deepsix47
Hero Member
- Jul 26, 2006
- 644
- 17
- Detector(s) used
- Fisher Impulse, Fisher CZ-21, Minelab X-Terra 70
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
"CRACKER HOUSE" CACHE UPDATE!!!!
I was going to wait until tomorrow to post this and had more data on part of the find. Buuuuuuuuuut, I'm just a bit excited....lol.
A friend of mine called me yesterday and told me that his family was selling a large tract of land they owned in central Florida. That's to bad because for several years it's produced a good amount of artifacts and relics. An old pioneer trail crosses it, there are several springs and lakes and several old "Cracker Houses" scattered among the woods.
It didn't take a whole lot for him to talk me into a MD'ing trip since our trip to the local beaches over the holiday and my trip to the Treasure Beaches for Ernesto had been a pretty sorry showing. We drove in with his jeep and he started working up one the side of the old trail. I decided to work one of the old houses that we hadn't hit before and located the trash dump after about 20 minutes. I didn't have a big enough shovel with me for that so I decided to look around a spring that is about 150 feet from the house then changed my mind.
I was only going to be there for the morning so I decided to stick to my original idea and work around the house. The house is small and was probably originally built in the 20's or 30's. In that period this area had been prime "Moonshine" country and a couple of years ago we did find the remains of 2 stills that had been blown by the revenuers. I worked around the back porch of the house and dug a few trash targets then moved up front. I checked under the front steps and up under the porch. There was a few more trash targets but nothing really interesting.
I went into the house and started looking around. The house has a kitchen/living room area, two bedrooms and a bath room. I started searching the house, kicking the base boards, lifting the toilet tank lid, looking behind it, and checking the door frames, etc. In the larger of the 2 bedrooms I found a loose base board and pried it off with my shovel. There were several spaces behind it where things could have been hidden and two of them had old rags in them but nothing else. I looked in the closet and started hitting the boards along the back with the shovel handle. One of them popped loose a little and I pried it out. Behind the board on a cross member was a little pile of coins. Next to them was an old rag that was folded up. It kind of looks like a dish rag.
There are 19 Silver coins dating from 1902 to 1945. There are also 5 Indian Head Cents dated from 1883 to 1906. The rag was folded around the pocket watch. The watch says Hampden Watch Company on the face and has a serial number on the inside of the face cover. On the inside of the back cover there is a mark that looks like a makers mark. The outside of both covers are really ornate. I don't know anything about pocket watches so I'll update the post when I get more on it. Oh yea, I wound it up and it seems to keep great time.
I started prying off all of the base boards and there were hiding places behind all of them. I went out on the front porch and started yelling for my friend (cell phones are about worthless in that area). He came running thinking I had been hit by a snake from the way I was yelling. When I showed him what I had found we really started dismantling the place. There were several other hiding places, some with old rags stuffed in them but nothing else.
We're going to go back in a few days and start gridding off the area and checking all of it around the house and a couple of little out buildings that are close by. I've found a lot of good things in and around old houses but this is the best!!!!
Deepsix
I was going to wait until tomorrow to post this and had more data on part of the find. Buuuuuuuuuut, I'm just a bit excited....lol.
A friend of mine called me yesterday and told me that his family was selling a large tract of land they owned in central Florida. That's to bad because for several years it's produced a good amount of artifacts and relics. An old pioneer trail crosses it, there are several springs and lakes and several old "Cracker Houses" scattered among the woods.
It didn't take a whole lot for him to talk me into a MD'ing trip since our trip to the local beaches over the holiday and my trip to the Treasure Beaches for Ernesto had been a pretty sorry showing. We drove in with his jeep and he started working up one the side of the old trail. I decided to work one of the old houses that we hadn't hit before and located the trash dump after about 20 minutes. I didn't have a big enough shovel with me for that so I decided to look around a spring that is about 150 feet from the house then changed my mind.
I was only going to be there for the morning so I decided to stick to my original idea and work around the house. The house is small and was probably originally built in the 20's or 30's. In that period this area had been prime "Moonshine" country and a couple of years ago we did find the remains of 2 stills that had been blown by the revenuers. I worked around the back porch of the house and dug a few trash targets then moved up front. I checked under the front steps and up under the porch. There was a few more trash targets but nothing really interesting.
I went into the house and started looking around. The house has a kitchen/living room area, two bedrooms and a bath room. I started searching the house, kicking the base boards, lifting the toilet tank lid, looking behind it, and checking the door frames, etc. In the larger of the 2 bedrooms I found a loose base board and pried it off with my shovel. There were several spaces behind it where things could have been hidden and two of them had old rags in them but nothing else. I looked in the closet and started hitting the boards along the back with the shovel handle. One of them popped loose a little and I pried it out. Behind the board on a cross member was a little pile of coins. Next to them was an old rag that was folded up. It kind of looks like a dish rag.
There are 19 Silver coins dating from 1902 to 1945. There are also 5 Indian Head Cents dated from 1883 to 1906. The rag was folded around the pocket watch. The watch says Hampden Watch Company on the face and has a serial number on the inside of the face cover. On the inside of the back cover there is a mark that looks like a makers mark. The outside of both covers are really ornate. I don't know anything about pocket watches so I'll update the post when I get more on it. Oh yea, I wound it up and it seems to keep great time.
I started prying off all of the base boards and there were hiding places behind all of them. I went out on the front porch and started yelling for my friend (cell phones are about worthless in that area). He came running thinking I had been hit by a snake from the way I was yelling. When I showed him what I had found we really started dismantling the place. There were several other hiding places, some with old rags stuffed in them but nothing else.
We're going to go back in a few days and start gridding off the area and checking all of it around the house and a couple of little out buildings that are close by. I've found a lot of good things in and around old houses but this is the best!!!!
Deepsix
WTO very nice HH
