Bill D. (VA)
Silver Member
Back in the fall I researched a site that contained a couple of 1600s land patents. When I met the elderly owner I found out we were 3rd cousins, and he knew many of my long-gone relatives including my great-grandfather who I never met. So that cool connection helped me to get unlimited access to his property, and I checked one portion of it that day. I couldn't find any evidence of an early homesite, but he promised to take me to a remote area another time and show me where a rundown old house was in the edge of the woods with a cemetery in the adjacent field. We finally got together today, and the first structure he showed me was an abandoned turn-of-the century house. I figured that would date the site so it wasn't going to be of any interest to me. But next he showed me another old collapsed house a few yards from the first one, and told me it was put together with pegs. He also mentioned having a copy of the deed for the property dating to the early 1840s. Sorry, but that still didn't stir my colonial fancies. But when he showed me part of a colonial hoe someone had found in the woods there it started to knock my interest level up a couple notches. After he left I started scanning the field between the older house and the cemetery, but things were rather quiet at first. But soon I started to see a few brick and black glass frags so I slowed down and decided to grid a 100' x 75' area. My first target was a 1918 wheatie, but soon a couple early 1800s flat buttons appeared. And a short while later I got into some late 1700s buttons so this was starting to look more interesting. But what really got me going was the recovery of part of a mid-1600s spectacle buckle. Maybe this was in fact the site of a dwelling on one of the original land patents?? I only stayed about 90 min as the farmer was supposed to show up to spray the field at any time, but I plan to make a return visit sometime next week. And I was told that peanuts would be planted this year so this will be an easy and fun field to hunt next fall.
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