Old dirt floor cellars... Anyone ever detect one?

[bdhoward]

I inherited an old house when my father passed away in 2007. The house was originally my grandmothers that passed it to my father. The house was built in the late 1800's and has had a few owners until my grandma purchased it in 1977 for $7500. The woodwork in this duplex is absolutely incredible. It boasts two wooden hand carved fireplace mantles with tiles. It must have been a "ritzy" place back then. But what really has me curious is that in the basement there is a horse stable! I did some research and came to find that a feeder canal for the Erie canal once passed through this neighborhood and they used horses to pull the barges travelling through town. This was one of very few houses that had the horses to do this. So, I was wondering, does anyone think there would be something of value cached in this old dirt floor basement? Has anyone ever hunted a house like this? If so, where would be the best place(s) to look. I dont want to do any damage, so tearing up floor boards and walls is out of the question. Any suggestions? HH. Bryan H.

 

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[lonesomebob]

Bryan; You will never know till you try, go for it. Bob

 

[dale68]

search it and check out large iron signals,but watch for water and gas pipes.

 

[TORRERO]

In a really old house, if you can check where the Chimney is there might have been a trap
that allowed the soot to be dumped after the fire.
I remember one time in Charleston SC we were hunting under the foundations of a house they
were fixing and I found a pile of ash at the base of the chimneys, and in this found about 5-6
coins.
Apparently swept there when the ash was cleaned.
This might be under the house where you are..... if there even is such a place ....
The dirt floors under the house would be good also, if you can swing a machine down there..
Years ago, when houses were really old, most of the floorboards had cracks in them and
coins would roll and drop between them....

One house in Charleston we found a lot of coins below where the house was, and nothing else
indicating that coins rolled between the cracks....
Hope this helps
Richard

 

[bdhoward]

Very good info. I'm going to detect it tomorrow. The cellar has a stairway that goes down there. you can walk around down there, as i said in my post there is a horse stable down there. probably alot of iron but who knows what else is lurking down there. Update later. Thanks again. HH.Bryan H.

 

[delta4861]

im going in the basement sunday also, of my mom's house built around 1820, cant wait just hope no dead bodies with jewerly on under there

 

[oldcoon]

Close to 60 years ago some fellows were digging out a dirt cellar floor in preparation to pouring concrete. The house was quite old and was in the Fairfield, Pa. area. The hit 9 dismounted cannon buried down there by the Confederates retreating from the Battle of Gettysburg. Obviously the gun carriages were damaged so they couldn't be brought off so the Rebs cached them in case they ever got back that way again. As a kid I saw the guns. They were in very good shape. As I recall the National Park Service ended up with them.

If I am ever given the opportunity to hunt a dirt floor I'm going to take it.