del
Administrator
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.org/ridertavern.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 ?:lol: 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 !:lol: Who knew ?
We got to see some of the original wall paint and hand stenciled décor , some was under 12 or more layers of wallpaper :shocked03:.
Then we moved up to the attic before looking at some of the other rooms. The attic had the second oldest weaving loom in Massachusetts :shocked02:
Howard 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. :yes:
. After the tour we detected the tavern property , unfortunately the conditions were poor :lol: the ground was extremely dry (like hard concrete mixed with a little talcum powder) and over the long years there was lots of construction improvements . So you could get a nice screaming target at 8 inches and dig up a modern quarter :hairpulling::bangahead02::lol: but some indian heads were found and a few other late 1800's era things which is still part of the history of the building and everything we found was donated back to the tavern .
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 !:yes: I took a great picture of the tavern once I got to the one corner of the field 
.
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's
A 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 !:notworthy: It was a lot of fun !!
Dan
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.org/ridertavern.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 ?:lol: 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 !:lol: Who knew ?
We got to see some of the original wall paint and hand stenciled décor , some was under 12 or more layers of wallpaper :shocked03:.Then we moved up to the attic before looking at some of the other rooms. The attic had the second oldest weaving loom in Massachusetts :shocked02:
Howard 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. :yes:. After the tour we detected the tavern property , unfortunately the conditions were poor :lol: the ground was extremely dry (like hard concrete mixed with a little talcum powder) and over the long years there was lots of construction improvements . So you could get a nice screaming target at 8 inches and dig up a modern quarter :hairpulling::bangahead02::lol: but some indian heads were found and a few other late 1800's era things which is still part of the history of the building and everything we found was donated back to the tavern . 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 !:yes: I took a great picture of the tavern once I got to the one corner of the field .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's
A 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 !:notworthy: It was a lot of fun !!
Dan
Last edited:
erfect10:
