One-room schoolhouse

Jodo_Kast501

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2017
Messages
304
Location
Kentucky
I got permission last week for a one-room school built in 1890 and shuttered in 1965. It is still standing, albeit now in a cow pasture. I had time on Friday, so I went early to beat the heat. Fortunately for me, the area around the school is fairly shady, so I didn't have to broil too much.

The first hour of the hunt was grueling. One memorial penny and a lot of ring pulls – but not a single modern pull tab. Gravel about 2 inches beneath the soil at the front of the school added to the difficulty. I eventually moved around the sides and the back and started getting some better targets. Lead, a non-precious Catholic pendant, and a few 1920s wheats.

About a foot from a 1924 wheat I got a 67–70 signal only about 3 inches deep. Turned out to be a crusty Indian and that made my hunt since I haven't dug one in months. When I got home, I saw that it was an 1864! I have quite a few Indians c. 1880–1907, but none older. This is actually my second-oldest dug coin, the oldest being an 1835 half dime. It's in pretty bad shape and it was very worn before it was lost. I want to clean it up better, but slow toothpicking with a dab of water has yielded some results.

Thanks for looking!

rchdHZEl.jpg

Delicious trash – 52 pull tabs!

t3i4jmFl.jpg

The school

0KLmeARl.jpg

The good finds: early wheats, 1864 Indian, Catholic pendant, and worked points, including an arrowhead base.

BnP07xCl.jpg

Crusty obverse

erlda5vl.jpg

Beginning to clean the reverse

5xTdpVGl.jpg

Improved reverse

NP7gOQMl.jpg

Compared with a non-dug coin
 
I like the on-site pix of the abandoned shuttered school house !
 
I got permission last week for a one-room school built in 1890 and shuttered in 1965. It is still standing, albeit now in a cow pasture. I had time on Friday, so I went early to beat the heat. Fortunately for me, the area around the school is fairly shady, so I didn't have to broil too much........

Way to grind out some good finds! That trash has some age to it, so there's a good chance of more good finds mixed up with it. The only thing good about all of that trash is that it'll likely scared off the casual detectorists over the years. Even a stubborn individual wouldn't be able to find everything with that much trash left.

Oh, I hate hidden gravel. At this point I just assume there's a gravel layer somewhere if there is no paved parking and the structure was still in use well into the 1900s.

If it's OK with the owner, you should return with a string trimmer and clear out a section at a time!
 
Yeah, I was surprised by the amount of trash, but it also led me to believe that it hasn't been detected seriously if at all. I think some persistence in the gravel around the front of the school might yield some silver and there's definitely potential for more IHPs too.
 
one room school house

I got permission last week for a one-room school built in 1890 and shuttered in 1965. It is still standing, albeit now in a cow pasture. I had time on Friday, so I went early to beat the heat. Fortunately for me, the area around the school is fairly shady, so I didn't have to broil too much.

The first hour of the hunt was grueling. One memorial penny and a lot of ring pulls – but not a single modern pull tab. Gravel about 2 inches beneath the soil at the front of the school added to the difficulty. I eventually moved around the sides and the back and started getting some better targets. Lead, a non-precious Catholic pendant, and a few 1920s wheats.

About a foot from a 1924 wheat I got a 67–70 signal only about 3 inches deep. Turned out to be a crusty Indian and that made my hunt since I haven't dug one in months. When I got home, I saw that it was an 1864! I have quite a few Indians c. 1880–1907, but none older. This is actually my second-oldest dug coin, the oldest being an 1835 half dime. It's in pretty bad shape and it was very worn before it was lost. I want to clean it up better, but slow toothpicking with a dab of water has yielded some results.

Thanks for looking!

rchdHZEl.jpg

Delicious trash – 52 pull tabs!

t3i4jmFl.jpg

The school

0KLmeARl.jpg

The good finds: early wheats, 1864 Indian, Catholic pendant, and worked points, including an arrowhead base.

BnP07xCl.jpg

Crusty obverse

erlda5vl.jpg

Beginning to clean the reverse

5xTdpVGl.jpg

Improved reverse

NP7gOQMl.jpg

Compared with a non-dug coin

Great pictures , would keep hitting it till you get the trash all cleaned out of the way. My dad started teaching in a school house like that around 1950 after the war. He and my mom lived in a small trailer on the property .
 
I hunted one about 20 years ago let me tell it wasnt detected before it was full of old coins. I need to go back to it.
 
I would also like to add pund them woods around it too kids like playing in the woods those trees might of not been there back in the day.
 
Great finds, I am sure time spent there will pay off even more in the future!
 
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