RIdirtdigger
02-03-2016, 07:43 PM
The last snowstorm had me wondering how long it would be until I got out detecting again but it ended up being less than a week. I headed out Friday afternoon after I got out of my 10am class and headed up to do some cellar hunting in central RI. There was still some snow on the ground when I got to the parking area but it wasn't much. Took a long time to get to my first spot, I decided to stay on the trail instead of bush wacking and probably hiked an extra mile as a result. Oh well. I got to the first site and it was totally pounded. 15 minutes and only a shot gun shell and I had had enough. So I hiked deeper into the woods cause I had a suspicion there was another site out there and sure there was. Some evidence of bottle digging but no recent dig holes. Scored a tombac button, and two fatties. Dates are 1860 and 1863. Never dug more than one fatty in a day so the day was a success for me. Saturday I went to a new site in some woods pretty close to the college that I had hit before but never knew this cellar hole existed. As soon as I got there I popped out two buttons and then got copper number 4 & 1/4 for the year but this one is totally blank nothing on it. Not sure what's up with that one. As I'm leaving I realize I'm without a very important item, my phone. Luckily I had an iPhone so that "Find my iPhone"app worked wonders so I was able to recover it within an hour. Sunday I met up with Jarrod to two sites on some land I had always though was private but some further research revealed it to be public. First site was littered with Victorian garbage but I got a nice solid high tone on the path near the cellar. I expected it to be a wheatie or something modern but it actually was a King George III copper! My 5 & 1/4 copper for the year. Jarrod and I then ventured on to the 2nd site which looks to be a very old colonial. However it was a little too close to a subdivision and I had trouble finding if the property the cellar was on was public or private. We decided to play it safe and head to a different site until I do a little more research to make sure the small parcel of land the cellar was on is public land. I took Jarrod back to the site I had detected the previous day. Lots of briars that limited detecting but I was able to score a dandy and a 1830 matron head (copper number 6 & 1/4 FTY) Jarrod didn't do too well but I'm sure he will rebound next time out. Monday after class I went to a cellar hole but it was too old and too poor. On the way out I stopped by a cellar hole that last much longer into the late 1800's. Didn't do a lot of detected there but snagged a nice ornate shoe buckle frame fragment that somebody had left in their TRASH PILE!!! Not sure what kind of detectorist hit the place before but obviously he didn't know much about colonial relics. I then moved on to a different cellar hole and scored a flat button and another fatty Indian this one was 1859. Lots of fatties in the past few days but I'm not complaining. Overall great weather and great finds.