School Houses? Anyone ever try any?

[coinman123]

I did some research in my free time and found a school house site on an intersection with an abandoned road, probably five minutes driving time from my house. The school house appeared in an 1850's map of my town but not on any later maps. The woods look great, next to a trail (road that has been abandoned since 1900),a nice stone wall and clean old woods (woods on a 1940's historicaerials.com aerial photograph of the area, unlike most areas that were fields in that time) based on what I see on the street view. I sent my oldest T2 SE for the T2 upgrade program on Sunday, and will most likely get it back next week, this weekend I will try to go to this site with my other T2. Has anyone hunted school house sites and have any tips, or has anyone had good luck at them. My question is, are they better than normal homestead sites?

 

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[coinman123]

I was able to do some deed research of nearby houses of the time, the person who lived 1/10 of a mile down the abandoned road sold part of her land to the school committee in the mid 1850's to built the school house. The school house is newer than I was hoping, but it still sounds worth going to for sure.

 

[flinthunter]

From your comment, it sounds like you might be going onto a possible private property without permission. As a landowner, I am fed up with people that think they can go on anyone's property anytime they please. Please make sure you are not trespassing as that gives your fellow detectorists a bad image in others opinions.

 

[roccus]

Like you I found an old school house on the same site from an 1875 map the school showed on a now abandoned stage coach road. I took the jeep down it today to see if the school was still standing. The road has some what appear to be hunting camps and the road is rough the further away from town you go. The school though all closed up and looks well maintained along with it's surrounding lawn. If this was owned by the town then it would be public property but I was not sure... on the way out back toward town on this road I saw a farmer out in his yard so I stopped to ask about it. He told me the town does not own it but an association does. So this is private property and would have been a big no no to just go and dig even though nobody is around the area. I plan to go to the town hall in withing a couple days to see if i can get info on this association and a way to contact them to try to get permission...

I have never done an old school yard yet either so not sure what I may find.. I know newer school grounds are loaded with bottle caps, pull tabs and the metal eraser holder ends from wood lead pencils.....

 

[Xraywolf]

If it has a historical marker, big no no.
If it is fenced, has no trespassing signs, no.
Otherwsie, though it still may be private property, a judgement call ,,, And its probably safe to say it most likely had been detected before.

 

[Honest Samuel]

If you check out old schools, you many find a lot of silver and other old coins worth more then face value, and more good news is that you may not find pull taps. Good hunting and good luck.

 

[coinman123]

From your comment, it sounds like you might be going onto a possible private property without permission. As a landowner, I am fed up with people that think they can go on anyone's property anytime they please. Please make sure you are not trespassing as that gives your fellow detectorists a bad image in others opinions.

The house mentioned I checked the deed of in my above comment is no long standing, it is from the same old map that I found the school house on. The school house has been gone for over 100 years, I did a GIS check, the nearest property is around 800 feet to the right of the school house

 

[sprailroad]

Coinman, read your thread, started to drool thinking about it.

 

[coinman123]

Coinman, read your thread, started to drool thinking about it.

Me too! I drooled after seeing the overlay, and that unlike all my other school house sites I have mapped, it is not crowded in by houses and/or on private land, now a parking lot, school is still standing, or the site in a horrible bushy woods full of ticks in between two big roads. The is the first school house that I will be able to actually hunt, I assume that it will either be fantastic or a total bust. I would try the homestead site (I think there are two or three of them) near the school house, but unfortunately they are not accessible due to a swamp that is currently there and one is on the edge of private land around a quarter mile from the school house. The homesteads were from the 1700's-early 1800's. Before the land was sold to the town in the 1850's to build the school house, it belonged to one of the homesteads. I assume that the homestead probably used the area as a working field in the 17-1800's, leaving a chance of old finds to be found there. It was a widowed woman who sold the land, probably not able to farm or utilize it. The town never sold the land after they got it, I attempted to trace it forward to see if it could be private (to make sure the GIS data wasn't lying about it being public). I found a few school house districts that sold their land between 1870 and 1920, the one I found never did (meaning that the town still owns it).

 

[coinman123]

If it has a historical marker, big no no.
If it is fenced, has no trespassing signs, no.
Otherwsie, though it still may be private property, a judgement call ,,, And its probably safe to say it most likely had been detected before.

