Who owns old rest stops?

[Nickleanddime]

Here along a few old state routes we had old rest stops with the water pump and usually a few old growth trees. They abandoned all of them a while back, so who would own that land still? Anyone ever hunt them? I know where one is still open at I might try it out this weekend, but I'm more interested in the closed ones. Thanks everyone in advance.

 

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[jeff of pa]

I would guess the state still owns most, if not all.

Around here most of the rest areas along the interstate have been closed off permanently
due to the amount of Lewd acts. and prostitution.
but are still too close to the interstate to sell off.



No I never tried to hunt them, as I would have to enter from
a Side road, as parking along the interstate to hunt them would invite
arrest. and so may trespassing on private property to reach them
from alternate routes.

And don't even waste time asking permission
It would take a 100% open minded cop or state worker to say yes.

Good luck though. although people emptied their trash at these spots,
they also lost things, as kids played to stretch legs,
and pants dropped in the woods for many reasons,
but I would imagine Coins etc. were lost

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

If you can get to them without trespassing on someone elses land I believe they are still state owned public land. Not positive though I hunt a few on the Interstate by me and I find coins all the time, although they are not old or closed.

 

[Rawhide]

Lewd acts, in rest areas lol. Drove truck 10 years, man you aint kidding. As for your serch, look under large rocks as drug dealers would hide money there. The sidwalk areas escpecially close to the rest rooms should be killer. Good luck.

 

[Fletch88]

Lewd acts, in rest areas lol. Drove truck 10 years, man you aint kidding. As for your serch, look under large rocks as drug dealers would hide money there. The sidwalk areas escpecially close to the rest rooms should be killer. Good luck.

I ran a skateboard myself for 18months. Long enough in my book! You see some crazy things on and off the road! Florida is the most un-trucker friendly state there is.

 

[cudamark]

A check with the county tax records will tell you who legally owns the property. You should be able to look it up online in most cases or you may have to take a trip to the courthouse to look it up there yourself. It's not that hard to do. I've hunted a few owned by the state. Modern ones are incredibly junky. The ones I hunted were carpet bombed with bottle caps and pull tabs along with every kind of foil imaginable. I found more in paper money blown against a boundary fence or in the bushes than I did with digging change. If the area is old enough for silver, it might be worthwhile but if it's newer, I'd find another spot that is easier and more profitable to hunt.

 

[Nickleanddime]

Thanks everybody. These ones I'm talking about are old problay were stagecoach stops since they had water pumps. Some had troughs. I know for sure the 20s for vehicles. It was on a road that was the main route across the state for many years and linked some major manufacturing and college towns. I think I'll hit the court house just a block away on Monday. Have a good weekend.

 

[catherine1]

I know where there is a rest stop with a old drive in theater behind it. Would love to detect the drive in.

 

[roaddust66]

In the years before the interstate highway system on major U.S. two lane highways there were pick-nick areas and what they called Road Side Parks. For the most part they were located at a scenic spot near a river bridge and had pick nick tables and no rest rooms as i recall. These old road side parks would be most excellent places to hunt. These were the glory years of the U.S. travel because when the interstates came it killed a part of America lost forever and damn I miss it. When I was a small kid my family traveled to west texas every summer. I remember the excitment hitting Route 66 in Oklahoma City and putting a little country music on the radio from Bill Mack's Open Road Show on Fort Worth's WBAP , Ernest Tubb , a 430 cubic inch Buick Wildcat , no speed limit and 200 miles to Amarillo. That was America and now its gone.

 

[Jdett411]

As a kid my dad would hunt rest stops on our way to Wis., now that I detect I was going thru his finds from years prior. Got a few silver from the stops and even a 1858 flying eagle from one.

 

[Nickleanddime]

We use to travel everywhere when I was a kid. Those were the days, alot of people don't know what a good car trip is. To busy with cellphones and airlines. Lol I'm 30 and feel really out of touch with today society. Now if you picnic at a rest stop Your fighting off creeps or getting strange looks. Times are a changing.

 

[MickeyMaguire]

It's the old US highway system roadside rests that I hunt when I can find them. One of my favorites is on US23 in south-central Ohio. I have found lots of silver and a great conditioned Buck knife in that one. My son carried the knife through his teen years. He is twenty-seven now. That roadside rest is still there. The picnic tables are now gone and someone cut the grass there earlier this year (last year they didn't, though). I might go check it out real soon with the F2.

 

[Salura]

Not to hijack the thread, but I could use advice on how to find out where information pertaining to the US BRP (bridges and roads plans) can be found.

Specifically, I'm trying to determine why, in 1925, when a road was planned, they deviated slightly from the beaten path.

 

[Ronzie]

Lewd acts like in Something About Mary?

I drove long haul for several years all over the US lower 48. The only state I've never been to is N. Dakota.
Seen a lot of crazy stuff I'll tell ya.