Metal Detecting in the "Large Cents" Land Again
The decision was made to go on foot as we were already in the vicinity of the homestead.
The forest contained some clues to whereabouts of the cellar. The first thing was to find any deer trail which usually leads to the homestead site. The deer, generation after generation, would follow the trail to the fruit trees that were planted near the house in old times.
I was lucky to spot one deer trail, and we followed it until I saw the second clue - the linear and long leaves of Daylily, low-level vegetation which was planted around the homestead by the settlers. Usually this colonial plant is the first to grow bright green in the spring, an emerald patch in the woods - an indicator of the cellar hole location.
The heat- and drought-resistance of Daylilies 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 (more info on Daylilies is on Atypical and Inherent Vegetation page in my Complete Guide To Metal Detecting Research).
The Best Low-level Vegetation Clue To Locating Cellar Holes - Leaves of Daylilies
A minute later, we came to the site - the remains of the cellar on top of the earth mound situated on the slope 40 feet high above the abandoned road.
All Happy and Determined
I armed Alexander's Explorer SE with my detecting program and let him set up Discrimination on his own.
