Farmhouse Hunting Advice

[angifogg]

I was wondering if I could get some advice on detecting an old farmhouse. I have finally received permission to detect on the property. It was an old farmhouse that burnt down about 30 years ago and has been sitting eer since, the owner of the property put it into conservation land and has done nothing with it. The property has a main foundation that is approx 10 feet deep and then another foundation next to it (which I suspect is another house since there is a sewer line going through it) but this foundation is only about 5 feet deep and you can actually walk into it from ground level. To the right of the main home foundation is a slab, where I assume a garage was once there. The property extends down to wetlands with rolling hills (absolutely beautiful!) I am not sure where to start? Also in the back of the main home foundation is a stack of large rocks and it looks like it may be covering an old well?

Please any advice would be great.

Thanks

 

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[Tom_in_CA]

Out here in CA, unless a farmhouse was used for some sort of gatherings, commerce, etc... they usually aren't that productive. I mean, no more productive than a lawn of a city-home. If anything, farmhouses are more difficult, since they often time did their farming business right on the surroundings (tractors parked in the yard, weld, fab, repair, trash-burn bins, scatter the kitchen trash for the chickens and hogs to peck at, etc....) As opposed to city yards, where people tended to keep their lawns clean and up-kept, and trash was taken away by curb-side pickup (at least since more recent times). Country yards just tend to have a higher trash ratio.

How old was the farmhouse? Because if you're talking dating back to the 1700s or something, then of course, it's worth it to wade through potential high amounts of trash, for coins that old. But if it was only a 1910s or '20s farmhouse, then not sure how much i'd knock myself silly for wheaties or mercs The mere fact that the house burned down is already an omen for iron, burnt molten metal debri, etc.... So unless the home were very old, or unless the house doubled as a community spot (stage stop, mail-drop, store, etc...) then it may be iffy.

This is all assuming you're talking about coin-hunting (as opposed to if you had a lead on some buried cache there, for instance)

 

[DFX-SCOTT]

START IN THE FRONT YARD, AND ALL AROUND THE HOUSE IN 20 FOOT RANGE.
DISCRIMINATE HIGH AT FIRST, LOOK FOR THE BIG SIGNALS FIRST, THEN COME DOWN ON YOUR DISC.
TRY TO GET A PATTERN GOING, YOU KNOW KIND OF GRID IT.
ITS EASY TO JUST TAKE OFF AND THEN NOT KNOW IF YOUR HITTING THE SAME SPOT
GOOD LUCK

 

[deepskyal]

I just hunted an old farm house and two key areas stuck out.
The laundry line...if you dont see any posts, just imagine if it was your house and how far you'd want to tote a basket of wet clothes,

I also found an old swing chain hanging from a tree.

Tom_in_Ca is right tho....they arent that productive for as much property as you got to cover.

Some years back we had a group hunt at an old farm and a guy dug up a chewed up copper...but that was the ONLY original find of the day from the era of the farm.....and that find wasn't even close to the house. Probably got hit by a mower or plow and tossed quite a distance.

Al