Menu
What's new
Find's Treasure Forums

Welcome to Find's Treasure Forums, Guests!

You are viewing this forums as a guest which limits you to read only status.

Only registered members may post stories, questions, classifieds, reply to other posts, contact other members using built in messaging and use many other features found on these forums.

Why not register and join us today? It's free! (We don't share your email addresses with anyone.) We keep email addresses of our users to protect them and others from bad people posting things they shouldn't.

Click here to register!

Need Support Help?

Cannot log in?, click here to have new password emailed to you

Changed email? Forgot to update your account with new email address? Need assistance with something else?, click here to go to Find's Support Form and fill out the form.

How'd you like to hunt this place??

U

Uncle Willy

New member
My late aunt and uncle's mansion. It now belongs to the local Historical Society as it is steeped in history. Was built in 1820. How I wish I had been into detecting back then when I spent so much time in this grand old place.

Bill
 
Makes me slobber just thinking about it. I like looking
at "before and after" pictures like that. Interesting to
see how a house and the landscape changes through the years.
I collect old pictures off the web, and have thousands of
them. Sometimes you get to see pictures with years spread
between them. I've got one picture of a civil war site
that was taken in the civil war, and then another one taken
now in modern times, where the guy tried to stand in the same
exact place. Pretty interesting to see the change. Not sure
how old that postcard is , but looks like the early 1900's..
MK
 
Yeah the older pic is in the early 1900's and the color photo was in the late 1940's. The original building there was the Red Coach Inn, the first frame building in that town and the only stage coach stop between St. Louis and Jacksonville, Illinois. When the house was built the inn was incorporated into the large dining room in the house.

This house was part of the Underground Railroad during the Civil War and there are tunnels ( now sealed ) running from the basement clear out under the front lawn almost to the street where they hid slaves during the day before smuggling them out at night.

My uncle's great-great grandfather, who built the house, was a surgeon in the Civil War. Somewhere I have a pic of my uncle dressed up for a CW celebration in his Grandfather's refurbished Civil War uniform. Will try to dig it up. Had some good times in that old mansion.

Bill
 
Don't know for sure. It belongs to the Jersey County Historical Society now, so doubt if it could be hunted. When I was around there in my youth I didn't even know what a metal detector was. HA.

Bill
 
Offer to prepare a display of what you find and you might get permission. I would be willing to give them the finds or come to some arrangement just to get to hunt the place. No telling what you might find.
 
Great place Bill. There are probably some nice old goodies in the ground. I would just love a crack at that place.......
<center>
 
and asking if you can hunt even if they keep everything? I know that's a bummer but you would know what was there. Just a thought? HH John
 
Yeah me to and I know where to hunt. The grounds are extensive and out back are the servants quarters and the old carriage shed. When I was still hanging around there were still a couple of old carriages in the shed, the ones with the big brass lamps on the sides. In the last part of the forties my uncle built a two-story garage out back. Cost $28,000 back then. Would be about a $300,000 garage today. The upper floor was his new gun room. The original was the turret-shaped room in the left side of the pic.

Back then he had a gun collection worth $500,000. Would be worth millions today. The long lower room to the right of the pic and bordering the porch was the former parlor turned into an antique room full of antiques to die for. He also had his Hammond electric organ in there.

In there was an intricately designed ebony cabinet that took three generations of Asians to carve. One time three very wealthy antique dealers ( worth millions each ) came to vist him and he jokingly asked them what they would give for it. They replied that they didn't have enough money between the three of them to buy it. I hope it survived all that happened to that old house in later years. I spent many a happy time there and the stories I could tell.:)

Bill
 
I might could hunt there as the guy that heads the Historical Society is an old friend, but it's an awful long trip. :)

Bill
 
Yeah considering it was a stage coach stop ( dating into the late 1700's ) before the house was built, it's hard telling what one would find. I'd like to get into the tunnels and see what one could come up with. Course they may be open now as the Historical Society was considering it. I should write to them and see what they have done with the old place.

Bill
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top