Brandon St. John holds a magazine (featuring him as a promising newbie in privy digging) while posing with Brockport Rotary president Eileen Whitney and Rotarian Mary Jo Orzech. Orzech is director of the Drake Memorial Library where St. John is a learning management systems analyst. St. James entertained and educated Brockport Rotarians with stories of his hunts for old privies, once common, but now concealed by dirt and time. “You never know what may be hidden under your own back yard,” he said. He has unearthed several old privies in Brockport alone since beginning his hobby a little over a year ago. His reward for all of this work, both physical and mental, has been a cache of items, from old purses to many bottles and tools. St. John displayed and described many artifacts which already have made him the subject of “New Kid on the Digging Block,” an article in the February 2018 issue of Antique Bottle & Glass Collector Magazine. At his presentation’s conclusion, he read a very humorous poem and requested any “leads” the members might have on potential locations of historic privies. He may be contacted at bstjohn@brockport.edu. Brockport Rotary meets most Thursdays at 6:15 p.m. at Bill Gray’s Brockport Restaurant.
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