Slave Cabins Found - A Sobering Hunt & Some Early Finds

[mangum]

I got out to some new land with my buddy Chris yesterday & saved some amazing history. We were told by the landowner there was a cabin there he restored, put together with pegs & he suspected it was a slave cabin. We later confirmed his suspicion. We were walking along the trail and started hearing nails, we dug one & it was an 18th century rosehead nail. We decided to venture into the woods to investigate. We stumbled on a chimney pile & before the day was over we found 7 different chimney piles for small structures & can safely say they were slave cabins. There was also a graveyeard bordering these cabins with about 100 graves, all rocks, not one marked (many children too). This was a very sobering moment for us, we reflected on how hard their life must have been. Judging by our finds they did not have much at all. There was no pottery found in all the holes we dug which is common at most old sites) We found nothing that dated past the Civil War (with maybe the exception of the thin decorative brass which was found a short ways away) so we assume these cabins were abandoned after gaining their freedom & never thought of again. My favorite find has to be the tiny silver wedding band fashioned from a coin, likely a dime or half reale. That's such a personal find, just think of the history behind that! My buddy Chris also found a brass wedding band, more common for slaves to have. I also found a nice ramrod guide (a first), a side plate from a flintlock & other early relics. You never know what you will find & the story these artifacts will tell, now time to do some research on the property to add more to this story.

 

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[HEAVYMETALNUT]

heck of a site Josh! hope you can get back there and save some more history! good job!

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

Very cool

 

[vpnavy]

Nice finds mangum!

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Thank you for sharing! I sure hope you can go back a recover more historical items.

 

[treblehunter]

Nice finds, I have a site here in South Jersey my buddy owns that is near a place called "Cool Run" A stream that was part of the underground railroad. Hunting season (deer) ends tomorrow so I should be able to start my third season detecting back there soon. You have a very good site to hunt, good luck in the future there. I found two rings at my site, along with allot of interesting relics.

 

[Trezurehunter]

Very nice finds. Those look like some great relics.

 

[Carolina Tom]

Congrats Josh! What a nice selection of finds.

That little silver ring is sweet, and so is the old lock.

Best of luck to you sir!

 

[CRUSADER]

The unknown thick brass is part of a barrel tap.

 

[trapperart]

Congrats on some nice finds

 

[mangum]

The unknown thick brass is part of a barrel tap.

The moon shaped piece?

 

[mangum]

Congrats Josh! What a nice selection of finds.

That little silver ring is sweet, and so is the old lock.

Best of luck to you sir!

Thanks Tom! I looked at the ring closer today & can see a few stars so either a capped bust or seated, pretty cool...

 

[highnam]

Fantastic ring. I love personal finds such as this.
Nice photos...

 

[dirtdigginfool]

Awesome post Mangum...a lot of great finds at your site, and like others say..I'm positive there is a LOT more to be found there...I absolutely love that ring!...what a cool site...very sobering tho, you put it into perspective nicely...ddf

 

[Scrappy]

The unknown thick brass is part of a barrel tap.

Dang he's good.

Magnum - nice finds. There's a debate to whether rings were rooted in slavery, or a custom partially melded from slavery combined with other new world customs brought over. Either way, excellent coin ring. I'm really hoping to find one someday.

Cheers

 

[seabee89]

Very cool. Thanks for sharing and saving some history!