A couple of weekends ago I was invited by a friend along with some respected hobbyists to help hunt a historic tavern , muster field old school and some old private residences in Charlton Massachusetts . The prestigious group of detectorists were Dave Wise (HEAVYMETALNUT) , Todd Hiltz (Thiltzy) , Howard Hewitt (from the show Dig fellas) , Jim Dory ,Jim Atkiv , Mark Steponaitas ,Joshua Nickerson ,Cheyenne Lowell , Terry Charest and his Brother Paul (and know I'm forgetting one or two more and I apologize).
The Rider tavern or "old North Charlton Inn" as its sometimes called was originally built in 1797 opened in 1799 and a regular stopping point on the old stagecoach route and one note in history is when in 1824 General Marquis de Lafayette visited and stayed at the tavern . Its rich history can be read here http://www.charltonhistoricalsociety...idertavern.htm
We arrived and gathered around 7:30 am and met Frank the curator and local historical society member for some history and a nice tour of the old building.
Our first stop in the tavern has to be the "Bar room" ..... right ?a bunch of men can't go to a tavern and not hit the bar room !! so named because all the wine , whiskey and spirits were kept behind bars !
We got to see some of the original wall paint and hand stenciled décor , some was under 12 or more layers of wallpaper
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Then we moved up to the attic before looking at some of the other rooms. The attic had the second oldest weaving loom in MassachusettsHoward Hewitt was doing his best Rumple Stiltskin imitation in front of the old spinning loom
He and I had a great one on one talk for about 20 minutes and I must say is one of the most interesting and genuine persons I've had the pleasure of talking with.
. After the tour we detected the tavern property , unfortunately the conditions were poor
Across the street was a nice sized field where local minute men would march and train , a muster field .Many of us were sure it was detected before and the most common item found was cannon fuses from reenactor's cannons from celebrations. I showed up late to the field and had it all to myself and I couldn't help the feeling of awe to think about all the men who might have trained in this very field from the French & Indian war to the War of Independence and even the War of 1812 era !
I took a great picture of the tavern once I got to the one corner of the field
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After a bit I walked just up the road where everyone else was , this was an old meeting house in the mid 1700's but they later built a church on its stone foundation and then later it was a school house by the 1840'sA bent up King George III (late 1700's) coin was found here as with many types of broken toy lead soldiers and cap guns along with the usual junk , Frank was very impressed with all the items found and he will be researching and making displays appropriate for each building. We did hunt a small field across the street and a late 1700's era standing home
and a few coins from colonial to mid 1800's were recovered and also a beautiful coin silver monogrammed spoon but again all was donated back to the historical society .
For me it was about getting out (I hadn't been detecting in a couple of months) and more importantly seeing some good friends that I haven't seen in a while , people whom I have a lot of respect for both in and outside the hobby. I even met a few new faces Too!
Thanks Jim for doing the "leg-work" and getting this together and thanks to Mark for the lift to and from the event !It was a lot of fun !!
Dan
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