Why I hunt in the middle of nowhere

[deepskyal]

These photos are from around 1887.

This place is now a boyscout camp/training center, but as a youth, I too played back here...never aware of what went on a 100 years before.

It still looks very much as it did in the photos.

My point....people just picked places to hang out randomly when they didnt feel like going on the big church outings or whatever may have been the place to gather communally.

Seeings how the proper attire back then was way more than I'd ever think to wear...I'm sure stuff got lost quite easily as they explored the woods and streams.

The waterfalls was the place we all played as kids. It's name came from the fact it was ribbed and very slippery, and we would slide down it on our butts.
In my mid teens...it was a good place to bring girls and have a little party fun....

Lots of activity over the years, yet without the photos...you'd never know there was activity for so many years. It's still just a creek and woods...in the middle of nowhere.

Al

 

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[SHERMANVILLE ILLINOIS]

deepskyal,
neat photos/postcards.

Have a bunch myself; help in finding out what/where
the folks hung out.

Thanks for posting.

have a good un..............
SHERMANVILLE

 

[P.B. and Dylan]

Nice.
Question for ya Al.
In pictures 2 & 3 are they using laptops?

 

[johnnycat]

Nice pictures. I like hunting in the middle of nowhere. Years ago my brother and I were detecting and old house. At a point about 50 yards from the house I found my first silver coin. It was an 1864 half-dollar!!!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

well, if you're hunting at sites like the type depicted in your photos, I would not exactly say you're "detecting in the middle of nowhere". Because, in fact, you're detecting where you suspect people congregated (picnicked, etc...) back in the old days. NOT in the middle of nowhere, but in fact, where you had a lead that might be a good spot.

 

[deepskyal]

That's true to a point Tom.

But I'll drive down a road, see a spot that my wild imagination tells me could have been a spot, and just start hiking and detecting...even if I haven't a clue what may or may not have been there.

Pennsylvania's history is ripe with settlers that just built houses anywhere. I just try to imagine myself as one of them and think..."Hmm..I'd build a house here if I had to."

Over the years, I've seen foundations just like that. Walk a mile in the woods and there's a foundation with nothing else around for another mile. That just reinforces my ideas that people coulda been everywhere and just because I don't see evidence of them...I'm guessing someone could have . Old log cabins and the like have disappeared without a trace.....but metal things dropped and lost is a whole different matter.

Nice.
Question for ya Al.
In pictures 2 & 3 are they using laptops?

Yea...they aren't so bulky now...

Actually...they are art kits. Those woman are sketching scenery according to the article. A family art outing.

Al

 

[Cachefinder]

check where that girl in the 1st picture is laying

I think she dropped a Morgan!

great pics thanks for sharing

Cachefinder

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Al, by sighting suspected habitation/stopping spots (out of place trees, foundations, cellar holes, etc...) is different than "in the middle of nowhere". Yes, those likely looking spots may be in the middle of nowhere, but once you're there, there's a reason your stopping to hit a suspect spot. It's not just a random spot in the middle of nowhere, d/t you now have a reason to suspect something.

 

[R AND R]

Too funny, my first thought was "are those laptops?" lol. Looks like a good spot to hunt where a 3 cent piece might be hiding! Need to find some 4th of july photos for that area.

 

[RON (PA)]

Al,

Nice pics. Thanks for posting. I think Guyasuta is used year round. Might be worth a phone call. I friend of mine asked to detect a Boy Scout camp once and he was asked to give a talk/demonstration on metal detectors for a merit badge, I think. He has been doing it for 3 years now.

 

[muleskinner]

That's the same way I detect, I go where I won't be seen. Just because that is where the undiscovered spots are. And yes, after awhile you kinda get a sixth sense on how to find them. You explained it better then I could.

 

[oldgoat]

When I was a younger man and full of *iss and vinegar, the state of NY decided that I would be better served if I did a little time in a boy's camp around Ithaca, NY...The camp was out in the middle of the woods...the part that relates to this thread tho, we could explore all we wanted to as long as we were back at camp on time...Found plenty of old foundations and rock walls out there where no one would think to look for them...wish I knew then what I know now....May have to take a trip back to NY...noooooo!

 

[jocap]

I love that era, 1880s. Great picks!

HH

 

[camperlee]

great pics thanks please post more when you can.

 

[Lowbatts]

Got some old shotgun brass, paper shells no less, looking for that guy-a-fowling. Want to throw 'em at him.

 

[deepskyal]

Got some old shotgun brass, paper shells no less, looking for that guy-a-fowling. Want to throw 'em at him.

Okay...but I think he lost his watch fob somewhere around that tree.

Al, by sighting suspected habitation/stopping spots (out of place trees, foundations, cellar holes, etc...) is different than "in the middle of nowhere". Yes, those likely looking spots may be in the middle of nowhere, but once you're there, there's a reason your stopping to hit a suspect spot. It's not just a random spot in the middle of nowhere, d/t you now have a reason to suspect something.

I suspect people were everywhere in Pa.
I saw the old pics of the logging they did up in the northern tier of Pa. back before anyone cared about preservation and it was nothing but bald mountains as far as the eye could see. Every tree and shrub stripped from the hills.

At one time I remember reading that you couldn't go a mile in any direction in Pennsylvania without hitting a road of some sort. Maybe just an old logging road thats overgrown now.....but you get the picture.

So yes...."middle of nowhere" to me means I figured someone may have been there at one time. But I do know the history. There is some randomness to it:sites, conditions,events, etc.

I was just trying to illistrate to some why going into the woods could pay off. Just because you dont see traces of people doesn't mean they weren't there.

Al

Al

 

[kimsdad]

Great pics, Al!!

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Ray S ECenFL]

Very nice pics. It does look like laptops. lol. I believe they are using a protable artist kit.

The kids in pic 3 do not look like they are having a very good time.

How do you manage to get hold of the old photos that you use? Are they family photos?

Ray S

 

[Gary in Pennsylvania]

......

But I'll drive down a road, see a spot that my wild imagination tells me could have been a spot, and just start hiking and detecting...even if I haven't a clue what may or may not have been there.

Pennsylvania's history is ripe with settlers that just built houses anywhere. I just try to imagine myself as one of them and think..."Hmm..I'd build a house here if I had to."

Over the years, I've seen foundations just like that. Walk a mile in the woods and there's a foundation with nothing else around for another mile. That just reinforces my ideas that people coulda been everywhere and just because I don't see evidence of them...I'm guessing someone could have . Old log cabins and the like have disappeared without a trace.....but metal things dropped and lost is a whole different matter.

Yup deepskyal!
I'm surrounded by such foundation remnants! I grew up just 17miles from where I live now. I had a Honda 3-wheeler and a snowmobile.....all us kids had 'em. And we rode deep into the woods. I was always MESMERIZED by these old foundations. I clearly remember one that was maybe 15' or 20' square with a HUGE tree growing up through the middle of the foundation remains.
This was well before I thought anything about MD. But I was awestruck with my own imagination about what stories this cabin home could tell. My buddies never cared, but I always had to stop and stare.



And they weren’t ever REALLY in the ‘middle of nowhere’. I noticed a trend with foundations. They always seemed to be within short walking distance of a stream or such. The stream didn’t even have to be active……Because I noticed that if there was not CURRENT water flowing….there were often built near a draw http://www.map-reading.com/images/fig10-22.gif It my have been likely that when the ‘cabin’ was lived-in, water DID flow.

I cannot WAIT to go back and try to relocate some of these and hunt them!



And OH……check the old old maps of your area…..Because that windy lazy river nearby may have been bustling with saw mills and tanneries. Find out where these were located and HUNT ‘EM!



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[Gary in Pennsylvania]

Very nice pics.

How do you manage to get hold of the old photos that you use? Are they family photos?

Ray S

I would suggest you try your trustt SMALL local library.
Like the one I have in Moscow, Pa.

You usually find a section there that has 'local history' and many books from local publishers that you CANNOT find on Amazon.com

Hit those libraries.....you might be amazed at the amount of detail is within about original settlers, businesses, homes, etc.


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