsure that the cauldron was not a foundry vessel. With no hole in the bottom, all of my farrier's shop guesses are wrong. It's looking far more like the outer part of a double boiler. This could be used for laundry, canning, and candle making. Imitation Cognac is also a possibility, but very unlikely. The lathe, though the right vintage, wouldn't have been original, if the oven area was.

[DonQuixotedeKaw]

The fire pits would be to bring an entire finished wrought iron ring up to 700-900 degrees, expanding it, to place on the wooden wheel, and shrink into place, binding all of the unglued parts together. There is a similar need in coopering. But those pits are not going to be there.

[GirlArchaeologist]

Farrier's shop sounds like a real possibility, as this structure is located along the probably path of the old rive, between the house and the carriage house and stables. Mid to late 1800s is also a perfect date to go along with the expansion of the main house which has kicthens and servants quarters in the "old" 1835 portion, and a new mansion built 1850s or so added to the front..

[GirlArchaeologist]

I didn't see any evidence for ceiling bellows, and actually some of the ceiling had modern(-ish) ceiling tiles installed. The cauldron has no hole. Interestingly when I returned to the site the next week for a tour of the interior, the summer kitchen in the basement of the older portion of the house has a similar configuration with cauldron next to hearth, but with additional ovens next to that.

[GirlArchaeologist]

vineyards are common in the area today, but there's no evidence of this property having been such. The thought for the laundry was that it -had- been a lundry and was converted into a workshop at a later date.

[GirlArchaeologist]

Neat! I never knew that about the fire pits. Sadly nothing currently visible, but that's not to day that thing's haven't been plowed over and reseeded. And thanks for the tip on the cell phone. Will do!

[DonQuixotedeKaw]

Were there one or two large fire pits outside, off of a front corner, about 20-30 feet away from the building? If there were, and about 7 feet in diameter, would clinch it as a wheelwright's. If there were, and only 3-4 feet in diameter, it was a cooperage.

A filming note, your cell phone's automated signal check is corrupting your recordings. You should turn it completely off when shooting.

I'm enthused to see more!

[DonQuixotedeKaw]

If it was solid bottomed, for sure, then that's a better indicator for a candle factory. Fabric handling in a room with a wood lathe? Very unlikely. The building was probably not a cooperage, unless the property was a production vineyard. Indoors distilleries were frowned on for the fire hazard, but not an impossibility either.

[DonQuixotedeKaw]

The round hole in the chimney could have been for a smoke hood, or for a 2nd-3rd-4th fire source. The loose bricked hearth, and the absence of vents in a raised ash door, could be indicators of a Roman style floor air induction system, meaning outside mounted bellow or fans. Since you did not pan up, I could see no sign of ceiling bellows, which would also indicate it all being older. Was there a hole in the bottom of the "cauldron"?