2 picnic groves found and permission to hunt granted

[joe dirt_1]

Tomorrow my buddy and I are going to check out 2 new sites we located with some help from old county atlas searches and from Google Earth satellite maps of the areas. Both sites are picnic groves that were in use in the 1860's and possibly earlier. An atlas dated 1872 told of these groves and the big celebrations that were held there. There was 4th of July celebrations and Old Settlers reunions held in both groves with from 600 to 2000 people in attendance at these celebrations. It took over a year to locate these groves and get permission to hunt them, but the fun is about to begin actually digging all the coins and artifacts these people dropped 150 years ago. There was also a railway station located near one grove that was used in the same time frame that should be productive if we can pinpoint it. I will be using my Vaquero and my buddy will be using a 1236x-2 so we should be good to go.

If you have never looked at Google Earth as a treasure hunting tool you might want to check it out. Using satellite images, I narrowed down the possible locations of the groves by looking at logical areas that were accessable off main roads and the telltale sign of huge old trees that still dot the groves.
This eliminated many areas and finally these two locations were the only ones that seemed to make any sense. I'm stoked to be able to hunt two untouched sites with no modern trash like pulltabs or can slaw. With all the people that have been in these groves, they have to be loaded with old coins and jewelry. I can hardly wait to see what shows up tomorrow, but I think it will be interesting for sure.........HH

Roger

 

[amberjack]

Good luck hope it supplies the goodies, be sure to show us all some?

AJ

 

[tabman]

Good luck. I'd love to dig an area that's free from modern day trash. Google Earth is good and so is Historical Aerials for certain areas.

tabman

 

[grouser]

man that sounds GREAT,,, when you finds things it will feel soo good cause of all the time and effort you took to find these places,, you will have resued them !!!!! Hey where did you did the old altas at ????

 

[amcjavelin]

good luck roger on your hunt

 

[Hombre]

Roger

Good luck on your picknic grounds as they may hold some old silver and gold, I found a picknic grove once, occording to the owner it had been pounded in the past........ But, I found two seated quarters there. That says something about no site is ever hunted out, thined out maybe, but not hunted out.

 

[joe dirt_1]

My buddy and I went to both groves today to check them out in person. We met the land owner of the first grove today and he clued us in on some history of the area and mentioned his father in law had found a "gold piece" around there someplace. He didn't know what he had found for sure, but said he found it in his yard. The grove was grown up with weeds waist high and taller but we hiked back to the grove to check it out. We hunted around a few of the big trees where the weeds wasn't quite as tall and found a couple of old shotgun brass and an old .22 rimfire brass with a HF headstamp. I never heard of this before and would be interested to know what it was. My buddy found some kind metal item we couldn't identify. It was 95 degrees out with the sun bearing down and we hiked at least 3/4 of a mile through this crap. The landowner said he mows the grove a couple times a year to keep saplings from growing so we are going to wait till it gets mowed to hunt it. I got a few pictures of both sites plus 2 old brick houses on the same property that we have permission to hunt when the crops are out this fall. We didn't spend any time at the 2nd grove because of the heat, but did see where it is located.
Here are a few pictures I took today of the places we got permission to hunt.
1. The first grove in the background taken from where we parked the truck.
2. Tall weeds in the main part of the grove.
3. Main part of the grove.
4. My buddy in the tall weeds in the grove.
5. Old brick house near the grove
6. This brick building was part of the original store in the 1860's

a couple more pics on the next post............

 

[joe dirt_1]

A couple more pics of the old brick house and the 2nd grove. It was just too dang hot to walk to this grove today. We will be checking it out soon though because it is pasture land and the grass and weeds aren't too tall to hunt this grove.

1. old brick house north west of the first grove.
2. 2nd grove taken from the road
3. 2nd grove taken from the road
4. Grave stone of son of original owner of 2nd grove who was killed in the Civil war in 1864
5. inscription on grave stone of son killed in civil war

 

[amberjack]

kool pic's thanks for posting those bummer about the tall grass, will they let you know when its been cut? must be some fertile ground there everything is growing well.

the imagination boggles at what could be there hope you get to hunt it soon.

AJ

 

[joe dirt_1]

amberjack, yeah, it was a bummer the grass and weeds were so tall, but it will be mowed again soon and since it is only a short drive to the site we can drive by it anytime to see if it has been cut yet. This area has some of the best farmland in the state and coupled with all the rain we have had this year,
the native grasses and plants grow very well. The land owner is a super nice guy and told us we could hunt anywhere we wanted on his property. I sure want to talk to his father in law to see just what that "gold piece" he mentioned him finding in his yard really was. It was a gold coin of some sort according to the land owner, but he didn't know what kind or denomination. It boggles my mine also thinking about all the coins and other items that have been lost here by people well over a hundred years ago. It's gonna be a blast once we can actually hunt the grove. HH

Roger

 

[amberjack]

its good it gets cut anyway Roger would be a bummer if it didn't be a big job with a push mower, something to look forward to hey

sure helps having a nice person owning the land hope you can get on soon and see what shows up


AJ

 

[joe dirt_1]

I located the train depot at the first grove today. Finally found an old map of the area that actually showed the train depots location. It was just west across the old tracks from the old store building and is in a corn field now. This site just keeps getting better all the time with all the area to search.
It will take a long time to cover all this area, the grove alone is about 80 acres.

Roger

 

[amberjack]

wow thats a huge site hope you can hunt it soon will good to see what comes out of there looking forward to the finds

AJ

 

[joe dirt_1]

amberjack, This is one of those sites that may only be a once in a lifetime find. The location of this site is a small community that never grew to any size, but there was alot of activity around the railway shipping livestock and grain. According to the atlas thousands of people came on the trains to go to the old settlers reunions in the grove, so it should have coins and articacts almost anyplace we search. This site has the best possibility of producing a gold coin or some really old silver and copper coins for me as anyplace I have ever hunted. 1860's use of area, lots of people in a small area, no modern
trash or pulltabs, it just doesn't get any better than that for me. You can count on me posting whatever comes out of the ground at this site. I know the coins are there, I just gotta find them now. HH.

Roger

 

[amcjavelin]

what a awesome site you got there and yes the coins are in there waiting to be plucked, forever onward for that first gold coin!

 

[amberjack]

no pull tabs

good luck out there but am sure you dont need it

 

[joe dirt_1]

LOL, yep no pulltabs. All I need is a good rain and the hunt is on................HH


Roger

 

[dixiedigger57]

hey Roger, don't forget a probing rod! there's an outhouse somewhere and a trash/bottle pit somewhere. and watch out for an old well, dangerous ones sometimes with the wooden or brick structure down. take the rods from under an older car trunk lid, its spring steel, weld on a t handle to one and shape the business end in a round slender point. great for finding dirt that was once disturbed. it will push in the dirt easy and great for locating pits, outhouses, trash piles, and also including old graves to mark for reverence and remembrance. the right thing to do. REMEMBER them fruit jar tops are zinc! caches maybe. depression era farmers banks!

i can see the lovely ladies seated and waltzing around now, coins that is! happy hunting the dixie digger

 

[artzstuff1]

I cant wait to see some pictures of the goodies from this site, I have a feeling you will find plenty.

swing ahead!!

 

[joe dirt_1]

dixiedigger57, I have already thought about the outhouse pits that are located here. I like old bottles and will be searching for those also. There should be some good bottles around here someplace, and maybe I can find a few. It would be nice to find a pit full of bitters and patent medicines from the 1860's.


Roger