Looking for cellar hole tips

[Old Dude]

My neighbor was telling me about a little village he knew of from deer hunting. My ears perked up immediately when he said there was nothing left except foundation rocks of several structures. No timbers, no wood anywhere to be seen. I asked what the village was and he said he has no idea. There has been nothing there for as long as he knows. He is in his 60's and grew up in the area. The site is in the middle of many very old coal mining operations and sits in the middle of woods but only 100 yards or so off a modern road. I went to see it today and finally found it. It is VERY old appearing. I can't wait to get back there with a detector. I have never hunted a site like this though. Does anyone have much experience? I am thinking I will have to spend quite a bit of time there with many, many return trips. I think I found what seems to be a community well or spring....it has fallen in a bit, so not sure which it is. I looked around at about 5 or 6 structures and he told me when I got home there are more than that. I may have a paradise here! I wish I had lived here longer than 12 years so I might have more of an idea for researching the area. If you can give me tips, PLEASE do so. I think this may be a great site.

 

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[Shortstack]

Well, OD. The first thing is to use All Metal mode on your detector. You want to know what the heck is there and many relics are same as money. LOL Also, using a larger than standard coil would help. Sounds like you're onto a "company town" which means little or no money being paid to the workers.......possibly only tokens. But, those tokens could be pretty valuable if they are previously unknown to the collector market.
Don't throw anything away until you've identified it as "junk"...........errrrrr.....make that USELESS junk.

 

[Old Dude]

Thanks for your thoughts. I think it is a coal town or maybe a lumber camp also. The foundation stones are just stacked and have no mortar. There may be no cellars, just foundations built up, I think. Will take pics when I return. I would love to find a token just as much as a coin, to be honest. They are on my "wanted" list.

 

[Old Dude]

Update

Went back yesterday for a little exploratory dig. The place is so overgrown in most of the holes that I am going to wait till cold weather, I think. I found an assortment of expected "trash" very near to the top of the ground so it appears to be undisturbed at least. I also was able to do a little more research and found out it was indeed a coal camp. It was in operation from mid 1800's( just at the end of civil war ) until very early 1900's when flooding of the nearby shaft caused the company to withdraw. The buildings were razed and the lumber was taken elsewhere, which explains the absence of timbers or planks. I only MD'ed in and around one hole and discovered there is about 6 inches of black loam atop the clay that probably was exposed during habitation of the place. I found a few ash pits that might be promising as well. Hutsitedigger gave some good tips about cellar holes on a thread he started here. If anyone else wants, I appreciate any you may give me. Thanks for looking.
PS...it seems pics aren't working again....will post as soon as able.

 

[Shortstack]

That loam soil is most likely the results of many, many years of tree leaves and bark being composted by natural processes. That would be a good reason to use the next larger size of coil, if you have one. If not......then turn up the sensitivity a bit and run in all metal mode.
Finding the town's trash pits and outhouse pits would give you a great long term project. Old bottles are valuable; some REAL valuable. The bottles holding medicines and poisons were normally thrown into the outhouse pits.

 

[Old Dude]

Here is a pic of some of the stuff found. Almost all of it was in the first few inches. Loads of broken glass and the old square nails.

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[christo000]

Great finds those are the hunts I allways like to do ive got probly more time with relics & celler holes then any kind of detecting anything else if need any tips or any questions dont hesitate I mayb of some assistance hh

 

[rick67]

"Well"?

 

[ecoast]

"Well"?

well what?

The post is a year and a half old!

 

[rick67]

Exactly he never came back with pics of finds from this place from winter