I've hit Ballarat once with no significant finds beyond modern clad. that being said, when i did hit it i was unfmiliar with my detector and was looking solely for coins and not relics. I will be going back soon and doing a more thorough search, hopefully with some people from here if possible.
Not me personally, but I once talked to a guy who found two $5.00 gold pieces in the wall of an old building in some ghost town out West.
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 used to live near an old mining/ghost town. dug many relics like horse and oxen shoes, buttons, casings and other various things. i guess whatever was possible to loose, kinda like today. got few nices coins, a walker half, indian cents and 2 seated quarters. this was my favorite, dated 1861.
wow nice finds demodiger. 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?
I have one that I might sell for one or two hundred bucks, and it would be a good ghost-towning machine. It was my primary relic hunting machine. It is also very simple to use. It is a Troy Shadow X2. The trouble is, it recently quit working and I think it needs a new coil. I doubt anybody would want to buy it as-is, and if I get it fixed, I would want more than 200 bucks for it (though not a whole lot more. I got it for $300 originally. It was slightly used.)
While in NM, I have hunted several ghost towns. First of all, when you think of a ghost town, you think of intact buidings, evidence of a town's main street, etc. These ghost towns were just foundations on the sides of hills (mining town). There was so much trash (tin cans, can lids, hunks of tin from the roofs, nails, etc.) The best I ever found was a 50 cent token to the company store. Boy, it registered as a fifty cent piece, it come out of the ground that size, felt a little light though, and my heart was pounding until I was able to read it. Others in my group found a few barber dimes, etc. It was fun, and I'd do it again. Join a club, their monthly hunts are a blast.
Believe it or not there are ghost towns up here in the northeast - well upstate NY anyways- old loging towns. I know of one that is only accessible now over the ice in the winter (have to cross a frozen lake), air boat (lake is called Mud lake-it ain't deep) or via a 4 wheeler if your good and can find the trail and the beavers in spring haven't flooded the trail. My cousin's been near it , but I've never made it
my best success with the ghost towns, is near water. if your site has a creek or pond or whatever, try that area first. people would tend to travel and camp near water. this is true with just about everywhere.
well ya see i dont have a detector so i am still lookin for one for a decent price and i also need to find the time to go. if you have a decent detector for a decent price let me know.
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.
gene2393
Posts: 762 ✭✭✭
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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