|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||
   | The Relic Hunter | Vol. 34 - July 2000 |
A Relic Hunting Rookie
By Ed Fedory
 Strangely enough, while searching the site of a skirmish, Charlie found not only a half dozen large caliber balls, but an early large cent from a nearby dwelling erected long after the balls stopped flying. |
There probably is a time in everybody's life, when the demands of the day outweigh pleasurable pursuits. Such demands range from painting the eaves of the house, as you promised several years ago, to taking the dog to the vet, or working that second job because you want your children to have lives a little easier than yours was.
The money you would have enjoyed spending on updating your detecting equipment suddenly has other ways of being spent, and more than once you've checked your wallet to see if some gaping hole hasn't formed in the bottom of it. With a lack of leisure time and financial responsibilities factored into life's formula, the old detector is sometimes relegated to the depths of a darkened closet for the day, the weekend- maybe even for years.
Although your digging tool only occasionally surfaces from the bottom of the junk drawer, you remember the spirit of adventure which drew you onto that first field or lawn. You recall the thrill of all those hard-won recoveries: the first piece of silver... the first Indian Head... the first large cent... your first musketball or three-ringer!
 Too soon the snows of winter came, and the ground froze solid... but not before Charlie was able to add more interesting finds to his collection! |
Such seemingly minor events to most people, stand as benchmarks in the life of a detectorist, and soon those demanding memories transform into reality, and thought of a new detector and new adventures become a priority. So it was in the case of Charlie...
My first recollections of Charlie reach back over a quarter-century, to a quiet young man who entered my sixth grade classroom one early September morning and seated himself behind a desk.
The use of a metal detector and relic hunting had always been a part of my life, and at times I would share some of my hunts and recovered relics with my students. Children are very impressionable, and the teacher rarely knows when some tiny spark of interest may have been ignited... a spark so small that it would take years to fully develop, fanned by time, experience, and a desire for adventure, into a fire.
 During his first two weeks of detecting this season, Charlie dug relics dating not only from the American Revolution, but from the Civil War as well, as evidenced by this eagle plate found beside the cellar hole of an old dwelling. |
Years would pass, decades would pass- all too fast, I must admit- and soon Charlie's sons and daughter would fill the seat Charlie had once occupied. We'd meet occasionally as teacher and parent during conferences on his children's academic progress, the roles we once had of teacher and student long past... the role of friends yet to come.
One early fall afternoon, a new face suddenly appeared on the other side of the campfire down at Four Mile Point, on the shores of the Hudson River. He came with a handshake, a smile, a few early coinshooting stories, and a desire to hit the fields as a relic hunter. Readily accepted by the group of veteran relic hunters gathered around the crackling fire, Charlie soon had a new metal detector in his hands and was joining us for his first relic hunting experience on the site of an old stockaded fort, dating from the American Revolution.
Admittedly, it had been a few years since Charlie had swung a detector, but you wouldn't have noticed from the recoveries he made during the first few hours of relic hunting on the site. When we gathered, mid-field, he reached into his collecting pouch and pulled a couple of dropped and fired musketballs from its depths. His story of digging the first one lasted for the better part of five minutes, as he brought us through every detail from the signal, to digging, to pinpointing, and to the final recovery. We didn't have many opportunities to speak during his excited tale, but we smiled... we all had our own memories of a similar first musketball!
 Within days of the purchase of his new detector, Charlie broke through the barrier of centuries to find several musketballs on the site of a Revolutionary War fort! |
Despite the fact that he was later able to add several additional musketballs, a copper mouth harp, and several Colonial cast pewter buttons to his bag, Charlie admitted that even if he hadn't found anything during the hunt, he still would have had fun just enjoying the possibility of finding something on such historic ground. It's pretty easy to tell when a relic hunter has just been born!
Since his work schedule which often allowed him to hunt on weekdays, it became a common occurrence for Charlie to show up at the river with a mixed bag of relics, coins, and assorted junk. We were all beginning to think that he would soon hold the record for the greatest number of horseshoe recoveries as he continually pursued those elusive cannonballs, and we even nailed one of the largest horseshoes to a tree beside the campfire.
Soon we witnessed additions of suspended rusted chains, bits of farm equipment, old broken hoes, and other pieces of unidentified rusted iron dangling from the original shoe, with each of Charlie's trips to the river. For relic hunters, rust is a must, as not one of us wants to pass up a gun part, grapeshot, or cannonball. However, the growing collection of hanging iron debris was enough for Joe to give a nickname to the ornamented cottonwood... Charlie's "Tree of Woe"!
It seemed that no cellar hole in the county would be free of Charlie's footprints as he systematically searched close to a dozen during the following weeks, producing his first Indian Heads and large cents, while further fanning the relic hunting flames.
 Musketballs, flat buttons, a thimble, and a hand-fashioned lead sinker were among the recent relic recoveries made by Charlie along the creeks of the Schoharie Valley in upstate New York. |
The one fact I've always loved about cellar holes, is that you never know what the next signal will produce... the possibilities are endless. In the bottom of the hole you might find anything from the parts to an old kerosene lamp to a piece of early Spanish silver, but I wasn't prepared for the relic that was the centerpiece of the contents of Charlie's collecting bag, which he had strewn across the surface of a large stump. Amid the assortment of coins, buckles, and several pieces of broken pottery was an eagle shoulder belt plate! I have witnessed "beginner's luck" on a number of occasions, but it seemed Charlie was bringing it to an art form!
"I wasn't really sure what it was that I had found," Charlie related, "but I thought it was kind of neat, with the eagle on the front. So, I figured I would bring it down so you could have a look at it." This all occurred on the day before I was to fly down to Mississippi to search several Civil War sites. I would be traveling well over a thousand miles, hoping to find something which Charlie had recovered just beyond the limits of his own backyard!
The discovery of a small skirmish site seemed to usher in the snows of winter, and all too soon the detectors were stored away; but for Charlie the hunt didn't end, as he began gathering new leads for the coming spring. Books on county history were explored, and deer hunters told him of previously unknown cellar holes. A list of potential spring sites continued to grow in the light of his unwaning enthusiasm for the hunt.
As I write, the snows are once again beginning to melt, and the temperature has soared above 50° for the first time in months. My detector rests against the wall of my office, and a fresh set of batteries on the shelf. I find it very easy to think about my relic hunting strategy for the coming season, and it's relatively simple- I think I'll just follow Charlie around for the first couple of months!
| Copyright © 1995 - 2003 People's Publishing. All rights reserved on entire contents; nothing may be reprinted, or displayed on another web page, without the prior written consent of the publisher. |