I don't think anyone has metal detected there before, I couldn't see a cellar hole from the street view (I am not sure of those one room school houses had them anyway), and unless you did some research it would be hard to know it existed. I don't see any fences or signs around the area from Google Maps, though they have sometimes deceived me in the past. I once drove thirty minutes to a place that looked good on Google Maps, just to see posted signs and have to drive thirty minutes back to town and go to a place five minutes from my home. I hope no one in the past was able to find the location and cleanly hunted it out, if so, I hope that they left stuff there for me . There is a dirt parking area next to the trail though, someone could have, not knowing it was a school house, though it was a good place to metal detect 40 years ago while hiking.

 

[SD51]

I have worked (with permission) a location that was once a one-room school house in 1875. Unfortunately, I haven't found any coins yet but there's no shortage of square nails in every possible size. Haven't given-up yet but hope you have better luck...

 

[sprailroad]

Coinman, for a chance like that, bring on the " Deep Woods Off" Tick spray. Heck, I'd wear perfume if that's what it would take.

 

[coinman123]

Heck, I'd wear perfume if that's what it would take.

I want to avoid the ticks! Not make them more attracted to me than before!

 

[Honest Samuel]

To ticks and other bugs, people are free food.

 

[fistfulladirt]

I have hunted several 'invisible' schoolhouses, all long gone, and I make sure I have permission.
I look for the horseshoe-shaped driveway if still visible, sometimes hard to see.
Long-gone sites are the best, as most standing schools have been pounded to death. I recently observed a father-son team hunt a standing schoolhouse site every day for over a week, and it had been hunted as long as I had been detecting, at least since about 1977.

The "U" part of the driveway is the best spot I've found to locate coin, as the horse/carriage or horseless carriage pulled up to drop the kiddies off. Of course, lots of kids walked miles to school. One of my first IH cent was found at a driveway, 1864.

 

[foiler]

Keep in mind that old school locations don't in themselves translate into old coins. There was no reason for children to bring money to a school house, particularly in the 1800's. Most of the school programs that required $$ started post WWII. The reason school sites can be good hunting is the use it often had other than a school house. Most towns used it for meetings and special events. The building and grounds surrounding it where for multi use. Often hot spots are found some distance from the building itself due to events held on the adjacent grounds.

 

[ChampFerguson/TN]

Me too! I drooled after seeing the overlay, and that unlike all my other school house sites I have mapped, it is not crowded in by houses and/or on private land, now a parking lot, school is still standing, or the site in a horrible bushy woods full of ticks in between two big roads. The is the first school house that I will be able to actually hunt, I assume that it will either be fantastic or a total bust. I would try the homestead site (I think there are two or three of them) near the school house, but unfortunately they are not accessible due to a swamp that is currently there and one is on the edge of private land around a quarter mile from the school house. The homesteads were from the 1700's-early 1800's. Before the land was sold to the town in the 1850's to build the school house, it belonged to one of the homesteads. I assume that the homestead probably used the area as a working field in the 17-1800's, leaving a chance of old finds to be found there. It was a widowed woman who sold the land, probably not able to farm or utilize it. The town never sold the land after they got it, I attempted to trace it forward to see if it could be private (to make sure the GIS data wasn't lying about it being public). I found a few school house districts that sold their land between 1870 and 1920, the one I found never did (meaning that the town still owns it).

That sounds like Due Diligence to me. I too believe that it is public property. If you are challenged, just be honest in what you think. Good Luck! (agree with above posters that the U entrance + nearby grounds will be your hot spots). Let us know how it goes.

 

[Walldow]

I would give it a hunt! I've found some old lock plates (copper) very detailed. Alot of square nails, some pieces from horse saddle, some neat stuff. I'd go for it if you don't try you won't find. Good luck

 

[Honest Samuel]

Check out old and new schools. You never know what you are going to find.

 

[Tommybuckets]

Wait there are places to detect besides school houses? Joking but those are locations I and most hunters prioritize. I also assume that any older defunct school houses on public ground have been at least cherry picked and possibly pounded. I have hunted enough of them to know you can still eek out a buffalo or at least some Wheaties but one poster pointed out the kids didn't have much need for money. Its always worth a try but I have hunted some on private property with permission and found them clean.