My Latest Cellar Hole Exploration

[Steve in PA]

I have hunted (5) promising cellar holes this spring. All of them dated to the mid 19th century at least, and were new to me. This latest one was discovered by my brother while hunting for morel mushrooms. This past Saturday we walked in there to check it out. There is no road or evidence of a road to this place. It is in the middle of the woods. There is only a spring and a depression in the ground with some uncut foundation stones forming the corners and some crude hand made bricks strewn about.
This one, as did the other four, looked promising, but as they say....promises, promises

I went in there with both of my brothers and armed them each with a detector. The three of us hit it for three hours, and even though the few finds we made pointed to occupation during the first quarter of the 19th century, and possibly as early as the 1790s, we made no significant finds as far as coins, buttons, and relics. Pewter spoon pieces were fairly prevalent, but we only got three buttons and no coins. Probably the nicest find was the keyhole escutcheon. I intend to go back after the snow melts next winter as some areas were fairly grown up.

Later in the day I spent a couple hours at another site and scored a musketball, a button , and a worn King George III.

 

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[texjim]

I have found a spot like that in the woods and can only hunt it for about two weeks from the time the snow melts and turkey season starts. Nice finds. good luck

 

[digging440yrs]

Nice hunt

 

[sutphin]

That's a heck of a haul Steve, nothing beats ole colonial sites and to see how things were back then .vanzutphen

 

[metalev4]

Nice haul Steve, makes me miss the early stuff everytime you get out.

 

[Old Dude]

Good looking finds Steve. Nothing at all wrong with those.

 

[UnderMiner]

Cool, like the complete bell

 

[Steve in PA]

Cool, like the complete bell

Alas. it is only half a bell a perfect cross section.......

 

[Vino]

Nice hunt Steve.
Things are really dry out there.
Hope after some rain things wil start to pop..

 

[The Patriot]

Nice results…sure there is plenty more there...

 

[VOL1266-X]

"Team Steve" had a good hunt Bud!! Good luck on the next 4 sites. The blue & white shard speaks volumes. WTG Q.

 

[donkarlos]

Good so far, though - it's nice having spots like that to go back to now and again.

 

[cjon455]

wow steve, that place looks very promising, love the buttons, and when youre finding glass like that, youre likely on to something great!

 

[Steve in PA]

"Team Steve" had a good hunt Bud!! Good luck on the next 4 sites. The blue & white shard speaks volumes. WTG Q.

Quindy, you are right. That feather blue dish shard is a good sign. But it came from the second site I hit that day - a spot that has already given me 140 buttons, 14 Spanish silvers, a draped bust dime, a capped bust half dime, and about 40 coppers. It was finally plowed this year, but only a few inched deep. I don't even know if "plowing" is the correct term for what they did (LOL)

Oh, and I have already hit the other four sites. One gave up some flat buttons and a boot pistol barrel. The other three were duds.

 

[Gaspipe]

Nice finds . What I can offer is finding virgin cellar holes these days is extremely difficult. Chances are that most holes that show up on any old maps have not only been hunted but pounded. But that's the trick finding those that the old map makers were too lazy to walk into and chart. Even most of those have been found but that's what I love about the hobby you never know and when you get lucky and find a virgin site it' s all worth it.

 

[Scrappy]

Nice Steve. Keep hitting those spots. Knowing you I sure you'll find plenty more.

Congrats

Steve

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Nice assortment of finds there Steve, but we need to get you back into colonial territory so you can start padding your silver collection. Any prospects looming on the horizon??

 

[Steve in PA]

Nice assortment of finds there Steve, but we need to get you back into colonial territory so you can start padding your silver collection. Any prospects looming on the horizon??

Thanks Bill, my Spanish silver count is stuck at 64. I've only found one in 2015. But you don't have to hunt colonial sites to find Spanish silver. I'd bet that almost half of mine was lost in the 19th century. In fact I believe probably 75% of the silver coins circulating as late as 1830 were Spanish. That being said, I don't have much in the way of new prospects. I am waiting to get the word from a farmer as soon as he plows a field where I found a 1784 half real and a handful of coppers, mainly Draped bust and classic head large cents. He says he is gonna chisel plow, so hopefully he'll bring something up.

Meanwhile, I'll take what I can get

 

[olekyground]

Still waiting to find a Crotel bell. Nice finds

 

[46Wheat]

nice digs