Much A Lot of Nuttin' Today.. downright discouragin'!! :cry:

[dahut]

...Lately, I've been trying to come up with some new, un-hunted spots for me and my 'tecting buddy, Hal, to wade through. I dislike merely driving around looking for likely vacant lots or patches of woods. I wanna know, you know?

But whoever said research was the key to detecting success is pulling a con, I think. I reckon those folks are really just keeping all the good spots to themselves, and diverting the rest of us nimrods off into "researching" our own hot spots.

Today, I took the Vaquero on a few test runs, to some places on my old maps. These are verifiable by my old topo maps, gone before 1975, (some well before then) and way off the beaten path.
I came up with - - zilch. Nada. Nyet. As in doodly squat.
I feel kinda bad for old Hal; there aint many detectorists left around here but me.

Hal is a die hard relichead, not really happy if he aint digging buttons and bullets.
Me? I'm more of a pulltab, foil and screwcap man. I'm happy at any school, tot-lot or ball field.

At one point, I was on my knees feverishly digging and praying to Electro, the Detecting God to cut me a break. All I wanted was ONE silver coin... that's not too much to ask, is it??
I'm fast thinking they have all been mysteriously transported to wherever other detectorists are. They find 'em over there, it seems... you see 'em posted all the time.
But those silver coins don't show up around here much. If I find one a month, I'm doing pretty good.

I hit about five separate places and I'm just glad I like this hobby for itself. The fresh air, sunshine and cool breezes are my reward.
If my enjoyment of it was tied to actually finding anything good... well, I may as well take up golf.

Here's most of the recovery pile from today, that which I hadn't already tossed in the junk bucket:

[attachment 111435 DSCF0021.JPG]

Like I said, doodly squat. If I DO take up golf, I at least have some golf balls now.

Ah well, chin up. Tomorrow is another day!

 

[JB(MS)]

Come on David, don't get discouraged. There are a lot of old sites in every county in every state that haven't been hunted and you can find some of them. I've found a lot of old sites to hunt, old schools, church sites and more, using the USGS database at http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/ and an old 1995 model GPS, including an old stagestop and inn site that gave up coins from the 1700's, Civil War relics and more - http://www.jb-ms.com/Treasurebag/Taylors.htm . I think you mentioned you were from South Carolina awhile back in a post, I checked the GNIS for churches in Lee county, SC and pulled several up, including two that's been gone a long time. Turkey Creek Church was one of them and the photo shows where it was located. It may have been hunted, but very possibly it hasn't. Most of my oldest coins have come from church sites jvery much like that one. If you haven't used the USGS, give it a try. You might be as surprised as I was when I started using it several years ago.
[attachment 111455 scchurch.jpg]

 

[slingshot]

Hey, thanks JB! I'm really getting interested in all those maps and I understand that there are some maps that show what it looked like years ago, also. I know what dahut means-some days are klunkers. One day I was hunting and swore I wouldn't leave until I found a quarter and darn near ended up there all day.:veryangry:

 

[dahut]

Turkey Creek Church was one of them and the photo shows where it was located. It may have been hunted, but very possibly it hasn't.

It will beeeee now!
Just kidding
I appreciate the encourgement. I normally use such resources as you have mentioned, but havent really established a pattern for research that works yet.
I'll give what you mentioned a shot.

 

[dahut]

Hey, thanks JB! I'm really getting interested in all those maps and I understand that there are some maps that show what it looked like years ago, also. I know what dahut means-some days are klunkers. One day I was hunting and swore I wouldn't leave until I found a quarter and darn near ended up there all day.:veryangry:

I know what you mean, slingshot. When I looked at the time yesterday I remembered to call the wife - who reminded me of something I needed to do!
I was so intent on that one silver coint that I forgot about it!

 

[dahut]

Come on David, don't get discouraged. There are a lot of old sites in every county in every state that haven't been hunted and you can find some of them. I've found a lot of old sites to hunt, old schools, church sites and more, using the USGS database at http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/ and an old 1995 model GPS, including an old stagestop and inn site that gave up coins from the 1700's, Civil War relics and more - http://www.jb-ms.com/Treasurebag/Taylors.htm . I think you mentioned you were from South Carolina awhile back in a post, I checked the GNIS for churches in Lee county, SC and pulled several up, including two that's been gone a long time. Turkey Creek Church was one of them and the photo shows where it was located. It may have been hunted, but very possibly it hasn't. Most of my oldest coins have come from church sites jvery much like that one. If you haven't used the USGS, give it a try. You might be as surprised as I was when I started using it several years ago.
[attachment 111455 scchurch.jpg]

I went ahead and tried an old school in the county where I live, "XYZ School." I've narrowed the location through previous map searches, but without the benefit of a GPS coordinate. Sure enough, the USGS gives it's coordinate and lists it as, "historical, this feature no longer exists."

