SOLVING THE MYSTERY OF THE BLACK'S INDIA PALE ALE BOTTLE FROM THE JOHN MARSH HOUSE, CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

During excavations at the John Marsh House, built in the mid-1850s, a glass bottle was found in the construction trench that still had a paper label mostly intact that said "Black's India Pale Ale." Over the next 30 years, efforts to learn more about this bottle were ineffectual. However, some recent serendipitous sleuthing made easier by the wonders of the internet finally brought the answers not only to where the bottle came from, but also to how it got to San Francisco and subsequently to its final resting place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]