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First Find 2017

DoctorWhy

Full Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2016
Messages
240
Location
Island in Penobscot Bay, Maine
Out on a rare above-freezing coastal Maine, January day, I went out in the local woods, to an area that is a long forgotten/abandoned farm field or grazing land. Decided to just randomly swing the coil where the ground was deeply covered in spruce needles and other organic matter. That layer of insulation had kept the underlying ground from freezing as much of the nearby bare earth already had.

Bagged my limit of the ubiquitous oxen shoes, mystery iron bits, and one sweet and amazing surprise: a Union Army Civil War button, missing its shank!

This Maine island, very far from the "action" was made famous by the 1980's Ken Burns Civil War documentary. Many local Men went off to fight. Some returned. This found artifact was most likely from one of those returning veterans.

Earlier in the season, I found a "US" belt buckle buried in the front lawn of a friend's yard. We believe we have determined who was the original owner of the buckle, based on the residents of that house in the 1860's.

Still surprised and feeling quite privileged to find another valuable piece of the island's history that will be shared with our Historical Society Museum.

Now, looking forward to Spring thaw and getting out and swinging the coil some more.

Happy New Year!
--Bert
 

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Some great finds. Congrats! Do you loan your finds to the museum or donate them?

Currently, since our Historical Society Museum is open to the public only during the Summer months, I am presently inclined to loan them the relics each season.

I am cataloging and photographing all my finds and plotting their location on a GIS (Geographical Information System) software program. The software has an interactive database and allows linking of geographic location on a map or Google Earth with images and textual description of each find. Hopefully, that effort will be of interest to the Historical Society and the local community. My goal is to obtain permissions and share those found artifacts with the museum. At some point I will more than likely donate the bulk of my finds to the museum as a way of promoting interest in the island's history and heritage.
 
Now thats a great find and report! Good on ya for getting out and discovering that! We'd like to see some pics of the Oxen shoes...havnt seen one posted in a while!
Mud
 
Now thats a great find and report! Good on ya for getting out and discovering that! We'd like to see some pics of the Oxen shoes...havnt seen one posted in a while!
Mud


Hey Mud-puppy!

Here ya go... An example assortment of oxen shoes found this last season... Based on the number of these found, there must have an incredible number of oxen on the island in the past. I'll bet I find more of these than can pop-tabs while out and about...

Cheers,
--Bert
 

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How Great is That! You probably know this Doc, but long ago, the size given to an 'acre' was the amount of land that could be plowed by an oxen in one day...

Imagine plowing that hard Maine rock soil with an Ox! Whens the last time anybody has seen an Ox let alone worked one?? The 1800's? I wonder if they were used to haul off lumber or something for shipbuilding?
Mud
 
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