Lately, my son Alex has taken up archeology. We are a family of diggers. I can get distracted for hours on the beach digging and exploring. Following the 2010 Nor’easter and then Hurricane Irene, the beach has been giving up some of its long-held secret treasures. The storms ate away a big chunk of the shoreline, thus revealing items that have buried for maybe a hundred years.
This week we found dozens of old bottles, but one of my favorites is a green soda bottle from the Clicquot Club Co. (pronounced KLEE-ko). The Mills, Massachusetts soda company dates back to 1881. For decades this soda company was one the nation’s largest soft drink manufacturers. They specialized in sparkling cider and ginger ale and used pure spring water from that area to make the soft drinks. It is amazing to find items that people used over a hundred years ago. Maybe we have stumbled onto a garbage pile, or maybe it is the remains of one hell of a New Year’s Eve party from 1900.
We are not the only ones who have been finding cool old stuff. I notice that some else has unearthed an old, rusty hand pump that must have junked after indoor plumbing became available. This is one of the many reasons why I love living in this area. There is so much history right out my back door and it hasn’t been paved over or bulldozed or turned into a shopping mall.
I have a fantasy that I end up on the Antique Road Show with one of these bottles, or a rusty piece of metal and the guy tells me “You found Abraham Lincoln’s bicycle,” or “This bottle would go at auction for $30,000,” but usually when I Google them, they are more collector items than money-makers.
I always have the hope that one day Alex will come in the house saying “Guess what I found down at the beach?” and the answer will be “A HUGE diamond.” I’m still waiting.
