Bill D. (VA)
Silver Member
I got out yesterday to knock on a few doors at places I had researched in hopes of getting permission to hit a new colonial site. Got a “NO” at the first location, but found a very friendly and historically-inclined owner at my 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] stop. He owned a small parcel of land where I thought a mid-1700s home once stood. But he quickly informed me that it was not on his property, but about a ¼ mile down the road and part of it was still standing. I quickly remembered where he was talking about, but thought that house looked more like turn-of-the-century. But he told me the original 1755 home had burned and it was rebuilt in the 1920s, and the original foundation and chimney had been re-used. The house was vacant and up for sale, and the current 93 year old owner was in a nursing home, so I had no way to hunt the yard. But I got checking my notes and realized the 130 acre field surrounding the home belonged to a good farmer friend of mine who had given me written permission to search any of his many properties in the county. Unfortunately, the grassy area surrounding the home was huge and obviously off limits, and I wasn’t too pleased about the prospect of having to hunt so far away from the house. I started out wandering around for about 20-30 min which included checking out a nice high ridge on the back of the property, but one modern bullet was the only signal I could muster. In spite of this disappointing start I continued to walk the field a little closer to the main road. I finally got into a little area that had a few targets including a flat button and a large piece from a colonial buckle, and my motivation level started rising. Then I started digging these melted blobs that were reading very high, and thought they just might be silver. I dug several of these, and I’m still unsure as to their composition. Not long after digging another one of the blobs I got a similar sounding signal, but this time I saw a 2-piece button reveal itself in the dirt. I first thought it might be a CW era eagle coat button, but when I flipped it over I was shocked to see the VA state seal revealing itself on the front. What a great random find I thought. Shortly thereafter I dug a button back, and when I did a comparison I realized it was an exact match with the VA button I just dug. I was thinking that maybe the front was hiding nearby, and then on the very next row out it popped. I was pretty stoked about now having 2 VA staff buttons in my pouch. And about 5 min later history repeated itself again as I again found a button back first, then another front. At that point I began thinking CS buckle, but later realized this was probably not a camp but more than likely the buttons were from a discarded coat. I continued searching a tight pattern in this area and made a few more finds, but no more VA buttons. That was OK as I was quite excited about having dug 3 CS buttons in 30 min even though they weren’t in the best condition. I definitely plan to hit the site again soon, and hope to run into some of the colonial loot I know is hiding there as well.
Attachments
Upvote
4
