bamn07 said:
Hey everyone, I was just wondering if there is anyone else on here from the KW area. I'm looking to maybe trade some good information about places to hunt and maybe even get together for a hunt. Send me an response if you're interested.
It takes good research to develop new sites. What I do is I go to the library and enquire if they have old maps of the area. There was a mapping project done in about 1874 that showed the location of every home and farmstead in the Province.
As the maps were to a fairly accurate scale they can be photostated and a foil made of them which is then used to overlay on a current map of the same scale. You will find that many roads have been re routed or abandoned and only major roads are still in place. Large forest fires of the mid to late 1800's displaced families and homes and frequently the access into certain areas changed with the layout of new roads. Also access also changed from river traffic to road traffic as well.
Anyhow, look on your old maps for the present day location of old Schools and villiages, Frequently whole communities moved location or faded away due to changes in industry or other circumstances.
From the local libraries, many small towns of the past (big towns now) had published small books or magazines to comemorate 100 years etc and these are full of information and stories of people who faced disaster and loss .
Many of these areas are extremely rich in artifacts and even coins and jewellry from that period.
Up in the Ottawa area I found an abandoned farmhouse that still had all the furniture and tools from a hundred years ago. I retrieved a childs "Stash" buried in rubble in the root cellar that had a collection of large American pennies dating from 1845 to 1860 maybe.
Of course, almost all of the old homes and farm houses, especially those that were burned are long gone but you can still find the foundations and root cellars if you can organize a low level flight over the area.
Take a camera along to pin down the location.
For some reason , a lot of the remains of old homes are evident today by the presence of Lilac bushes. Don't ask me why. If you see a clump of Lilac bushes in a field , often you will find old foundations there as well or at the least the remains of old square cut timber from the past structures.
Observe FArmers fields and see where the farmer DOESN'T plough. The farmer won't plough where there are old rock piles from old foundations.
If you are a coin / beach hunter, look for the location of beaches where people used to go. Frequently beach locations are abandoned in favour of more accessible and newer spots. Again consult the old books, maps and periodicals in the library.
Good Hunting.
Jim . Port Dover Ontario
