If you could live anywhere in the US to look for treasure, where would you live?

villagenut

Gold Member
Oct 18, 2014
5,761
10,258
florida
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
If you were on Oak Island you can find Bobby Dazzlers......what the heck:laughing7:...
 

Back-of-the-boat

Gold Member
Apr 18, 2013
6,887
8,507
California
Detector(s) used
AT GOLD/Garrett /C.Scope cs4PI/Garrett(carrot) pro pointer/ 5x8 double d coil and sniper coil/Lesche digger/Lesche "T" handle shovel.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Back to my hometown of Julian Ca. there has to be some gold rush era coins and relics there and pretty sure I know of a cache.
 

BigWaveDave

Gold Member
Nov 22, 2013
9,322
16,996
Mountain Maryland
🥇 Banner finds
2
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
4
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT Pro, AT Max, Minelab
Equinox 800
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Florida's Gulf Coast, the water was clear, calm, and warm on a normal day.

Get yourself down here and hit the beach! Do us all a favor though.... spend all your money at the small inns, restaurants, and small businesses that that have suffered from red tide and toxic algae. You might find a dollar in clad, and a bit of trash, but by all means, have at it!
 

Digger_O'Dell

Jr. Member
May 11, 2018
70
118
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Tough question. I've also been trying to make possible retirement plans though I've still got a few years to go.
There's so many options, but you would have to weigh the pros and cons of each. The midwest is nice. A bit of mid 19rh century history and lots of old towns and farms to hit. But the winters can be long and brutal. There's also the problem of having way too many anti detecting regulations and outright bans in local areas.
Florida has potential, but brutally hot in the summer. Lots of hunting pressure and some odd regulations about water hunting especially around leased water areas near wrecks. But after big storms I hear that the whole area changes and new treasures could pop up most anywhere on the beaches.
The East has more temperate weather and abounds in CW era history. Most areas are pretty reasonable for cost of living.
The Northeast of course is Colonial hunting grounds. Best chance of finding the oldest stuff in the country. But cost of living is high and winters can be brutal, depending on the area. Tough landscape around mountains, but best chance of finding undeveloped land with colonial activity.
The Southern states have a lot of history as well. Good chance of finding pre CW items there.
The SW states tend to be arid and preserve coins and artifacts better. But there is so much land that also may have never seen the footprint of a human. But here, and in the West you have gold country. Detecting for nuggets, panning, sluicing, etc can net some funds for the hard work if you are lucky.
West coast area has less history overall, but I've seen mining camp hunts that turned up lots of gold coins and relics from the days of the '49ers.
Good luck and happy hunting.
 

Chug And Red

Gold Member
Feb 18, 2010
7,396
2,678
Vancouver WA
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Chug)Whites Classic 5 ID, (Red Whites Coin master Pro)

Chug and Reds New Additions

Give It Up>> Garrett's AT Pro
Buttercup>> Garrett's Ace 250
Show Me the Money>> Garrets Ace 400
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Any where red can hunt for relics, Id prefer any warm area with dragoon buttons I would love to find one Yes I like to watch the detecting videos Texas with a bulldozer would work I would trade a Roman Coin for a Good D Button PM ME
 

A#1

Hero Member
Feb 18, 2018
532
657
Traverse City, Michigan
Primary Interest:
Other
Northern Lower Michigan, although I'd head south for the winter.

The history aint super old, but there's a lot of it.

Logging, homesteads, 20-40's era tourism, small gold prospecting, ghost towns, organized crime, railroads. All kinds of stuff.

And for the less historically motivated, campgrounds, beaches, parks, and stuff like that.

I have hundreds of sites to choose from, always something new.
 

Megalodon

Silver Member
May 13, 2018
2,650
4,374
Maryland
Detector(s) used
White's MXT
Tesoro Cibola
Tesoro Golden Sabre Plus
Garrett ADS Master Hunter 7
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Tough question. I've also been trying to make possible retirement plans though I've still got a few years to go.
There's so many options, but you would have to weigh the pros and cons of each. The midwest is nice. A bit of mid 19rh century history and lots of old towns and farms to hit. But the winters can be long and brutal. There's also the problem of having way too many anti detecting regulations and outright bans in local areas.
Florida has potential, but brutally hot in the summer. Lots of hunting pressure and some odd regulations about water hunting especially around leased water areas near wrecks. But after big storms I hear that the whole area changes and new treasures could pop up most anywhere on the beaches.
The East has more temperate weather and abounds in CW era history. Most areas are pretty reasonable for cost of living.
The Northeast of course is Colonial hunting grounds. Best chance of finding the oldest stuff in the country. But cost of living is high and winters can be brutal, depending on the area. Tough landscape around mountains, but best chance of finding undeveloped land with colonial activity.
The Southern states have a lot of history as well. Good chance of finding pre CW items there.
The SW states tend to be arid and preserve coins and artifacts better. But there is so much land that also may have never seen the footprint of a human. But here, and in the West you have gold country. Detecting for nuggets, panning, sluicing, etc can net some funds for the hard work if you are lucky.
West coast area has less history overall, but I've seen mining camp hunts that turned up lots of gold coins and relics from the days of the '49ers.
Good luck and happy hunting.

