Hi Dennis,
You kind of threw me off with the 'Northern Va' description.
We consider the Williamsburg area as part of Southeastern Va and up near DC as Northern Va. Heck, there is a village in Northern Va called Waterford, that sided with the North during the' War of Northern Aggression', and to this day, they are the last ones to get their trash picked up each week.
As you may have found out, all the old, populated areas and battlefields around Williamsburg, Yorktown, Jamestown, are either National Park land or belong to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, and are strictly off limits to detecting. Even along the James River south of Jamestown, the land and beaches are National Park land.
Best bets are to go over Gloucester way. There are some areas over there that offer good Rev war and Civil War detecting, since the armies traveled thru that part of the state a lot. But, you need to make friends with some of the private land owners there. I think it was on this forum, and this year, that a land owner posted a request for anyone with a detector to search his farm homestead there. Try a search on the forum for 'Gloucester' and I'll also see if I can find the posting.
Another possibility is across the James into Surry county. That is some of the oldest occupied land in these parts. If you have never taken the free ferry ride, it' s worth the trip by itself. The owner of the hardware in the town of Surry is a Whites dealer and I'll bet he could point you toward a site or two. Milton Seward is his name. And while you're over there in Surry, have a meal at the Surry House Restaurant, run by Jennifer & Sam Oakley.
Happy Hunting,
Roger
