Old Park Hunt – St. Marys, Ontario

[ANTIQUARIAN]

I think we all wish that we could be the first ones to detect an old park in a small town, in the hopes that it has never seen a detector before. This is exactly what I was hoping for on Thursday as I was driving through St. Marys, ON and spotted this 'out of the way' park on the edge of town ... but it wasn't to be. I think I made some interesting finds, but no real keepers and not a silver coin in sight!

St. Marys is a town in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is also known by its nickname, "The Stone Town", due to the abundance of limestone in the surrounding area, giving rise to a large number of limestone buildings and homes throughout the town. St. Marys Cement, a large cement producer founded in the town, capitalized on this close feedstock, and grew to be a major producer of cement in the province of Ontario. St. Marys is home to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. The first settlers arrived in St. Marys in the early 1840s, attracted by the area's natural resources. At the new town site, the Thames River cascaded over a series of limestone ledges, providing the power to run the first pioneer mills and giving the community an early nickname: Little Falls. St. Marys was incorporated into the province of Ontario, officially, in 1863. In the riverbed and along the banks, limestone was close to the surface and could be quarried for building materials. Many 19th century limestone structures survive: churches, commercial blocks, and private homes. In 1908, Solen Doolittle in the town of St. Marys founded a handle and hockey stick company, called the St. Marys Wood Specialty Company. Located on James St in St. Marys from the early 1900s, it moved in 1933 to Hespeler, Ontario. During their time in St. Marys, the company made many such items as hammer handles, hockey sticks and baseball bats. After many ownership changes over the years, by 1988 the now-Cooper Bat had risen to #2 in the National Baseball League after Louisville Slugger. This success subsequently inspired the town to bid for the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

Thanks very much for looking,
Dave

 

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[dirtdigginfool]

Cool finds nevertheless! and yes..judging by the lack of silver, it does appear to have been cherry picked already. Judging by the age of the area and some of the items shown, there SHOULD be silver there...It would have been nice to eliminate some of the targets shown and found some hiding deeper..thanks for sharing!..ddf

 

[Argentium]

Maybe cherry picked- or the original turf was replaced in the 1980's during some parks and rec. rejuvenation program - sometimes
in these locations if you get crafty and put your search coil in under hedges and low lying shrubbery - places other than the juicy
looking grassed lawn areas that everybody has pounded for 25 or 30 years , you might eke out a silver or an oldie .

 

[dirtlooter]

nice finds

 

[Old Dude]

You always hunt some very nice looking places Dave. It sure looks like there should have been some nice old coins or jewelry hiding there. Next time!

 

[bootybandit]

Nice digs anyway!

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Cool finds nevertheless! and yes..judging by the lack of silver, it does appear to have been cherry picked already. Judging by the age of the area and some of the items shown, there SHOULD be silver there...It would have been nice to eliminate some of the targets shown and found some hiding deeper..thanks for sharing!..ddf

Thanks for your post ddf!
I posted the finds on another site here in Canada and was informed that this site had been pounded for years by a couple of locals ... hence the reason for no silver!
But you never know for sure until you turn on the detector right!
Best of luck to you,
Dave

Maybe cherry picked- or the original turf was replaced in the 1980's during some parks and rec. rejuvenation program - sometimes
in these locations if you get crafty and put your search coil in under hedges and low lying shrubbery - places other than the juicy
looking grassed lawn areas that everybody has pounded for 25 or 30 years , you might eke out a silver or an oldie .

Thanks very much for your advice Arg!
I've never had a problem heading into the bushes ... the problem usually comes when I try to get out!
Dave

nice finds

Thanks pardner!

You always hunt some very nice looking places Dave. It sure looks like there should have been some nice old coins or jewelry hiding there. Next time!

Hey Dave, how are you doin buddy!
Yup, I sure thought this site was going to throw me a 'silver' bone ... but all I got was buckle!
Dave

Nice digs anyway!

Arrrr! Thank you Sir!

 

[romeo-1]

You never know what will pop up in a target rich environment!

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

You never know what will pop up in a target rich environment!

You know what romeo, I would've been happy just to find enough change to get myself a medium double double dark roast from Timmies!

Here are what some of the finds look like after 12hrs of tumbling.
Dave