Where/how to begin searching 1800s virgin house sites

[Herb Jones]

I have access to site that I am fairly certain are Virgin.... but after searching one old
House site today, I found very little. The site is from the 1840s. Kinda searched near the roadway, kinda around where a porch would be... all over,.... How should someone triage a site and prioritize it for searching?

 

[HaloEffect426]

Herb,
Well you're question is a tough one..with a ton of variables. I wouldn't claim to have the absolute best answer..
Here are some thoughts that may help you..
Generally, if you do not have much info as to the history of any givin place,

I go with my instincts first. Then try n think of what activities may have taken place with the old homestead.

I have good luck with the driveway.....or trail...ie wagon...ect..n see if you can home in on where the people loaded and unloaded
From\to a carriage? Horse...or wagon?? ...alot of times items can be found here.

Is there a well somewhere on the place? Check the to and from the house here.

Kids love trees! Then.... And now.... Any large trees or leftover signs of large trees around??
Definitely check around them all!

Try an imaginary radius of about thirty or so feet from the main house\ foundation..

Sometimes I have had great results from roughly this radius...outward...it all depends...

Give those ideas a try..... N see what you might find.
The yard probably has had alot of different activities since the 1840's
So persistence. Will pay off

Remember ....go with your gut feelings.......it has definitely paid off for me in the past while hunting places just like what you are lucky enough to get to..

Maybe some of this will help you look at the place in some different views?
Good luck and just because one day was a blow out....doen't necessarily mean
There isn't anything there for you to find....keep going!!!
HH
HaloEffect426.

 

[Dan-Pa.]

Wow some old pictures would a plus..If you can find where the wells were would also be a plus.........

 

[still looking 52]

Getting permission is the big problem and you've already over come that obstacle, a site that old I would grid it off in sections that I could cover in a one day's hunt and keep going back until I covered the whole site. A site that old would be exciting each time out.

 

[daddyflea]

1. Search around any big Trees. remember there was no AC way back when. Trees provided shade.
2. Find the Clothes Line where clothes were hung to dry. Especially the North side where the wind from the South flapped the clothes and coins fell out of the pockets.
3. Find the Chicken yard. Always seems to be coins in the Chicken Yard.
4. Search common travel paths from the house to the road and especially the Mail Box.
5. Check areas where Children played Back Yard or swings.

 

[bootyhoundpa]

All good suggestions above... some places just didnt have alot of activity and other places have lots of old stuff... if the place has very little targets or everything is modern it could have been filled with fill soil... ive hunted some old places that had nothing but aluminum, made no sense at all... only way to know for sure is to keep swinging...