100 year old homesite

[barrywk]

I just got permission to detect a 100 year old home site,there was at least one home,several barns and two drained ponds.No one has detected it before.I will prob have several question arise later,but right now I want to know if anyone has detected old,drained ponds and have they been productive....Thank you Barrywk

 

[BC1969]

I have never detected any drained anythings before, so like it could be a great place to hunt, the house is it like a really fancy old house or is it a plain old utility type farm house ? reason I ask is because alot of folks think since a place is really old, there will be alot of goodies to find, which can be true, it depends, I have hunted hundreds of old homesites over the last 30 plus years, some were fantastic producers others yielded not a single coin even though I know they were never hunted, some people never had much to lose.
However any home of that age falls into the "you could not trust banks category" so I always look for close by landmarks such as old fence posts or really old trees or a stump of an old tree, many a old timer buried their money in them days, then unexpectedly fell ill and died without ever telling anybody where it was buried.
But I would have to guess if the pond was deep enough to swim in things could have been lost, if nothing else could be a good digging spot for old bottles tossed in it.

Mike

 

[toe2short]

Do you have a lot of time to hunt the site? If you don't, I would cherry pick it. I hunt an old school house, I have permission to go there just about any time I ask. I must have been there 20 times, I find something every time I go. If I were you I would go for the old coins in the most likely places, then check out the drained ponds last. Good luck, it sounds good.

 

[SCDigginWithAK]

My grandmother told me they used to swim in ponds and lose things. Just a thought. Also I have permission to a 1700s site with a pond on it. The original owners in the 1700s built their home out of mud/silt/clay from the pond. Just another though. Depending on how old the pond is it might be worth a shot. I've never had luck AROUND them not in them hahaha never had the chance to detect a drained one

 

[CoilyGirl]

Interesting topic andi have wondered the same thing. Good luck in your search and let us know what you found.

 

[relicmeister]

Give it a go-do test holes with a shovel as items could be under a deep silt layer.

 

[barrywk]

grrrrr !!!....that 100 year old home site has just target after target.Even in the fields and around drained pond just hundreds of targets.Cherry picked today and other than junk found over a dollar in clad (only one wheatie) and 2 pieces costume jewelry.One big problem is a lot of area is thickets,but the biggest problem(at least I think so)is most of the area in front of and around sides of the house has had gravel dumped on it Its 4 to 8 inches thick and its that layer of gravel that I found most of that modern clad.I believe its covering over the old targets to deep.

 

[Frankn]

Hay, I live on a 200 year old home site. I am always finding things around the old house location. Frank... This is from another 200 year old home site! Hay this house still stands.