FliesOnly
Senior Member
I’ve been detecting at an old school house located on some private property that I’ve been given permission to search. I’ve done OK (a few wheat pennies from the 20s, 30s, and 40s, a merc dime, a 1940 “copper” nickel, and a quarter from 1900…along with a few other odds and ends), but have been “searching” for some new places to detect. Somehow or another, despite looking at assorted old maps numerous times, I have repeatedly failed to notice that an old church, which is now long-gone, used to stand at a location one mile from the school house. There’s an old cemetery right across the street, so I probably should have guessed that the empty lot may very well have once been the location of a church, but even after 25 years of driving passed the spot, the notion never occurred to me. The oldest map I have, indicates that the church was there at least as far back as 1879, though I have no idea when it was torn down. As far as I can discern, the property is now owned by the township, with the surrounding land owned by the gentleman who gave me permission to search the old school house, so I think I’m good to go.
I’m headed to northern Minnesota tomorrow morning for a mtn bike race, but will be excited to see what I can turn up once I get back in town. In all those years of driving by the spot, I have never seen anyone there with a detector, though I’d be willing to bet that in all those years, it has been searched at least once.
I do have a question, however. Since the property is owned by the township, do any of you think that if I find anything of potentially historical significance (and to be clear, I do not expect to find any such objects), that perhaps I should show them to the local historical society? Just curious what others might do.
I’m headed to northern Minnesota tomorrow morning for a mtn bike race, but will be excited to see what I can turn up once I get back in town. In all those years of driving by the spot, I have never seen anyone there with a detector, though I’d be willing to bet that in all those years, it has been searched at least once.
I do have a question, however. Since the property is owned by the township, do any of you think that if I find anything of potentially historical significance (and to be clear, I do not expect to find any such objects), that perhaps I should show them to the local historical society? Just curious what others might do.