Hidden 19th-Century Bottle Recovered in Boston

News December 17, 2020

(City of Boston Archaeology Program)
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Boston Whiskey Bottle
(City of Boston Archaeology Program)

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS—WHDH Boston reports that a note was found in a nineteenth-century whiskey bottle hidden in a wall of a home in the Back Bay area of the city. The City of Boston Archaeology Program thinks the bottle may have been placed in a space between an interior wall and the fireplace flue when the home was built. Dated September 23, 1894, the note reads “6 on Shea,” and the name “Tom Ford.” The bottle’s intact label reads “N. Simons, Importer and Wholesale Liquor Dealer,” with the address “31 & Castle St., Boston.” Some think the note may be a record of a bet on a sporting team. To read about another object discovered in a Boston house, go to "Artifact."

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