Canon

[cdcda]

My family used to own a large farm plot in upstate New York up until about a year ago. The land belonged to the sister of my grandfather and before that, to their parents. As children and young adults my grandfather and his brothers would often search the woods on and near the property. In the woods was some sort of abandoned "road/trail" that had been used as far back as the revolutionary war - and possibly as an indian trail earlier.

On these childhood trips, my grandfather and his brothers discovered an old canon that most likely dates from the 18th century. Legend had it that the canon (and possibly more than one) had been rolled off the side of the trail by the French during some type of hasty retreat.

This summer I intend to locate the canon with one of the living brothers who remembers its approximate location. I believe it is on private property and should not have a problem with permission for searching and/or removal, but I wondering about NY laws in regards to a relic like this. And, there is also a degree of likelihood that there may be additional artifacts/treasure that were stashed in the immediate area - or possibly in the canon itself even.

Thoughts/advice?

 

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[cdcda]

Oops. Let me revise the posting. The Canon is most likely British. My memory of it was that it was French, but in all likelihood it is British and was ditched during the retreat from the Battle of Bennington (which actually took place in upstate New York).

 

[hollowpointred]

sorry i cant help with the legal information but it is a fascinating story. i wish you luck in finding it.please post again and tell us if you find it. or even if you dont.

 

[cdcda]

Believe it or not, I don't anticipate much problem in finding it - that will probably be the easy part. The difficult part will probably be removing it from its location. It is decently deep in the woods I am not so sure I look forward to the process of getting out. Hopefully a couple of four wheelers and a sled of some kind will do the job ;-)

 

[aquabob]

cdca- Good luck with your search, that would be truly awesome if you were able to locate it!! I had a similar experience about 12 yrs ago. My friends grandfather told us a story about when he was a kid back in the 20's, he and his friends came across some cannonballs along a stream. He said there were more than 30 of them, and he and his buddies used to throw them around like shotputs. This was on the farm where my buddy lived. We searched for weeks right in the area where he told us he remembered, and never found a single cannonball. Hunters, or others must have found them piled up, and took them all. My buddy did find one cannonball while digging the foundation for his house. Please post your results, that would be awesome!

 

[cdcda]

Given the location of the cannon, I am pretty sure it has not been recovered - unless other individuals also knew of its location, which is unlikely in this case. But hey, you never know. I will post results when I have them and am very excited - have even been looking at satellite views of the location!

 

[archmjr]

Good luck and hope you find it and maybe others. I can't wait to get an update.

Arch

 

[Rich]

a Cannon ya say?....

Im in upstate,and i say your either near cobo- or sara-..........PM me......

 

[RedSpey]

Sounds cool! Sorry, I can't help out with NY law, but in Washington state if you find something of historical or archeaological significance you have to leave it undisturbed and inform the authorities of its location. There are big fines if they find that you didn't comply. However, Washington is pretty much a communist state with a government that is way too powerful, so NY may have different laws. I would search the NY Archealogical policy or Historical Preservation code at their state website just to make sure...even if the item is on private property. Just a thought.

RedSpey