Abandon Property

[ZachSS]

My mom's friend got the deed to this ladies property that her family has owned since the late 1800s to now.
I have till the end of May to explore the place.
Now this place has a basement, middle floor and an upstairs.
Also has 2 trailers, 2 barns and all of these areas are packed with things.
Does anyone have a clue to where people may hide things in those periods of times?
I will also be metal detecting the area after I scavenge through all the buildings.
Any hints and tips for the scavenging part first would be appreciated.

Finds so far I been posting in the what's it worth forum, not actually looking to sell but to just learn more about them.

But I also found a sword dated to 1882 and a small handgun that shot blanks but I gave those to the owner since it's hers unless she let's me have it.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

DR.ÖTEK Metal Detector, Waterproof Gold Detector, Pinpoint & Terrain Modes, Professional Metal Detector - Grab it through Amazon!

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Everywhere and anywhere. If there were standard places to hide things they wouldn't be good hiding places. ;-)

Look for places of short runs of floor kick-board. Near doorways, staircases, inner wall-jogs. These are easy to pull out and, by nature of the construction, sometimes have hollows behind.

Taped under drawers.

Above cabinets. Check cabinets for false bottoms.

Above closets (often there were access doors to upper or lower crawl spaces placed in closets - no rugs or finished floors).

In the ash-pit below fireplaces.

Loose stones in the basement walls.

 

[TheHunterGT]

Not sure what the frame of mind of a 1800's mind would be compared to somebody today in 2015. Myself today would never think about hiding something in my floorboard or wall of my modern drywall and carpeted home. However, back then the floorboards or wall was most likely a bit more accessible and shoving something into a hole and just re-nailing it would be ideal I guess.

Right now as I type this....if I had a stash of "whatever" and I'm thinking I need to hide it for a bit....I would probably pick my backyard somewhere and just dig a spot.

Best of luck. Sounds like awesome fun.

 

[K1DDO1979]

If those barns are old and packed with stuff there may be some nice antiques or anything back there. Probably the deeper you go in the older the stuff will get! [emoji2]

 

[CincinnatiKid]

Once you begin detecting, fence posts, trees, etc., that are/were easily viewed from kitchen are a great place to search.
GL
Peace ✌