Tips On Metal Detecting Research - Footwork
Also, a giant tree would be another good landmark to hide a treasure nearby.
Vegetation
When far within wooded areas, notice low-level vegetation and tree types growing in the area. Look for atypical trees such as apple, pear, cherry and chestnut, and bushes such as forsythia, rose and lilac. They all stand out among the forest in times of blossom and fruit bearing.
Another vegetation clue to locating cellar holes is a dense ground cover called "myrtle" or "periwinkle." It has waxy green leaves with white or blue colored flowers when in bloom. It looks like an emerald carpet from a distance.
Vegetation Around a Grave Stone at the Abandoned Cemetery
But the most common, at least in the New England area, and the best vegetation clue to pinpointing a homestead site in the remote wooded areas is Tawny Daylily Hemerocallis, colloquially called Lemon Lily. Daylilies occur as a clump identified by the long and very narrow lanceolate leaves that are grouped into flat fans with leaves arching out to both sides. Daylilies bloom with large showy flowers of white, yellow or orange color.
Daylilies are not true lilies. They were early imports from England to 17th century American gardens and soon established themselves. Tawny Daylily is also called Roadside or Railroad Daylily, and gained the nickname Wash-house or Outhouse Lily because it was frequently planted at such buildings.
Daylilies can grow in USDA plant hardiness zones 1 through 11 - their heat- and drought-resistance made them some of the most adaptable landscape plants. That is why they were garden standbys not only through the colonial period, from 1600 to 1775, but well into 1920s. There are over 60,000 registered cultivars of Daylily nowadays.
(source: en.wikipedia.org)
The Best Low-level Vegetation Clue To Locating Cellar Holes - Leaves of Daylilies
Pottery and China Shards
Scattered pottery and china shards is another good clue to locating a cellar hole in the wooded area or in the field. Pay attention to the ground and creek beds to spot scattered pieces of pottery and other nonmetallic objects, such as clam shells, broken window glass, dish and bottle pieces, clay pipe stems, marbles, and coal, that were buried just under the surface and later washed out or exposed by heavy rains or wind erosion.
Ground Depressions and Cellar Holes
Early settlers usually located their homes on high ground so that rain and ground water would drain away from the foundation. The dimensions of a cellar hole can often be an indicator directly proportional to financial stature. Investigate all shallow ground depressions and earth mounds of building dimension size.
A Ground Depression Indicates a Site of Homestead
A Small Cellar Hole Filled With Water on the Mountain Slope
When GPS navigation is not available, various natural landmarks would help you find your position on the map and locate abandoned cellar holes in the area. Make sure you know How to Use a Compass or, without it, how to determine where north is. Knowledge of basic survival skills is a must for any treasure hunter.
A clue to locating an old homesite could be just a stone slab barely visible in the wooded area down the road. Observation and keen awareness are two traits that you, as a treasure hunter, must employ to be successful. Always study your surroundings and look for anything that would indicate older activity of people.
A Corner of Foundation Hidden in the Upstate New York Forest
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