Locations in suburban Boston

[BlackX]

In my town northwest of Boston--and in almost every place I've tried nearby--I'm finding a dearth of old silver. I still find a lot of wheats (and 3-4 Indians) and occasionally older nickels (buffalos, war nickels, or regular Jeffersions) but, in over two years of fairly intense detecting, silver is few and far between. I can still find silver Mercs or Rosies occasionally (probably up to 15 or so by now) but I've only found two quarters (a '44 Washington and a no-date SLQ) and no halves or dollars. Although I'm sure I have a lot more to learn, with my Sovereign and now my Explorer I find pennies and dimes down to 8" or so, so my presumption is that the public locations I've found have been pretty much cherrypicked of larger silver by previous detectors. Anyone else finding the same thing?

 

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[BEACH-HUNTER]

Locations in suburban Boston...lack of silver??

Most public spots in eastern part of MASS. have been hunted very very hard by lots of detectorist since the 1970's...Most of the silver I get is from out of the way over grown private land...mostly dimes but a few half dollars have showed up... good hunting!!

 

[capt. sparrow]

Research, research, research. That has been the single most important aspect of hunting for me. A lot of towns around here have moved from there main settlement to there present day locations. Especially the coastal towns. Farming was huge when the area was first settled and people stayed away from the water a lot of times due to the British and pirates etc... Many towns started inland and slowly moved towards the coast as fishing got big. Not saying that the coast and present towns aren't good, but development, trash, and competition are huge problems. A lot of towns are bordered by wooded areas that are sometimes public places with trails and what not. ( Dogtown in Gloucester is a good example of this, but is so well known it's hunted out.) These are the places that have promise. There isn't a lot of traffic and not many people take the time to research these hard to find places. The map resources on line are good from about 1870 and on. Problem is by this time the settlement has moved and the infrastructure in 1870 is close to what it is now. Best suggestion is to go to a local library or historical association in a town you want to detect and research.

 

[BlackX]

Thanks, CS.

I hadn't picked up that tidbit about coastal towns moving toward the shore. Most of the places I've researched so far have been inland sites and if the towns are still extant still tend to be centered in the same location.

_Rich_ (catching up on old msgs--got out of the habit of checking this forum)