The Hormel Historic Home has found rare remnants of its former residents’ life in Austin.

While digging up the east end of the property early this week for a new sidewalk as part of the expansion project, construction workers discovered a burning pit containing saucers, jars and possibly perfume, liquor and ink bottles. The find was reported to executive director Laura Helle.

Helle enlisted Dustin Heckman, executive director of the Mower County Historical Society, to decipher the labels and maybe determine who may have owned the items and when.

Although the items may have belonged to Hormel founder George Hormel and his wife, Lillian, they were not the only residents in the house. Austin Mayor John Cook built the home in 1871 and lived there until it was converted into a YWCA in 1901. It did not become the Hormel Historic Home until the early 1990s.

The bottle labels listed companies from New York, Cincinnati, Boston and Berlin, Germany. Both of George Hormel’s parents were German immigrants, Helle said.

“They are more eastern U.S. companies,” Heckman said when examining the find Thursday afternoon. “They’d be able to afford it and order it from that far away.”

Although Heckman could not determine a value for the items, he recommended searching the bottle companies on the Internet to gauge when they could have been manufactured.

“That may help narrow down who may have owned the items,” he said.

Heckman estimated they were made between the early 1900s and 1930s. He explained that burn piles were how people disposed of unwanted material before garbage hauling was available. He isn’t sure if there could be other such piles located on the property.

The construction site manager informed Helle about the find. She said they will search through the pile, which still contains some broken glass, to see if there are more treasures to dig up.

“We probably will continue until we have to move the dirt again,” Helle said.

Helle said when the Hormels left Austin, they brought almost everything with them, leaving only about a dozen personal items in the house.

“This is really exciting for us that way,” Helle said.

The Mower County Historical Society owns only a pair of shoes that belonged to Lillian.

Heckman recommended using a brush and cloth to wipe off the items. Helle said she plans to display them maybe in rooms throughout the house and in a case with placards, likely somewhere in the expansion area because they were found there.

“They don’t make any more history, so it’s great when you find it,” Helle said.

The Hormel Home expansion project, which includes a new commercial kitchen and three banquet/meeting rooms, is scheduled for completion and opening Nov. 1. It involves removing the Carriage House, which was built in 1939.