just another odd question
gene2393
Posts: 769 ✭✭✭
has anyone detected ghost towns....what were the finds like?
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Well, now, I have never hunted "ghost towns" in the Western sense, but I did some hunting in Sunbury, which is considered one of the "Dead Towns" of Georgia, and was so named in a book about "The Dead Towns Of Georgia" in 1878! Before the Revolution, it rivaled Savannah as a port, but afterwards it declined, and by the War of 1812 it pretty much dried up and died. In its heyday, many famous men lived or owned property in Sunbury, like Button Gwinnett, one of Georgia's signers of the Declaration of Independence. His signature on any document is today worth thousands to autograph collectors. Lyman Hall was another signer of the Declaration, from Sunbury.
The Old Sunbury Road was a dirt road that led from Midway, GA (another old town with interesting history) towards Sunbury and the coast. In the mid- and late-1990s, it was much as it had been in colonial times: just a dirt road leading through miles of scrubby pine trees. I detected along the road several times and found some interesting artifacts, in spite of much modern trash like shotgun shells and bullet casings and beer cans discarded by hunters. There was a Civil War button, a colonial copper coin that was too corroded to identify (but probably a French piece of Louis XVI), a 1781 Spanish half-real piece, an early Indian cent that was also terribly corroded (which I posted in a recent thread), and so on. One afternoon I hunted a site within the old town boundary of Sunbury that was being cleared for modern development, and I found tons of old pottery and glass, plus musketballs, buttons, and a number of other artifacts of the 18th century boom time. I just knew I was gonna turn up an old coin there, because most sites that produce such a large sampling of artifacts usually produce one or two coins. Sadly, I was unable to find a coin that day.
Now it's pretty much impossible to hunt the Old Sunbury Road and around the town of Sunbury, due to modern development. I have no doubt that some sections of the old sand road still exist, but the road's been barricaded on both ends, now, and "No Trespassing" signs are everywhere. *sigh*
Another of the Dead Towns of Georgia is quite near where I live and work. It is Frederica, the British town and fort occupied by Oglethorpe's troops from 1736 until after the nearby Battle of Bloody Marsh in 1742. After the British defeated the Spanish in the battle, the Spanish threat from Florida diminished, and Frederica and the other military outposts withered. A few folks hung around, but by 1800 or so, it was a dead town. Its ruins can be seen today, and a number of fascinating finds are in the museum there, but you can forget about detecting there or anywhere close by- it is the Fort Frederica National Monument run by the Park Service. The rangers don't look too kindly on folks with detectors! Still, it is well worth a visit, and the bookstore in the museum produced many useful titles that are on my shelves now.
I've only found one... a well-worn 1855.
and the other quarter was also a very worn 1855! the obverse is so bad, it was not worth scanning.
i have been researching about ghost town in the state of idaho and found several of them to be quite interesting. i have thought about oin and taking time to o and visit one and maybe metal detect, but thats the only problem i need to get a decent and good quality metal detector before i decide to go.
does anyone have an excess one or two that they may be willing to sell for one or two hundred dollars?
gene2393
Jerry
i would go and purchase one but i dont have any money to spare and also theres no place here in idaho around where i live that has any or sells any metal detectors other than pawn shops and those are generally used so they break down and dont work to the very best like they should.
treasureDepot
and then of course there is Kellyco, ebay, treasureNet