NW GA was settled, by whites, in 1837 after the Cherokee removal and I think the only places around here to possibly find coinage that old would be Native American towns or homesites and they are protected if they have any archaeological significance, which is a matter of opinion i'd say... (cough). Of course I am not talking about digging burial mounds or anything like that but just scanning the ground for colonial buttons, bells, and coins. Most arrowhead hunters don't think about tha the Natives having colonial flat buttons etc from their trading, but they did. I've thought about trying to detect around the fish traps in the local river, they are made with rocks and still very evident, but I am a little wary of the corp of engineers, i'm not sure how they would react if they found me in the river with a detector. I don't think they patrol the river since some of it is shallow and the traps are all along it's course. You can see them on aerial photos and my hunting buddy owns an aerial survey business.
I know where some of the old Indian trade roads are, and in south GA they camped around most cypress ponds. The fields around cypress ponds are always full of arrowheads and pottery shards.
They tell me that you can still make out a lot of the Thigpin Trail that went from NW Florida up through north GA because it was travelled so much that the land is still packed hard and still visible. I know where one spring is a few miles from here where the Cherokee placed a log trough to channel the water into a pool. The log is still in place, they thought the water had healing qualities. Maybe I can find some colonial coins and buttons around those places, if I can get permission. One place I wont name was the most popular resort in GA before the Civil War and it is now just woods, it is a few miles from here too. I have not been able to get permission to hunt it yet though, but the old man was willing to talk and I sat and listened for an hour or so. I think i'll get in there soon. He ended up telling me where his grandfather's farm was, and it is all woods now. I haven't been able to pinpoint the homesite but I haven't spent enought ime searching either. I have found signs of it. He told me that his GF loved and collected, and buried silver dollars.. I should spend more time in those woods.
Have you ever tried hunting any Native American sites with a detector, again... I am not talking about digging mounds etc. I am not a grave robber, er... I mean I am not an archeologist.
J
thumbup