When I applied the GNIS features to Google maps, it did come up with a location for the now-gone school. It is shown as being the modern site of "XYZ Church." At first, that might seem wrong, or a coincidence.
But that is correct, actually.

In the old days, rural schools were not consolidated into districts as they are today. That didn't happen widely until after WWII.
Instead, they were most often associated with a church. Find a church that existed before 1940 and you can bet a school was located nearby.
My old topo shows XYZ Church and school, the modern map only shows the church.

This by itself is an interesting tidbit of information, but what is not widely known is that there were normally TWO schools run by the church... one for whites and one for blacks. My old topo, (1921), indicates this is the case; the negro school was remote from the church and is NOT called out by the GNIS.
Of course, this primarily applies in the South, but may also be applicable elsewhere.

So why worry about an old Negro school - they didn't have any money, right? Au contraire!
Blacks were not rolling in dough back then; heck nobody was out in the rural South. But most adults had a few coins in their pocket or purse. And as it turns out, schools were common gathering places for both races back before shopping malls and mega-plexes existed. Of course you've heard of picnics, social fetes and political rallies. But have you ever heard of a pie supper, harvest festival or May Day celebration?

All these and more happened at these rural schools. If it wasn't a religious occasion, it happened at the school. People were just as eager to gather and have a bit of fun then, as they are now - the old newspapers are full of the accounts if you care to read them. The old country school was as much a part of the community as today's park or civic center is. In the case of most rural communities, the schools were the civic center. Where people gather in a concentrated area, year after year, decade after decade, they also stand a great chance of losing a few things. So it's worth searching them out.

I'll have to wing it on the negro school, as it is still an undisclosed location. But the original "XYZ School" is shown on the topo and may be locatable at the church. We'll see.

Thanks a heapin helpin' for the USGS information! I didn't know about the place name location feature.

 

[tvr]

Great information about methods in locating the schools and the history of the times.

The hunt wasn't bad ... heck, you found a Jaguar XKE. I like finding the older dinky and matchbox type cars, even if they aren't in very good condition.
tvr

 

[JB(MS)]

How many sites are available on the USGS varies from state to state, and county to county. I'm lucky in that Emory Morgan, and older than me guy who's family were some of the original settlers in this area and well to do, has been a member of the local historical society most of his life, never had to work for a living and spent untold hours researching, mapping and determining the coordinates for a lot of the older sites here. You're right about the schools, and churches, being the civic centers of the community. I started first grade at a country school in 1949 and until it was consolidated with a school in a small town in 1958 it was not only the school, it was also the community meeting place, where people voted in elections and was used for social events like cakewalks, box suppers and more. Would like to have detected there but the land where the school was located was dug out and the dirt used for highway construction. Nothing there now but a 5 acre hole in the ground.

 

[dahut]

Great information about methods in locating the schools and the history of the times.

The hunt wasn't bad ... heck, you found a Jaguar XKE. I like finding the older dinky and matchbox type cars, even if they aren't in very good condition.
tvr

A Jaguar? Is that what it is? Looks like just another little dinky car, in this case full of dirt.

Naw, the detecting wasn't bad - but I had hoped for more.
I reckon it like this. You wrack your brain researching, wear out your cars tires driving, knock on doors with your hat in your hand, swing a detector til your arms ache and you come up with... nuttin?! A few grubby cents and some broken dinky toys?
Just don't seem fair, do it?
C'mon Electro, break out with a few coins already! Jeez!!

But, I'm just poking a little fun. In reality, people dont lose as much as we'd like them to. The trick is in playing the numbers.

 

[XLT-user]

You forgot one thing Dahut..You were enjoying yourself ,doing something you like.With a good friend. So..Not a total loss was it???

 

[dahut]

n/t

 

[XLT-user]

n/t