Great Saturday! Made new friends and was given access to a Rev War/Civil War Property

[GreenHat]

So I was out "free-styling" as the guys on American Pickers call it. I was riding around an area about 10 minutes from my house that's part of the "Civil War Trail" and just trying to find a place to hunt. Well there was this old looking house with a little stone building in the front and the building at the front of the property was definitely 1700's construction that is easily identified around here. So I said wth.. I'll go ask. (Completely ready to Break Contact once the shooting started) So I knocked on the door and guy came out, I put on my friendliest face, told him my name and told him I saw how historic his property was and that I would love the opportunity to do some metal detecting.. He looked pretty apprehensive at first and said he only let's these two guys from.. well we'll just say it's a state further north to come MD his property and that it was probably picker over, but he said he'd show me some areas within sight of his property I should probably tryout. After we kept chatting for a while he asked " well.. do you have your equipment here?" I said I did and he said oh wth.. you can give it a go.. those other guys weren't actually here for very long and as far as he knew I was only the 3rd guy to ever be here with a detector. He later came out and we talked some more and he told me I could come here anytime I wanted. I told him I would call first and he said don't bother. I asked him what he liked to drink he said beer and the more redneck the beer the better so I told him he'd know every time I had been there because a 12 pack would be under his patio. From my estimate the entire property is at least 50 acres. He said the original house was built in the 1700s and was probably built as a hunting lodge by Lord Fairfax. The barn on the property which you'll what's left was burned down my Gen Sheridan in the Civil War. We sat and talked a long time and he went into the details of the history he knew about the property and area... let's just say AMAZING and I couldn't have found a better place or a nicer couple (I met his wife later and she was as just as sweet and gracious as he was)
After about 4 hours of digging it was getting dark and I didn't find anything like buttons or civil war relics but I did find a lot of period artifacts and covered WAAY less than 1% of the property. Just that place alone will keep me busy for a year or more. I'll be hitting it at least every Saturday. I'll post some videos and pics of my finds.


So... never be afraid to ask. Yeah... you might get shot at.. but they just might say "YES"!

 

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[Dug]

Fifty acres is a lot of ground to cover in a few hours. Take your time and hit your your elevated spots, particulalrly any near a period road or water source.

 

[Davers]

Good Luck !..My Man.

 

[GreenHat]

Got about 4 hours in digging here this weekend. I'll spare you about the 20lbs of farm junk I pulled out of the ground but here's the stuff I figured was worth keeping. Nothing great but its all old.. That's for sure. Everything on this property is 9" or deeper. After a lot of pondering.. the land owner and I figured the big ring was wagon wheel hub but that's just a guess. Not sure what the little gear looking thing is other than everyone I show it to thinks it goes to a pocket watch.. really no telling.The little cap looking thing has threads as does the square nut. Now the picture doesn't do the large horse shoe justice. It is the biggest horse shoe I have ever seen. When I pulled it out, I thought it was a gaming shoe until I saw it still had tacks in it. If anyone has a better idea on what true identity of the objects above.. I'm all ears.

 

[462]

Interesting finds! I think the gear is out of a clock rather than a pocket watch (it's a little big for a pocket watch). In your video Digging in the Darke 3, the bar like item with the link attached is interesting to me because I found the same thing at a Civil War camp site. I'll let you know if I find out what it is.

 

[Judepb]

Very nice greenhat u hit the jackpot finding that land to hunt on, good luck and I'm sure u gonna find some great stuff there.

 

[GreenHat]

Interesting finds! I think the gear is out of a clock rather than a pocket watch (it's a little big for a pocket watch). In your video Digging in the Darke 3, the bar like item with the link attached is interesting to me because I found the same thing at a Civil War camp site. I'll let you know if I find out what it is.

462,
If you're refering to the bar with the chain link attached... it looks like something that would feed through a ring and once tension was provided would allow a secure linkage. I would definitely be interested in finding out what that is. Be interested to confirm or deny if it comes from something that was strictly iof military use.
Thanks,
Gary

 

[GreenHat]

Fifty acres is a lot of ground to cover in a few hours. Take your time and hit your your elevated spots, particulalrly any near a period road or water source.

Come to find out it's actually 78 acres and there is a substantial creek running on the front of the property, approximately 10Mtrs to my rear in the first (tri state metal detecting) video and the small building that can be seen in the video is Spring House.