kengr

Exactly... it was filed away in the proto area-51 and forgotten, along with crystal skulls and other assorted weirdness that the government would prefer to forget about but didn't want anyone else to have.

This would be a little more private enterprise than that, but essentially the same idea.

Hm.. come to think of it... if we're talking about a spaceship being there since 1850's or earlier, you could order a building started, with a basement, land your ship while it's at the big hole in the ground stage, backfill with concrete, and bury the ship under the building with a hidden staircase down to the hatch. All it would require is a bit of precision building to have the brick-built staircase in place down into the [open] basement first, lay off the the initial workforce, land, fill in around the ship and brick over the entrance, then hire a new workforce to finish the building on top of the concrete pad.

Getting your spaceship out again however..

That also raises the question of why though. Fugitive time traveller perhaps?