03/15/09

The House

I was asked by the Director of the Rittenhouse Town if I had ever located a septic tank on a property.  I had met Chris Owens at the Evans-Mumbower Mill, in the spring of 2008.  At that time I had the opportunity to discuss the success that I had in using dowsing to find the tailrace of the mill and other features.

I told Chris that I had located other septic systems with fairly good success.  This I had done at private homes where a tile field was usually also located.  I made a date with Chris to go to the Rittenhouse Town that is located along Lincoln Drive, in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  This is a historic site where the first paper mill in the British Colonies was located.

On arriving at the site, on a bright summer morning, I had to orient myself to a site that I had never visited before.  Like many people in the Philadelphia area, I had driven past the site many times as I traveled on the Lincoln Drive.  The ground in the area is quite hilly and covered with vegetation.  There are a few old structures still standing on the site.

To start my search, I elected to ignore any previous efforts to locate the tank.  I started at the edge of the house where there was a sewer cleanout visible.  The lines traveled away from the house at an angle, and went through a bed of pachysandra.  Within a few feet, they went into the brush and down a slope that approached 45 degrees.  I followed the line to a large circle.  In the area of the circle was a large mass of wild rose.  I asked for cutters and we cut down the brush inside of the circle.  The circle seemed to be about 8 feet across.  There is another circle within the larger one, but about 1 foot shorter in diameter.  This could be the inside wall. I then located a smaller inside circle that could be the cleanout cap.  This was all marked out with flags for the cleanout crew.  I hope that they are now successful on their cleanout project.

I plan to return to the site soon to witness the archaeology that is taking place on the site this summer.  I might also be able to help locate some of the structures that were once on the town site.