Site Selection

I personally like Yards and areas between the older and sometimes newer buildings .Un paved parking lots that have been used for many years are also a good place to look .

Most of the time getting permission proves to be the hardest part of searching these areas , but its worth the effort /

Its a proven fact that the old houses have had many many Kids playing in the yard !

I took more than 100 coins from my yard when I first moved into this house which was built in 1954 ,, the oldest wheatie was a 1913,that total included a Mercury dime from 1917, five silver quarters, three War Nickels 8 silver Roosevelt dimes, six old mexican coins, and many other artifacts of the activity here throughout the years .

Metalman

Thanks for all the ideas and keep them coming. Rever_John made a good comment to one of my recent posts. I was griping about most of the schools and parks around me be built in the 50s or newer. He said to search around the oldest trees you can find, they were not built in the 50s.

The research I did today showed that my city had a train depot in it since the 1870's. The question is, what is there now and will they let me detect there.

B.P.O.E , Elks, Masons, all of these will have history of the town and its events also .

I use the coffee shop research tool ! every town has a coffee shop where the more friendly folk gather to have a morning BS session ,, join in make friends with a few of these guys ,, they can tell you stuff that has long been forgotten by most ,, and the older folk will remember the traveling carnivals that used to come around in the 20's and 30's and where they were set up .

some might even have property that you can search .

People are a great resource ,,as well as books and records .

Metalman

I would bet that every city has their own rules. I called my city and they said there is no permit needed to metal detect on the public city land. They just gave me an extra warning to watch out for sprinkler systems.

I have a metro park near me that I need to have a yearly permit with to metal detect. Its free, they just want to make sure you read and remember their rules of where and when you can Metal Detect.

So unless I am corrected by someone more experienced than I, I think Public land (city parks/parks near schools) are fair game....

Mint, few other places to search are the some of the local watering holes. Find out where the locals swam in the old days or even now. Ask older freinds and relatives where they played as kids. I asked my dad, mom and uncles about this. Was shocked that most of the places were now just empty lots or grown over banks along the creeks.

If your town has old streets, one of the best places to find great treasures are the grassy areas between the street and sidewalks. These not only produce old coins but jewlery, tokens and other cool nick nacks. These areas are usually concidered city property too. But some people do get mad seeing someone digging in them. So if you see a resident out, ask if its okay with them first.

Also, in your next of the woods, there should be a ton of dirt roads. Just take a ride down some of them see if you see any old abandoned houses, barns or schoolhouses. Then do some research and see who owns them and ask permission to hunt them.

Watch for old foundations or stone walls in fields or along side the road even with newer houses around. We have a ton of them around here that younger generation have torn down the old houses and built a new house 100 feet away. If you do find some of these and get permission, theres some areas to check.

Old clothes lines, Look for a couple of trees where I line could be strung between them and wash hung out. Check under large old trees (where they sat on hot summer days) and around posts and rocks. People back in the 30s and 40s didn't trust banks after the crash and depression. So they hid their money in cans and jars and buried them in the yard. Just check around places that would make a good reminder for someone burying something.

But like the others have said, ask the older people. Most of these guys love talking about the good old days. They can tell where old stores, gas stations and hands outs where. You would be surprised how many are right in the open but grown over now. These can be some real honey holes for silver and copper.