Hot take: that "dig" in my backyard was just a hole with a rusty horseshoe in it

Spent 4 hours Saturday with a trowel and screen sifting through 3 feet of dirt behind my shed near Richmond after reading about colonial finds in the area and all I got was a bent rusty horseshoe and a lesson in how most of the ground is just plain dirt with nothing to show for it - has anyone else put in a ton of effort on a site that turned out to be a total dud?

2 comments

2 Comments

cameronwest10h ago

That "just plain dirt" line hits home, not just for digging but for a lot of things. I've noticed this pattern my whole life, where you put serious effort into something expecting a big payoff and get a scrap instead. Like when I redid my own kitchen cabinets, thought I'd find some old forgotten treasure behind them, but it was just dust and a dead mouse. That horseshoe is still a connection to the past, just not the one you were hoping for. Seems like most of life's finds are like that, a little piece of something real but not the full story you thought you'd get.

lisa_ross1613h ago

Got to gently push back on the "just plain dirt" part. A lot of that ground in Richmond especially near old homes or sheds has been turned over and filled in for decades or even a century. That rusty horseshoe is actually a pretty good sign - it means people were doing stuff there back when horses were common transport. You probably just hit a spot that was already disturbed before. I'd suggest looking for a dip in the ground or an old foundation line next time, not just random backyard areas. Did you check any old maps of your property to see if a barn or smokehouse was ever there?