Gosh I'll bet you wish that you had paid better attention in high school history class now!
When I was teaching, I could have my students on the edge of their seats by interweaving a lost treasure tale into my lessons.
Finding sites to search really comes down to research...research...research.
I know of probably more Pennsylvania ghost towns than anyone else. At least anyone else that I've ever run into. I'll never be able to visit them all...forget about searching them.
I find these sites by cross referencing old maps. These may be land grant maps, railroad maps, sanborn maps, caldwell's atlases and even old road maps. When you notice that a particular town no longer appears on a more recent map; its probably become a ghost town.
Learn all that you can about the local history. Go to the historical societies, museums etc. Find out who the authorities are on local history and talk with them....record or take plenty of notes.
If you're looking for civil war relics....research old forts and encampments...marching trails and battlefields. Some of these areas will be off limits to detecting but never fear.....what you really want to look for are the retreat trails of the soldiers; these will be outside of the immediate historic areas. As the soldiers retreated they would discard almost everything as they were being pursued. Look at the terrain to determine the easiest avenue of escape and search there.
Once you begin to research and it begins to pay off you'll be hooked on going to the historical societies and locating texts that were written as first hand accounts of events. Don't bother reading school books and such....after reading true first hand accounts and comparing them to a school textbook you'll think that you were reading about two entirely different events. Always look for first hand knowledge or news accounts of the period.
Stop by and check out the Pa Ghost Town Group and my personal album to see some of our finds. I've been at this for nearly 50 years. It's been a lot of fun!
Good luck
Cheers
