FINDING AND SEARCHING COLONIAL HOMESITES

By Bill D.(VA)

I'm certainly blessed to be in this hobby and live in one of the oldest and most historic areas of the country – the Tidewater area of Virginia.  I grew up on Virginia's lower peninsula in the city of Hampton, which is the oldest continuous English speaking settlement in the New World.  Founded in 1610, Hampton will soon be celebrating its 400th birthday.  I now live just up the road in York County, only a few minutes south of the Yorktown Battlefield.  Within 30 minutes of my home are Jamestown, Williamsburg and other historic places too numerous to mention.  And I'm employed at Fort Monroe, whose roots go back to early colonial times.  I work in a building within the old fort's wall and moat, and can walk out on the 3rd floor balcony and view the parade field and stately live oaks, envisioning the thousands of Union troops who occupied the fortress throughout the Civil War.  Also within view is the casement where Jefferson Davis was held prisoner, as well as Robert E. Lee's quarters when he was stationed here in the 1830s as a young engineer lieutenant.  I also work as an archaeological volunteer at Endview Plantation in Newport News, which goes back to the mid-1700s and served as a camp for some of Washington's troops prior to the final battle of the Revolution at Yorktown. 

So you say – what better place to swing a detector?  Well, the truth of the matter is that most sites around here are either hunted out, under asphalt or strictly off limits (Federal or Park Service property).  Other than an occasional construction site or turn of the century home, there's virtually no decent places left to hunt on the lower end of the peninsula.  As a result, I've been forced to expand my radius of interest by about 50 or so miles.  However, once I started doing a little research, I was shocked to discover the wealth of sites in neighboring counties that I never knew existed.

All of this got started through a casual conversation I had with an archaeologist I met here at Fort Monroe.  I introduced myself to her while checking out some ongoing excavation work a while back, and found out that she had grown up in a circa 1740 home in one of the nearby counties.  She told me a little about the history of the county, and mentioned that many other homes of that age were still standing and occupied.  The first thing I did was to see what I could learn about this county from the internet.  I was fortunate to find a great link to the local historical society, and quickly decided that I needed to make a little trip.  One Saturday, I talked my wife into driving over with me, and we had a great time.  It's a beautiful rural county with many old homesites lining the river – just the kind of place we'd like to retire to in a few years.  We even looked at some property while over there.  Be great to have your own personal relic hunting site, wouldn't it? 

We had a little difficulty locating the historical society, and decided to stop for directions at one of the very few places of business we saw.  The woman I talked to there was very friendly, but didn't know how to direct us.  But she said she knew who could help us, and immediately made a call, and handed me the phone.  Turned out she had put me in touch with the oldest member of the historical society, whose family came over to Virginia with Captain John Smith in 1607, and was the original founders of the county.  Her family also owned a lot of land there, and she gave me contact info for her brother who owned several colonial properties (which he eventually let my partner and I hunt).  Things were starting to look quite good. 

We eventually found the historical society (located in a 1700s tavern), and enjoyed viewing the artifact collections and talking with the folks there.  I also brought with me copies of 2 colonial era maps showing the county and its landmarks, which I donated to them.  I ended up purchasing a wonderful book that had pictures and histories of over 100 of the oldest homes in the county – most of them from the 17th and 18th centuries.  Additionally, they sold a large and very detailed map showing the exact locations of these homes, even the ones that no longer existed.  I spent the rest of the summer studying these materials and putting together a spreadsheet of potential sites to hit in the fall.  I also made some trips to the local history room at the library in Hampton where I found several old books on this county, which greatly helped to supplement my knowledge and excitement. 

This is where I put the internet to good use again.  Three of my favorite sites are Terraserver, Maptech and Topozone.  Using Terraserver and Maptech, I was able to put together some very nice satellite images of many of the individual homesites in the county.  Images on Maptech are even available in color.  These show the exact location of the home (or verify that it was no longer there), and whether fields or woods surround the homesite.  It was a little time consuming creating these, as I had to piece several views together, but PowerPoint made this a relatively easy task.  Not only do these images help me to actually visualize the site, but they're very nice to present to property owners, which helps in getting permission.  (I always give them the maps and images BEFORE I ask permission – makes it difficult for them to say no.)  Topographic maps are also useful for distinguishing between fields and woods, identifying old family cemeteries, determining the topography of the site, and serving as excellent roadmaps to help get you to these places, especially those that are on unpaved roads that don't show up on other maps.  Side-by-side comparisons of topo maps and satellite images can also be a lot of fun to study.

Even if you're not looking for a specific site, topo maps can be very helpful.  In the rural counties of southeast Virginia, many of the old homes can be found along the abundance of navigable water at the end of long, dirt lanes branching off from a paved road.  These are easy to spot by just scanning these maps.  Also, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) offers historical topos dating back to the turn of the century, which can be a big help in locating old homesites.