Nice summary. The reality for most retirees is staying close to family. We could never move away from grandkids. The best is when the grandkids live in a historic property/area.
 

Plumbata

Bronze Member
May 13, 2012
1,342
2,189
Wyoming
Detector(s) used
White's
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
The Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan's UP, where I'd detect for awesome ancient Old Copper Culture artifacts every moment I could spare and then some.
 

Digger_O'Dell

Jr. Member
May 11, 2018
70
118
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Nice summary. The reality for most retirees is staying close to family. We could never move away from grandkids. The best is when the grandkids live in a historic property/area.
Very true. Me personally, I have no family or anyone to worry about seeing, so not restricted by that. I'm probably going to retire to a small resort town on the beach in Nicaragua. About the only thing I'll be able to afford, but it would have beach hunting within walking distance and nugget hunting within an hour or so drive.
 

Megalodon

Silver Member
May 13, 2018
2,650
4,374
Maryland
Detector(s) used
White's MXT
Tesoro Cibola
Tesoro Golden Sabre Plus
Garrett ADS Master Hunter 7
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
That's an interesting choice and one increasingly popular. Those who once only considered Costa Rica are now often choosing Nicaragua.
 

Ogre1190

Bronze Member
Mar 31, 2015
2,063
2,408
Northern Illinois
Detector(s) used
MineLab E-Trac, MineLab Safari, MineLab Explorer XS,
White's 5000 D, White's 6DB, White's 5000 D GEB
Sunray X-1 for the ML's, Garrett PP for the White's and a Backhoe
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Hmmm...Maybe far western Tennessee. Seven other states all within a 2-hour drive: AL, MS, AR, MO, IL, KY, IN.
 

nomad 11

Bronze Member
Nov 21, 2009
2,455
2,489
nomads land
Detector(s) used
any tector i can get my hands on
under fort knox. ok so i'm delusional ? not really i'm a pisces and we're big dreamers.
 

old digger

Gold Member
Jan 15, 2012
7,502
7,298
Montana
Detector(s) used
White's MXT
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I would suppose living in the soutwestern states from Californian Sierra's down into Mexico, and east into Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. Finding one of those many gold coins that were minted in that area would be nice. But my true desire would to live and detect in the Biblical Mideast. It would be awesome to search the many areas where there were conflict and battle sites. You have imagine certain solders hiding their personal spoils in their tent and not living to retrieve it. Just think, still waiting to be found. And also imagine finding some bronze spear and arrow points.
 

dsrtdwg1

Full Member
Sep 3, 2015
182
300
Brawley
Detector(s) used
Equinox 800, Gold Monster 1000, Keene 212v Puffer Dry Washer
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
The Southwest! we have SoCal beaches, desert placer and Southern trail stops. There is not the age/history that all of you get east of the Rockies but we can hunt year round. MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of you and yours!
 

jeff of pa

Super Moderator
Staff member
Dec 19, 2003
85,842
59,628
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
in the middle of Gettysburg Battlefield of Course.
I'd just Pitch a Tent, & Move in.
 

Craigwac

Jr. Member
Jan 11, 2014
29
24
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Well if I had unlimited funds to search the ocean bottom with the right equipment, then I'd love to spend my days looking for the remainders of the 1715 treasure fleet off the coast of Florida. But otherwise, probably Arizona in the cooler months and Alaska in the summer. I would love to prospect around for nuggets and whatever else at old gold rush sites, and I have a real soft spot for the Lost Dutchman's Mine - though there's equal chances it never existed, or is one of the mines already found, or is is buried so well it will probably never be found. But who knows, maybe it's there and somebody can actually get to it. And maybe the rumors of old Jesuit Church treasure being stashed out in that same desert are true!
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Discussions

Top