Hopefully that wiggle smiley works instead of a dancin chicken 
Rob & I met in the morning Sat & beat the rains out to basically the same section of woods we already have found like 12 holes in. But we parked at a different spot this time to attack a part of the woods we'd yet to see.
Soon as we gut out of the car, we walked right into cellar hole #14 before 9:30 am. It was a huge one...maybe a tavern, but so close to the main road we figure it's been hunted 100 times already. We decided to save it for when we had nothing else...(& I didn't take a picture).
We headed for high ground, & before long had a real birds eye view up on this huge rock face....
pretty cool place to take a break & plan our next move....
Look at all that open forest behind me! NO houses!
(probably several sites out there we hope)
[attachment 34446 wilcoxLedge1.jpg]
We wandered around awaile & finally found a depression on a faint cart path. Didn't look like a house site until Rob saw a capped well. We tried this site for a little while & only dug about 30 modern little aluminum tags
...nothing old.....lets move on (still count it as #15 for 2006).
As the day wore on we decided to go to the closest cellar & swing a little. This is the one that produced that real nice large cent.....
But, I guess we did pretty well the last time, as alls we had to show was 1 piece of cast iron pot each......
So......
We ate lunch & decided to loop way around on our way back to the car. As I said last time, so often happens that when we get lost or use a different route to the car, we hit a brand new site. Could we do it again??
We bushwacked for awhile, seeing little. Then we ran into a swamp & had to backtrack to try to go around it. Doing so we picked up a stone wall & followed it. Sure enough, we walked right into a real nice, intact barn foundation!
[attachment 34448 wilcoxbarn2.jpg]
Hey. look.......
Down the bank there's another barn foundation! We have what we call an entire "complex"!
Bingo! Cellar hole #16 for 2006
[attachment 34449 Wilcoxbarn1.jpg]
Cool!
Now lets find where the main house was. There it is!
Not far from the barns & WOW! THis was a good sized place!
Check out the size of the center hearth (now toppled). Rob's sitting on what was the chimney (for size purposes) putting his ID-Edge together. Look at how open the woods is behind him. This is where I would soon do my hunting.
THIS could have been a tavern or something hopefully (As that can mean lots a coins/relics)
[attachment 34450 WilcoxRobHoleSm2.jpg]
But, as usual we find another great site at the end of the day......leaving about 45 min. to detect. But, lets sample the place quick & see what happens....
We begin turning up spoons & other odds & ends & it doesn't appear like it was ever detected
VERY good!
I went behind the house & began to bag a bunch of suspender buckles. Next I got a large 1 pc. coat button loaded with gold gilt. Looks pre-Civil War & says "Prosperity to Ireland"......
pretty Wild. A place folks from Ireland settled maybe?? Less than 2 feet away the first coin turned up...a shield nickle...either 1866 or 67 as I see the rays.....
Here's a a few finds in the short time we had.....
[attachment 34454 WilcoxFinds1.jpg]
I layed them out on a piece of cut granite, & you can see the hole that once held a gate in place....
We began to joke that all the stuff I had found in one area was behind the "tavern". Buttons, buckles, coin & then what looked like a condom tin maybe...Could this have become another "house of ill repute"?? Books do say that there was more going on at these taverns than just drinking
I cleaned the button some with lemon juice & that really brought the gilt out & makes it look new almost. I'll have to have this one dated. The backmark looks like "I Byrne & D Earn" maybe??
Here's the kinda beat on shield nickle & the button close up.....
[attachment 34455 WilcoxButtonamp5.jpg]
Wish it was a GW with this much gold
We have this site lined up to be hit hard before the hunters take over.....
Looks like it has alotta iron but we could spend some time out there. We found a cemetary & another root cellar on the way out. Looks like a real good site & gutta be more coins there....
thanks for comin' along......
Bill
Rob & I met in the morning Sat & beat the rains out to basically the same section of woods we already have found like 12 holes in. But we parked at a different spot this time to attack a part of the woods we'd yet to see. Soon as we gut out of the car, we walked right into cellar hole #14 before 9:30 am. It was a huge one...maybe a tavern, but so close to the main road we figure it's been hunted 100 times already. We decided to save it for when we had nothing else...(& I didn't take a picture).
We headed for high ground, & before long had a real birds eye view up on this huge rock face....
pretty cool place to take a break & plan our next move....
Look at all that open forest behind me! NO houses!
(probably several sites out there we hope)
[attachment 34446 wilcoxLedge1.jpg]
We wandered around awaile & finally found a depression on a faint cart path. Didn't look like a house site until Rob saw a capped well. We tried this site for a little while & only dug about 30 modern little aluminum tags
...nothing old.....lets move on (still count it as #15 for 2006).As the day wore on we decided to go to the closest cellar & swing a little. This is the one that produced that real nice large cent.....
But, I guess we did pretty well the last time, as alls we had to show was 1 piece of cast iron pot each......
So......
We ate lunch & decided to loop way around on our way back to the car. As I said last time, so often happens that when we get lost or use a different route to the car, we hit a brand new site. Could we do it again??
We bushwacked for awhile, seeing little. Then we ran into a swamp & had to backtrack to try to go around it. Doing so we picked up a stone wall & followed it. Sure enough, we walked right into a real nice, intact barn foundation!
[attachment 34448 wilcoxbarn2.jpg]
Hey. look.......
Down the bank there's another barn foundation! We have what we call an entire "complex"!
Bingo! Cellar hole #16 for 2006
[attachment 34449 Wilcoxbarn1.jpg]
Cool!
Now lets find where the main house was. There it is!
Not far from the barns & WOW! THis was a good sized place!
Check out the size of the center hearth (now toppled). Rob's sitting on what was the chimney (for size purposes) putting his ID-Edge together. Look at how open the woods is behind him. This is where I would soon do my hunting.THIS could have been a tavern or something hopefully (As that can mean lots a coins/relics)
[attachment 34450 WilcoxRobHoleSm2.jpg]
But, as usual we find another great site at the end of the day......leaving about 45 min. to detect.
But, lets sample the place quick & see what happens....We begin turning up spoons & other odds & ends & it doesn't appear like it was ever detected
VERY good! I went behind the house & began to bag a bunch of suspender buckles. Next I got a large 1 pc. coat button loaded with gold gilt. Looks pre-Civil War & says "Prosperity to Ireland"......
pretty Wild. A place folks from Ireland settled maybe?? Less than 2 feet away the first coin turned up...a shield nickle...either 1866 or 67 as I see the rays.....
Here's a a few finds in the short time we had.....
[attachment 34454 WilcoxFinds1.jpg]
I layed them out on a piece of cut granite, & you can see the hole that once held a gate in place....
We began to joke that all the stuff I had found in one area was behind the "tavern". Buttons, buckles, coin & then what looked like a condom tin maybe...Could this have become another "house of ill repute"?? Books do say that there was more going on at these taverns than just drinking
I cleaned the button some with lemon juice & that really brought the gilt out & makes it look new almost. I'll have to have this one dated. The backmark looks like "I Byrne & D Earn" maybe??
Here's the kinda beat on shield nickle & the button close up.....
[attachment 34455 WilcoxButtonamp5.jpg]
Wish it was a GW with this much gold
We have this site lined up to be hit hard before the hunters take over.....
Looks like it has alotta iron but we could spend some time out there. We found a cemetary & another root cellar on the way out. Looks like a real good site & gutta be more coins there....
thanks for comin' along......
Bill
I still have a 4mm stone rolling around in my right kidney. Now 4mm doesn't sound too big until you try to pass it!!!