Once these sites are identified and located, getting permission is usually easy, if you can catch the owner at home.  My partner Chuck and I have been turned down only a couple of times in 10-15 tries in this county, and that was because the owner had previous problems with relic hunters coming on their property at night without permission, or someone in the family had a detector.  But generally we find that folks in these rural areas are much friendlier than what we're used to here in the city.  At some of the sites we wanted to hunt, the old home had been long gone or abandoned, which made it a little more difficult to locate the owner. However, the county assessor's office can usually provide the owner's name and mailing address. But since this is a rural county, all mailing addresses are either rural route or P.O. box numbers, which makes it difficult to find a door to knock on.  In this case, my next move is to look them up in the county phone book, which I was able to get from my local telephone service provider free of charge.  Even if they're not in the phone book, I can sometimes find them listed on one of the many internet locators.  You can also ask nearby property owners for help.  If all these options fail, as a last resort, and only as a last resort, I'll send them a nice letter with copies of old maps, satellite images, etc.  My experience, though, is that I very rarely get a response to these letters, but it has happened.  So unless you've got a site that you absolutely have to hunt, its probably not worth the effort to request permission via the mail. 

Another trick I've used to identify colonial sites is through real estate web sites.  In this same county, I recently identified 3 potential colonial era homes that just happened to be on the market right now.  And none of these were mentioned in any of my other references.  The website I use for this even gives the property address, and has a clickable map.  Also, with the address info, you can do a reverse lookup and sometimes find the resident's name and phone number.  I tell you, the internet can be a very powerful resource for those of us in this hobby, especially if you're willing to take the time and use a little creativity.

Most of you who regularly visit the Depot forums probably know that I have a huge fascination with colonial sites.  These are by far my favorite places to research and hunt.  In the local area, good Civil War or War of 1812 sites are now few and far between, and have usually been heavily hunted.  Plus, things were lost at these places during short periods of time as, after all, camps and battle sites were generally occupied for only a few days or weeks.  However, at colonial sites, artifacts have been accumulating continuously for 200-300 years or more, so the quantity and variety of finds is usually much greater.  On several occasions I've found coins, buttons, buckles and bullets from the early 1700s to the Civil War era to the early 20th century, all at one site on the same day.  The display below shows what I recently dug at one of these sites.  And this was after a lengthy search by another relic hunter.  

We usually hunt the large cultivated fields at these sites from late fall to early spring, depending on the type of crops that are grown.  Where soybeans are planted, we can usually hunt well into the spring as the new crop can be as late as early July going in.  However, soybeans are not harvested until late fall or early winter, so we usually hit the cornfields first in the fall.  Based on these planting and harvesting schedules, we can field hunt all but about 3 months of the year.  Unfortunately, many of the farmers in this area have gone to no-till planting, which results in the soil rarely getting turned over.  However, we try to stay in touch with some of the owners so we can get back into a site as soon as its been plowed, and before its planted.

These large fields, usually 100 acres or more, can be very intimidating to hunt due to their size.  Unless the owner can direct us to a particular area of the field where relics are likely to be found, we are forced to begin with a random search pattern.  We continue this until we start seeing telltale surface signs (old porcelain, stoneware and glass fragments), or until we happen to run into a hotspot. I also listen for the detector to start nulling out over small iron, as this is an obvious indication of an occupied area.  No, I do not hunt in all-metal as there's usually more than enough non-ferrous targets to keep us busy.  If there's a lot of iron, slowing down and switching to a smaller coil can help.  Studying the terrain is also very important in helping to pinpoint productive spots.  High ground near a source of fresh water is usually the best place to start looking. 

Since I've already been quite long-winded here, I might as well go ahead and tell a little story relating to terrain.  Chuck and I had permission last year to hunt a site in town that we knew dated back to the Civil War, but the groundskeeper told us that it went back to colonial times.  He also said it had been pounded over the years, and there was probably little to be found.  We went back to hunt it anyway, and I mentioned to Chuck as we were approaching the property that I was intrigued by a small knoll or rise in the cornfield at the very rear of the property.  It was barely visible from the road, and from the maps I had studied, I knew there was a fresh water stream in the woods immediately behind the knoll.  I told Chuck that I definitely wanted to check out that spot while we were there.  After hunting the fields in front of the house for an hour or so with little to show for our effort, I slowly started to make my way back towards the knoll, while Chuck headed in the general direction of his truck.  Still not finding anything, I was starting to get that disappointed feeling when a potentially good site fails to produce.  Anyway, as I finally neared the top of the knoll, I got my first decent sounding signal in quite a while, but it only registered as 2-3 inches deep.  Not expecting much, I recovered the target and started wiping dirt from it, which to my surprise revealed a nice-sized but very thin silver disk.  Upon closer inspection, I realized that I had stumbled upon a beautiful 1625-49 Charles I hammered sixpence – my oldest coin ever.  Man was I pumped!  I quickly looked up for Chuck, but he was nowhere to be found.  In spite of wanting to share my find with him, and getting him to join me, I just couldn't make myself walk away after making that first find.  So I continued my search and started finding a few more colonial relics -- buckles, buttons, a cut piece of spanish silver, very old porcelain and stoneware fragments, and large-bore clay pipe stem pieces.  This was really getting exciting, and I again scanned the horizon for some sign of Chuck.  It wasn't long that, after I had hunted a good part of the knoll, I finally saw Chuck driving his truck back to pick me up.  I asked where he'd been, and he said he was so bored from not finding anything that he'd decided to take a little nap in the truck.  I proceeded to tell him that while he was snoozin', I had discovered an early colonial site and was making some great finds.  I don't think he appreciated the humor in that until later.  We both hunted the area for a while longer, and made a few more nice finds.  Anyway, the point I wanted to make is that its very important to learn to recognize these visual clues, as close observation of the geography of a site can lead you right to a hotspot. Sorry for getting sidetracked – now back to where I left off ... 

