Adventure in Maine
phut
Posts: 1,087 ✭
I left Seabrook at 7:20 am, stopped for a coffee, and hit the highway. The last time I drove through the interior of Maine was in 1984 when my Army unit invaded Canada. The 101st and 10th Mountain were doing training exercises with a Canadian unit. I actually received an overseas ribbon for that trip. The rolling hills are amazing to look at, but rough on a vehicle with no power. This trip was no different, except I didn't have a half inch of straw filled canvas for a seat, and the noise was an FM radio instead of the spring peeper sound that a turbo makes.
Ken said he would be helping his son re-roof his house until my ETA of 11ish. I arrived in Anson a half hour earlier than expected, so I did a little recon to kill some time. I drove to the top of the hill and turned around while driving back down I noticed an apple grove that hasn't been cared for in many years. All the signs tell me that Laserart lives on a hill that was probably a good sized farm through most of the 1800s. A gold mine(or at the least, a relic and Seated coin mine) in his front and back yard. We didn't hunt there.
I drove around the corner and found Ken still on the roof. He climbed down and we geared up for the hunt.
Our first stop was a house that was built in 1846. It had burnt down several years ago. Not to the ground, but the type of burn that destroys a families history, while leaving a shell for a reminder. I really wanted to poke around inside, but wouldn't feel right without the owners present. I did a quick once over of any property that wasn't overgrown with briars, Ken stayed in the front yard. He made the right choice and came away with some really cool tins from the early 1900s.
We were anxious to get to another site that Ken found while hunting last year, so we left the shell after a little less than an hour.
Six+ cellar holes, multiple wells, and a cemetery near the top of the hill with stones dating back to 1796. The type of site that dreams are made of. We walked the old road for a couple hundred yards and turned the corner by the first group of four cellar holes and I got a solid zinc signal in the middle of the dirt road. For some reason my machine likes to give me this reading for a wide variety of things, but not zinc Lincolns. I dug it, and out pops an IHC. Cool. I dropped it in my pouch and went into my favorite mode of hunting; bushwhackin' with low discrimination. By the time I got to what looks like the barn foundation, I started to see thing I don't like to see. There were large iron pieces sitting on top of rocks, leaning on trees, and hung from branches. Someone had beat us to the site. Someone else got to experience a dreamy virgin site, and they hammered it. Now the rest of us are going to have to work for the good stuff.
We kept at it for a couple hours, but were both getting a little tired from swinging and walking the hills, and time was running out. We left after covering only about one percent of the site.
I wouldn't say no to giving both sites more time in the fall(pre-hunting season of course) If Ken invites me back. Any time you want to hunt down this way Ken, let me know.
On to the finds.
1887 IHC Should clean up nice, but the crust is hard and may take several months of soaking.
1904 padlock. This is the type of find the would keep me going back for more. First, it's a large target that says no matter how many MDers came before, they didn't get it all. Second, the families had something worth locking.
I also saw the reason for Ken's name. He does some really nice laser art. When I saw the detailed etchings he had on display, the first thing I thought of was Lord M's wooden nickels and what they'd look like etched instead of printed.
Make commision checks payable to 'phutthewuk LLC'
Ken said he would be helping his son re-roof his house until my ETA of 11ish. I arrived in Anson a half hour earlier than expected, so I did a little recon to kill some time. I drove to the top of the hill and turned around while driving back down I noticed an apple grove that hasn't been cared for in many years. All the signs tell me that Laserart lives on a hill that was probably a good sized farm through most of the 1800s. A gold mine(or at the least, a relic and Seated coin mine) in his front and back yard. We didn't hunt there.
I drove around the corner and found Ken still on the roof. He climbed down and we geared up for the hunt.
Our first stop was a house that was built in 1846. It had burnt down several years ago. Not to the ground, but the type of burn that destroys a families history, while leaving a shell for a reminder. I really wanted to poke around inside, but wouldn't feel right without the owners present. I did a quick once over of any property that wasn't overgrown with briars, Ken stayed in the front yard. He made the right choice and came away with some really cool tins from the early 1900s.
We were anxious to get to another site that Ken found while hunting last year, so we left the shell after a little less than an hour.
Six+ cellar holes, multiple wells, and a cemetery near the top of the hill with stones dating back to 1796. The type of site that dreams are made of. We walked the old road for a couple hundred yards and turned the corner by the first group of four cellar holes and I got a solid zinc signal in the middle of the dirt road. For some reason my machine likes to give me this reading for a wide variety of things, but not zinc Lincolns. I dug it, and out pops an IHC. Cool. I dropped it in my pouch and went into my favorite mode of hunting; bushwhackin' with low discrimination. By the time I got to what looks like the barn foundation, I started to see thing I don't like to see. There were large iron pieces sitting on top of rocks, leaning on trees, and hung from branches. Someone had beat us to the site. Someone else got to experience a dreamy virgin site, and they hammered it. Now the rest of us are going to have to work for the good stuff.
We kept at it for a couple hours, but were both getting a little tired from swinging and walking the hills, and time was running out. We left after covering only about one percent of the site.
I wouldn't say no to giving both sites more time in the fall(pre-hunting season of course) If Ken invites me back. Any time you want to hunt down this way Ken, let me know.
On to the finds.
1887 IHC Should clean up nice, but the crust is hard and may take several months of soaking.
1904 padlock. This is the type of find the would keep me going back for more. First, it's a large target that says no matter how many MDers came before, they didn't get it all. Second, the families had something worth locking.
I also saw the reason for Ken's name. He does some really nice laser art. When I saw the detailed etchings he had on display, the first thing I thought of was Lord M's wooden nickels and what they'd look like etched instead of printed.
Make commision checks payable to 'phutthewuk LLC'
0
Comments
Good point!! !! !!
Jerry
<< <i>first thing I thought of was Lord M's wooden nickels and what they'd look like etched instead of printed. >>
Ken actually did me some, long before I ordered the mass-produced ones I use now. He ran me off ten pieces of laser-etched wooden nickels with a picture of Lord Marcovan (not me in the Holey Gold Hat, but Lord Marcovan himself, with sword and shield and winged helmet). I numbered those pieces as limited editions and ten forum members own them. I can't even remember who has them now.
Cool that you found a dated padlock. That is a bit unusual.
I remember finding a dated shotgun shell, once. I think it might've also been 1904, come to think of it. I think the brand was Robin Hood, or something like that. With the date 1904.
Now the 1846 house that is a different story. I have only been there 3 times and only hit the front yard and only just a part of that to boot. That is where I found the tins and one was a clove tin and was full of cloves, still. The other was a cleaning agent and I don't recall what the 3rd one is as I sit here.
Phut, come on back anytime and we can hit that house and yard a little more thoroughly.
LM, I still have the art file in the computer for those nickels and saw it just the other day while looking for something else.
All in all it was a great day, crystal blue sky a bit of a stiff breeze to keep the biting flies away, though Phut seemed to gather a few but I told him it was his black hat that drew their attention.