Looking both inside and out; My front porch in rural Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. History in a very historical area.
About 1780 Farmhouse.com
Welcome to my website, which was created in October of 2012.
The whole idea of this website was originally to document the outhouse privy excavation behind the 1780 farmhouse I live in, but it’s turned out to be so much more.
I’m still looking for that elusive privy, but couldn’t help capturing this primitive one in Conestoga.
This website took a course of it’s own and features articles and photography for the historic glass and bottle collector, fossil and artifact enthusiast, metal detecting and relic hunter, and the armchair history buff. Discovery is really what it’s is all about. There’s articles, stories, and photographs relating every discovery from wherever my passion for discovering takes me. There’s no telling where I end up finding something and what it could be.
I’m either taking my time crossing or…
Racing down the tracks; I’m always looking for what’s unseen at the horizon line.
Sometimes I sit a spell on my porch. It’s always about time.
Updates
My category pages are continuing to be updated. There’s no shortage of items, artifacts, and collectibles to be added, stories and articles to be written; there’s only the matter of time it takes to get everything on board. The exploring, discoveries and research are still happening. This site will always be in a state of evolution. It’s a one man operation, from every word to photo, and I’m a full time working guy, so time is the biggest factor.
Watching the dust settle. Columbia, Pa.
I strive to be as accurate as possible in my writings and research. If I have written anything you may have more information on; I welcome your contacting me with any additional information. I make no claims to be an expert on anything. I just have a passion for writing and photography, and especially for history and the many beautiful items that have passed through it and into my hands. This is a site about collecting and sharing history, and the fascinating and exciting stories of acquisitions from the perspective of a wide ranging and very curious collector and explorer.
The cure for boredom is curiosity.
There is no cure for curiosity.
-Dorothy Parker
Color on the other side.
About Me
I’ve always had a passion for exploring and a love of history and have always collected something. It all started in 1975, when I was 10 years old and saw the movie Jaws. Not long after, I saw my first ‘Monster’ Megalodon fossil shark tooth. The result of that was 15 plus years spent diving the Gulf of Mexico and Florida rivers for fossils, shark teeth, large woolly mammoth teeth and bones, Indian artifacts and becoming both a fossil and antique dealer.
Above is one of those moments in life very rarely captured on film. It was November 1992 almost a half mile out in the Gulf (Not off a boat either; we swam it.) and the water temp was only 58 degrees. Despite wearing a double 3/4″ wetsuit; I was still freezing. My dive friend had brought his buddy out for a first time fossil dive, a very enthusiastic fellow who insisted on bringing an underwater camera. We told him he wasn’t likely to see much as the water was very murky from winter storms; the visibility was only 2 feet at best.
I had just surfaced from 20 feet down and had done very well; note the huge, almost 6″ Megalodon shark tooth in my hand. I had fanned a 3 foot hole in the sand and rocks on the dark bottom and there it was. I had come up, out of air after 2 hours and there was the buddy with his camera. Those long years spent fossil diving were the most fun I’ve ever had in my life. (See The Fossil Years Page.)
Below is the tooth from the pic shown above when I found it. Note the barnacles have long since been cleaned off. Photo was taken November 2012. Now I’m the one with barnacles. One thing about fossils, they do age well.
During my antique and fossil years, there were always old bottles in my windows, as I’ve always loved color and light through old glass. (See Bottles & Flasks Page.)
Then, one day in 1997 I happened across three old glass cordials and got quite a bite by the ‘Titanic Bug.’ (See White Star Line Page.)
I have long since sold the bulk of my Fossil Collection and White Star Line Collection, but I always held onto a few bottles for my windows. Now that I live outside the oldest and most historic inland city in America, Lancaster, Pa, (County founded 1729) I realize I have access to some pretty amazing local history. So, in the past years, I have been focused on that.
I hope by visiting this site that you come away with an appreciation for the pieces of history of which you may not have been previously aware. I also hope you have found your visit to be both entertaining and enlightening.
A fantastic piece of history and one of my best ‘Picks’ ever.
One of only 7 known West Point Class of 1846 McClellan graduation party bottles.
My most historic metal detecting find to date; a 1768 Spanish silver 2 reales piece of eight. (Of course having been holed some 200+ years ago, I had to make a necklace.)
Discovering and collecting history is an excellent education and endless entertainment.
It’s just like time travel.
It takes you there.
Thanks for stoppin’ by.
Eric M. Richter
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
United States of America
Planet Earth
Local Solar System
Milky Way Galaxy
Virgo Super Cluster
The Universe
Be a loner. That gives you time to wonder, to search for the truth. Have holy curiosity. Make your life worth living.
-Albert Einstein
