Civil war sites that allow detecting

[Dual Hunter]

anyone know of any civil war battlefields in Maryland or Virginia that allow metal detecting? i figure as ridiculously strict as Maryland is on metal detecting there won't be any here, i know PA. is off limits to. i heard VA. has a few that allow . i heard a funny story of a guy in Gettysburg caught with a metal detector down his pants leg just hanging out the bottom walking the fields erratically.Man !! i would love to get in there for just a hour or so.

 

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[creskol]

I mentioned this in an earlier post, but here it is again. I have had some very good results over the years from studying ACW era maps and learning as much as I could about railroad bridges that existed during the war. Just about every RR bridge in MD that was considered to be on major supply routes, was guarded by troops at some point during the war and many of them had camps near by... The good thing is most of these camps are on private properties. Because there really wasn't much action, a lot of time was spent on the firing range, and back in the 1970's I pulled buckets of bullets from one spot. Also, the ordinary campsite relics can be found. Good Luck!

 

[DCMatt]

Dual,

As you have already surmised, major CW battlefields are strictly off limits for relic hunting. But, as creskol points out, there are many other places to hunt. You just need to do some home work.

Get the old CW maps for your area and start compairing the roads and railways to modern maps. Also look for water sources. There were 10's of thousands of men roaming the Maryland and Virginia countryside for all the years of the war. They had to sleep somewhere every night and they had to have water. Look for any place near a road that existed back then with easy access to water. Then start looking for undisturbed land and/or mature trees. You'll be surprised how often sites like this will produce relics. The stuff may not "jump" out of the ground like it did 30 years ago, but there is still plenty to be found.

Example: Last fall construction started in an area about 1/2 a mile from a small Virginia battlefield park. It was a field that had been hunted for years but as they began to strip off top soil, we found more relics including a breast plate. Once the ground had been totally striped by contruction, we moved to a nearby woods with a creek running through it. More relics came out of the ground including a cavalry sword hand guard.

The point is, it doesn't have to be a battlefield to produce exciting finds.

DCMatt

 

[piedmont]

Good advice, DCMatt. I still kick myself for not detecting under some very old trees that were an "island" in an open field at Wormans Mill in Frederick(US and CSA camped nr there) now its a parking lot for Giant.