What is your favorite tool to find old houses?

[signal]

Do you all like to use Zillow, Realtor.com, etc?

 

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[sailoffwithme]

Well the Mercedes of course thousands of them around here just drive up and ask for permission and start hunting

 

[ToastedWheatie]

Maps. If it shows on an old map, it's worth searching. Whether it's still there or not.

For you: Historic Atlas: Palm Beach 1919 Florida - Historic Map Works

 

[sailoffwithme]

I recently used Google earth to find black beards old house.

It was very accentuate in this case had to go down a long logging road and walk through the woods about a half mile
found what I saw in Google earth.

You can also go back in time with Google earth

 

[BC1969]

Retirement homes.

Mike

 

[BigWaveDave]

I will canvass neighborhoods, looking for folks doing yardwork, washing their car, etc... some houses that I really drool over I will look up on Zillow. Really all I am looking up is to see the year built, and sometimes my curiosity will lead me to find out who they are, and how long they've lived there, but that is info that I would never admit to knowing about to potential permissions. Too personal, and kinda creepy.... really, all I want to do is play in he dirt.

....and I am gonna keep what I find

 

[nathan104]

Ive received a lot of info just talking to the older folks who live around here. I also use all the old maps online I can and then use google earth to map thenm out. I keep a record on google earth of all my finds, properties Ive searched, who I talked to, and places I want to go. ITs very handy to look on the map, click the pin and find out the name of the person who gave me permission toh unt a year ago and what days I hunted and what I found. But, talking to people has helped a ton. The two acre pasture I have found most of my silver at was the site of an old school house. From what I found online, the school was across the street, but an older gentleman stopped and I talked to him a while and he said "No, the school house was on this corner of that small lot, I know I went to school there 70 years ago". That information helped me a lot.

I use several different online resources from sanborn maps to historical sites. Ive received a lot of information searching "***** county history" Most counties have online pages touting the history of the county from where the first schools were to the sites of the older houses. Ive probably spent the same amount of hours researching as I have actually detecting.

 

[simbad42]

NETR Online • Home - Environmental Records, Property Records, Public Records & Historic Aerial Images is the main internet tool i have found that gives some good ideas of where to look.
and if the place has been torn down i will look to see if i can piece together the yard layout from the plants. (old rose bush, agapanthus and other bulb flower plants people use as lawn decorations and borders.etc )
if i do any door knocking then i just look at the architecture of the home. this may not be feasible for other cities, but in Santa Barbara it is about as easy as telling the difference in the approximate build dates for the homes as it is to tell apart an old man from a young kid.

 

[BigWaveDave]

NETR Online • Home - Environmental Records, Property Records, Public Records & Historic Aerial Images is the main internet tool i have found that gives some good ideas of where to look.
and if the place has been torn down i will look to see if i can piece together the yard layout from the plants. (old rose bush, agapanthus and other bulb flower plants people use as lawn decorations and borders.etc )
if i do any door knocking then i just look at the architecture of the home. this may not be feasible for other cities, but in Santa Barbara it is about as easy as telling the difference in the approximate build dates for the homes as it is to tell apart an old man from a young kid.

I guess that's true in lots of areas in the U.S. Here in SW Florida, there was a housing boom in 1925, lots of Mediterranean Revival style homes, after that, nothing until mid 50's early 60's cookie cutter homes.... anything built after that, no interest in hunting it.

 

[DDancer]

I check out maps and historical society blogs. Do drive's thru prospective area's and note realty signs. In more rural area's I'll look for plants that indicate a habitation at some point in time~ rose bushes, herbs and tree's that don't belong to the area. Don't discount the old timers stories either.

 

[worldtalker]

The Old-Timers are a key source,especially from the Historic Society!!!!

GOD Bless

Chris

 

[str8flexed]

I like using the local county assessors website. Gives the year built and owner information which comes in handy.

 

[DixieLandMan]

I use old maps of the area as well as talk to old timers. They have a wealth of information and can tell you about gathering places that are not marked on the maps.