Nobody goes to the "silver mine" but me!
I jokingly call it that because I've pulled 16 silver dimes and 2 silver quarters form an area less than a half acre. The discovery of the site was serendipitous. I was detecting at a (undisclosed, duh!?!) place and only finding post '64 coins. This huge German Sheppard snuck up from behind and scared the living !!!! out of me, one eye brown, the other blue. I thought I was done for! Anyway, Buck, turned out to be nice. A lady was walking back from her mail box so I flagged her down to ask who the dog belonged to. We talked for a bit, I learned Buck lived down the street, and the park I was detecting in was older than indicated. I made mention of the age of things I was finding and she (in her 60's) remembered playing in the park and it hosting baseball games when she was really young. Then, she said "come to think of it, we used to play at the other end of the field." Later, she brought me a book of the town's history with photos that the historical society had produced. I saw where all the cars were park in the late 50's, thanked her profusely, and made a bee-line for the spot. Within 5 minutes I found a '29 quarter. I also found a couple of Eisenhower silver dimes. Upon subsequent visits, I've mostly found silver dimes with an additional silver quarter and some clad. All in an area nobody would think to check. Based on the dates, my guess is in the early '60's there was a traveling carnival that had a dime arcade, as most of the finds are rather linear.
The schoolhouse site is rather unique as it isn't on any available map that I'm aware of. The only reason I know the old foundation is from a schoolhouse is I know the landowner, and he has a desk from it. His parents/grandparents went to the school and we think it may date to the late 1800's. It was closed prior to 1950 and I'm working the determine the exact date. The owner is going to find the abstract so we can nail down some firm dates.
As our stay at home order continues, I have a few cellar hole I've located, so I have someplace to occupy my time.
JP
