|
I live in a very historic
area – the Virginia Peninsula – which goes back to the time when the country
was first settled by the English in the early 1600s. I grew up and still live
near the city of Hampton, which is America's oldest continuous English speaking
settlement (established in 1610). Other nearby areas of historical interest
include Jamestown, Yorktown and Williamsburg. I probably don't have to tell you
that the Peninsula played a key role in the shaping of this country's history,
including lots of action during the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, as well as the
War of 1812. So the potential for sites would seem endless. However, many are
now off limits, and the rest of the obvious places have been pounded by TH'ers
over the last 30+ years. Finding a virgin site may seem hopeless at times. But
there are still some to be found, and as difficult as that task may seem, you
can be successful if you do a little homework.
I've discovered that the
internet has opened up a virtually unlimited source of valuable information if
you know how and where to find it. I started out using search engines to find
sites that included old local maps of my area. I was pleasantly surprised to
find out how much was out there. The first map I came across was on the Office
of Coast Survey web site. They had a great collection of historical maps and
charts, including an excellent Civil War section where I found a beautiful color
map from the 1860s showing the entire lower end of the Peninsula. This map was
very detailed and showed all roads, creeks, homesites (with owners' names),
churches, schools, inns, taverns, etc. I was able to download the file (large!),
and frequently crop and print sections of this map and pass on to property
owners in a nice plastic document holder, which is something they really
appreciate (in addition to earning me a few brownie points). I eventually
contacted the Office of Coast Survey, and was able to get a large color print of
this map free of charge, which I plan to frame. This map has led me to many
interesting sites, and I've just scratched the surface so far. I've included a
small portion of this map below next to a current day map of the same area. The
main road shown on both maps is obviously in the same location now as back then,
which makes it very easy to pinpoint old homesites and other features. Its
amazing how accurate some of these old maps were.
|
|
|
Once I determine an
old site's location on the current map, I go into the city's property
information web site and pull up everything I need to know about the
parcel – plat map including location of structures, address and size
of the property, name and mailing address of the owner, and date of
construction. This makes it very easy to go directly to the owner to ask
permission. If only a PO Box is given, I can either look the name up in
the local phone book, or find it on the internet. |
I've even found unlisted
numbers before. The reverse lookup feature is also nice. All this can be done
from the comfort of your home. No more time consuming trips down to city hall.
I've also located other
old map collections on the internet at various university web sites, Library of
Congress, USGS, Terraserver, etc – the list is endless. And another wonderful
source, even though it will take a little monetary investment on your part, is
eBay. I've purchased numerous old maps, local history books, old postcards,
photo albums, etc, that have added greatly to my knowledge of local history, as
well as led me to new sites. I'm actually building myself a nice little local
history library. I think I enjoy this aspect of the hobby as much as I do being
out in the field with the detector. One of my favorite eBay finds is a lovely
color topo map of my area (1907). Bought it for about $10. I've also purchased
old county land ownership maps from the 1800s. One interesting tidbit I picked
up from reading a 1920 local history book I bought on eBay is that the road that
runs from Hampton to Yorktown (near my house) dates to 1720, and is considered
to be the oldest roadbed in continuous use in this country. I've found several
colonial sites along this road.
Aside from the internet,
the local library also has much to offer. One of my favorite resources there is
the Sanborn Fire Insurance Map series, which show great detail of the old
downtown area going back to about 1880. These maps are proving to be a big help
with my new bottle digging hobby as, in many cases, old privy locations are
shown. Anyway, I could go on and on about this stuff, but I think you get the
idea. Bottom line – its very rewarding to uncover a lost site through
research, and go out and recover artifacts verifying its existence. To me,
that's what its all about.
I highly encourage you to
take the time to see what resources are waiting for you out there in cyberspace,
and take advantage of them. I know you'll be pleasantly surprised. Good luck and
HH! Bill----BD
|