Until we start finding a few things in the fields, I usually employ a rather fast swing speed, which works great with the XLT as it's definitely a fast motion machine.  I can also turn up my sensitivity and pre-amp gain quite high as these fields are usually low in mineralization and quite stable.  Once targets start to show up, we usually slow down and run tight lines.  In areas that are yielding good finds, I'll go back over the same ground at a 90 degree angle, and sometimes from 2 or 3 other directions to find every possible target.  I'm amazed at what can turn up on the 3rd or 4th pass.  Reasons for this include insufficient coil overlap, raising the coil at the end of each swing, iron masking, targets on edge, etc.  Also, I dig all questionable targets, especially those that are very low on the scale (in the foil range).  Many small buttons and tombacs fall in this category.  Try to keep your coil right on top of the ground, if possible.  And don't limit yourself to areas of concentrated targets.  I've made many a good find wandering in areas well away from the hotspot.  This takes patience, but the effort is usually well rewarded, as Chuck proved when he found a beautiful 1775 guinea all by itself in the middle of a large soybean field a couple years ago. 

In the fields, I normally dig with a small, but heavy mattock.  This is a great little tool as the narrow blade is perfect for breaking up hard ground.  Also, it'll take care of any roots encountered in short order.  I recently bought one of those fiberglass handled, narrow bladed shovels like many relic hunters use, but I'm having a hard time leaving my mattock in the truck.   For digging in yards and other turfed areas, I use my Lesche, which I've practically worn out. 

Many of these sites also have old cellar holes, trash dumps and privies waiting to be discovered.  However, it takes a lot more effort to search these than just swinging a detector.  Also, bottles and other goodies can be found under old houses and outbuildings, so don't forget to look there.  I'm just starting to explore these areas, as it can be great fun as well as very productive.  But since I'm a relative novice in this area, I'll defer to the Depot experts (like Jim Upstate, Butch Mayes, Tom IL and others) to provide their experiences and tricks of the trade to you. Unfortunately, many of the coins, buttons and other artifacts dug from cultivated fields are in poor shape due to the action of fertilizer and other chemicals, as well as damage from the plow.  That's why I much prefer to hunt the lawn areas around colonial homes, even though its much slower going since you have to be very careful not to damage the turf.  These areas frequently produce the best finds, and they're usually in much better shape.  However, I never ask to hunt the yard first, as this may be a turn-off to the owner.  Once you've finished hunting the fields, have offered them a few finds, and established a good relationship, then there's no harm in asking to hunt the yard.  Its also a good idea to hunt as much of the lawn as you can on your first attempt, as I've had owners later change their mind about allowing me back.

When it comes to cleaning finds, especially coins and buttons, I've definitely learned from experience as I've ruined more than a few nice items.  WATER is now a nasty word, and I never rinse any old coppers or most buttons.  I really find it strange that you can dig a big penny out of the moist ground, and once it air dries, its usually still in pretty decent shape.  But the minute you take it home and wet it, it immediately gets that ugly dried out look and starts to oxidize.  I started taking a film canister filled with extra virgin olive oil, and drop my coppers in it as soon as they come out of the ground.  By the time I get home, the oil has started to loosen the crud, and more important, has provided a coating that protects against further deterioration from exposure to water or air.  The original condition of the item determines how long it needs to soak.  But I'm careful not to soak it too long as it can have too much of a darkening effect, which I personally don't like.  Thanks to Dave CT, I'm also a firm believer in using aluminum jelly on gilted buttons – it does a great job.  Lemon juice also works well on gilt, but I prefer the jelly.  TR's toothpick method of cleaning buttons is another option, but I usually don't have the patience for it.  Identification of artifacts after cleaning is another challenge that makes hunting colonial sites a real pleasure.

 I didn't mean to ramble on so long here, but wanted to pass along my experiences in hopes that it might help some of you in your pursuit of this great hobby.  I also want to thank the many great folks who visit and post on the Treasure Depot, as much of what I've learned about this hobby came from them.  In closing, I just want to again say that the variety of finds made at colonial sites is endless. That's why it's so exciting – you just never know what you're going to find down the end of that old country lane.  If you ever have the opportunity to hunt a colonial site, I suggest you don't pass up on the opportunity.  It doesn't take much to get hooked – either on the research or the hunting.  Good luck and HH!!

Bill D. (VA)