Victorian Era Spa Beaches

[DiggerX]

Does anyone here target old Victorian (or even older) resort & spa areas? Obviously, the larger ones have been well hunted, but occasionally I find a nice smaller site that produces good mid to late 19th century to early 20th century items. Spas were pretty big back then...

Doc

 

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[lonewolfe]

Haven't found any myself but would love to! I don't know if we had any here in our area or not. Can you give any info on where we can obtain info on these kind/s of places? I hunt lakes more than anything and am always looking for new ideas, places to hunt where old resorts were, etc. Any direction on where to obtain any info is appreciated,

thanks in advance,

lonewolfe

 

[DiggerX]

As to where to find them, I use a number of sources. Probably your best starting point will be the historical societies nearest to your area (ie your local county historical society). Also, you should check your local library. Often they will have ref books that may shed light on this sort of info.

I also use books that I own relating to areas I hunt, as well as other materials, such as newspapers. I collect old newspapers and other paper ephemera, and have found great leads in them for various sites. I found a small lakeside resort that's been closed for nearly 60 years in a old ad in a local paper. Then all I had to do was go to the county office, find out who owned the property, & asked permission (which I got, though it is not always so).

That would probably be the best shot at starting it all out.

Doc

 

[lonewolfe]

Thanks for the info, I'll look into it, I should've known the library would be one source, been there / done that for other resort type reference's! Don't collect news papers (don't have the room) but, search them on disc ref at the library from time to time. Found a lake where a resort was in the late 1800s that shut down in the 1940s and had a field day (for over a week there). One of my best sprees of all time for lake hunting (found dozens of rings, 100+ religious medals, and an aray of other items during that week+)! My buddy that was hunting with me found a Morgan dollar on THE BEACH in like 3 inches of sand (and get this) it was next to the carcus of a dead deer!

 

[DiggerX]

I found a dead moose corpse underwater once.

I find a lot of religeous medallions at these types of sites as well. Pretty common for those days though I suspect.

Doc

 

[lonewolfe]

Dead moose? What happened to him/it - did he fall in a drown!? That must have scared the livin %#@! out of you? It would me for sure!

 

[DiggerX]

I've got no idea why it died. I reported it to the DNR, but I never checked back on it. It was a fairly clear lake, and I saw it from a bit of a distance away, so it's not like I literally ran into it. I've dived in some potentially dangerous places before (gaters, water moccasins etc), so this wasn't exactly highest on my creepometer.

Doc

 

[coin_diver]

I research and hunt these areas hard. They are awesome and usually overlooked by 99% of the hunters. They are not always easy. I cannot tell fairly capture all of the great finds. But for example, one spot my buddies wern't interested in produced 73 rings in 2 days, siver halves and dollars in plain view on the bottom, chains galore, etc. That's whats its all about!
If you are in Canada you have too many sites to hunt in a lifetime, NE has it's places too.