Best way to locate old homes and search areas

[rykroll]

Hello fello metal detectors what are the best ways to locate old homesteads and house or good search areas? I got lucky finding one spot but it's fishes out please help

 

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[GranvilleATPro]

www​.historicmapworks.com or any other similar online sites. Google is your friend here. Even your local library has old plat maps of your county. Take pictures. Use your pictures that you taken or downloaded and use the overlay function in google earth. Line up the old roads that are more than likely still used today. The overlay allows you to stretch and shrink the overlay to a matching scale of the google map. Use the transparency slider so you can "see through" the old map on top on the google map to locate the general spot.

 

[Trent67]

You have to do the research for your area. Historical Society, library, etc. Google your towns history and get on google maps to check out the terrain. You can always ask permission if you see an old home that looks promising. Best of luck to you.

 

[Trent67]

Granville beat my post by a minute! Lol.

 

[GranvilleATPro]

If you have trouble lining up the the old maps, find your township map with the sections. A section is an area of one square mile, containing 640 acres, with 36 sections making up one survey township. Use this as a grid for your first overlay to use as a reference to perfectly line up the old plat map, which usually show the same section numbers. On the old plat maps look for the small black squares. Typically the location on a dwelling. If the dwelling is no longer there look closely to the terrain on the google map in the vicinity and sometime you can even see, sometimes subtle, foundations and/or discoloring off the ground area.

 

[GranvilleATPro]

What I typed my sound confusing. Sorry. maybe easier to say it this way.

1) find area of interest, like your county.

2) overlay a township section map over the county first, using transparency to see through the section map so you can line up with the county line borders.

3) take your old plat map and lay it over the section map. You can overlay multiple maps with no problem. Once you've lined up your old plat map with the township sections map, then simply turn off the township sections map. Your plat map should be well aligned at this point.
4) start finding the old home, schools, churches, etc, leave enough transparency to see through the old map so you know where you are looking. Many times a modern house is located exactly where the old house use to be. Sometimes it is just a field or woods.

 

[BryanM362]

Here is a really good site. It has old aerial photos, for some areas. If they don't have old photos, they at least have old Topo maps. You can overlay roads, and use the slide function to compare the old photos to a 2004 photo. I will use this and then look at Google Earth to see what it looks like in 2013.

NETR Online • Historic Aerials

 

[deadeye 22250]

In fields or woods look for a little higher spot, then look for bricks or pottery. Everything is NOT listed on maps, if you just rely on maps you will miss a lot of places !!!

 

[shawninNY]

Hey Brian thank you for that link it's awesome