Bill D. (VA)
Silver Member
A couple of years ago I was researching Virginia chancery court records for my area, and discovered a very detailed and highly accurate plat map from 1802 that was part of some land dispute documentation. The map showed the location of 5 homes that existed at that time, and up to now I’ve found and hunted 3 of them. This latest one is located on property I just got access to, but due to a lot of activity there my visits will be extremely limited which is unfortunate since the field will be planted soon. The house belonged to a Rev War captain so I was hoping that a nice, early military button might show up. This morning I systematically zig-zagged through the field and first checked out the nice looking high spots, especially one located in a little alcove area that’s usually a prime spot for early homes. I wasn't having any luck at all, although I would occasionally spot a small fragment of brick which was encouraging. I was going to complete the loop and walk close to the main road on the way back to the truck when I started hearing a little bit of iron, and the brick reappeared too. Soon I was hitting on some nice sounding targets and the buttons started popping out along with a few odds and ends. I got thinking this area would almost certainly be hiding a coin, and within 5 minutes I got a solid low 60s on my F75 and sure enough a nice looking 1772 half reale was staring back at me. My time was getting short so I decided to wander away from the hotspot and was still digging a random button here and there. That was good to know as now the area I must cover is much bigger than I thought which will hopefully produce more keepers. I ended up with 16 buttons which wasn't bad considering I only hunted the productive spot for less than 2 hours. And I did get my military button, but it was an early 1800s toasted navy that is barely recognizable. Unfortunately, the site won’t be available again until at least next week, but with the field across the street getting planted today I might not have another opportunity until the fall. That’s OK – the relics and coins won’t be going anywhere, and I’ll have a nice site ready to go in a few months.
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