crazyjarhead
Gold Member
- Sep 10, 2007
- 10,318
- 42
- Detector(s) used
- Ace 250
- Primary Interest:
- Metal Detecting
The History of the 1836 Farmhouse of J.A. McDonald I've been hunting all summer
Good evening fellow detectorists.Finally sent off for some old platt maps of the area I have been hunting. I really want to hunt pre-1900 areas that are mostly gone. Got the maps back and have been studying them with arial photos and map quest. It's amazing how unchanged most of the roads are in rural Ohio. Most of them were named after old timers long gone and were just gravel or dirt . I have already found 3 existing homes and more are where I know them to be as I grew up here as a kid from the 50's (not to reveal my age). I know where there are several that I knew about or played in that are gone. Can't wait for harvest time. Anyway, The most recent home belonged to J.A.McDonald, a prominent man in this area as the size of his house and other land that he owned on the 1875 platt maps. He was obviously wealthy. The property sat on 51 acres and he had another 324 acres near by. Thats a lot of land in those days.The most recent people were the Botkins and the Ingrams, which my father knew. What a priveledge for me to be able to hunt here as well as find photos of the place from the 1800's. It really must have been a special place back then. As I peek into the windows most of the place seems to be untouched from the wooden floors to the lightinging (which obviously came later on) and the old door knobs. The front door still retains the original door bell (although it was replace with a newer door they installed the old door ringer).The house is still vaccant as the owners cannot sell it and the land for 350K. I personally would like to buy it but it's too old of a house. I don't know the condition of the structure in general although it appears to be good. But to heat this place in Ohio in the winter would be costly.Unfortunaely, the reminants of hurricane Ike ravaged central Ohio too. I cannot hunt there as several very old trees fell and there was damage to the roof as well.I have included the picture of the house from today and an artist sketch of the house in 1870. The house is unchanged except for the front porch is gone and the side room is gone. The railing on top of the roof is gone. This must have been an early design to signify size and wealth. All of the old barns and smaller structures are gone except for the corn crib. Unfortunately it was half blown over.I also posted some of my earlier finds of this year from the McDonald place. They are just the significant finds as I found too much to repost everything. The last 2 pictures are places that are still there and are about 3 miles from town. The Lazy Mans Rest has extensive history in the library for the underground railroad. My Grandmother knows the owner so I just have to catch them at home and ask. That is about 1 full acre of old buildings and barns. The home is brick. I don't know about the other one yet. Enjoy, Ron Smith Sorry about the pics being out of sequence
Good evening fellow detectorists.Finally sent off for some old platt maps of the area I have been hunting. I really want to hunt pre-1900 areas that are mostly gone. Got the maps back and have been studying them with arial photos and map quest. It's amazing how unchanged most of the roads are in rural Ohio. Most of them were named after old timers long gone and were just gravel or dirt . I have already found 3 existing homes and more are where I know them to be as I grew up here as a kid from the 50's (not to reveal my age). I know where there are several that I knew about or played in that are gone. Can't wait for harvest time. Anyway, The most recent home belonged to J.A.McDonald, a prominent man in this area as the size of his house and other land that he owned on the 1875 platt maps. He was obviously wealthy. The property sat on 51 acres and he had another 324 acres near by. Thats a lot of land in those days.The most recent people were the Botkins and the Ingrams, which my father knew. What a priveledge for me to be able to hunt here as well as find photos of the place from the 1800's. It really must have been a special place back then. As I peek into the windows most of the place seems to be untouched from the wooden floors to the lightinging (which obviously came later on) and the old door knobs. The front door still retains the original door bell (although it was replace with a newer door they installed the old door ringer).The house is still vaccant as the owners cannot sell it and the land for 350K. I personally would like to buy it but it's too old of a house. I don't know the condition of the structure in general although it appears to be good. But to heat this place in Ohio in the winter would be costly.Unfortunaely, the reminants of hurricane Ike ravaged central Ohio too. I cannot hunt there as several very old trees fell and there was damage to the roof as well.I have included the picture of the house from today and an artist sketch of the house in 1870. The house is unchanged except for the front porch is gone and the side room is gone. The railing on top of the roof is gone. This must have been an early design to signify size and wealth. All of the old barns and smaller structures are gone except for the corn crib. Unfortunately it was half blown over.I also posted some of my earlier finds of this year from the McDonald place. They are just the significant finds as I found too much to repost everything. The last 2 pictures are places that are still there and are about 3 miles from town. The Lazy Mans Rest has extensive history in the library for the underground railroad. My Grandmother knows the owner so I just have to catch them at home and ask. That is about 1 full acre of old buildings and barns. The home is brick. I don't know about the other one yet. Enjoy, Ron Smith Sorry about the pics being out of sequence
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As Nick would say, those Indians are STELLAR!
