Cladius said:
Big trees always get my attention. I always figure if nothing else kids are going to have climbed them and lost change. Cladius.
(Krom's Friday night "pick-a-member's-post-to-comment-on"... an' I picked YOU!)
That's what I said in the story that I submitted to White's (Electronics.com) Detecting stories, Cladius.
IMHA (in my humble addition)...
Even tho' the family "clan" more-or-less hung around the abode, the favorite places for the kids to go, was "anywhere where Mom can't see us"... so don't confine your hunts to the cellar holes, foundations rock formations, or wells, alone. If there's a way to tell where they had a chicken house (for instance), the "boss of the household" might have hidden a money stash behind that... or in it. (as morbid as it may sound, we hope that we can come across a place where someone had hidden their posessions... an' died without noone knowin' about it!)
ie:
The base of corner posts surrounding fields, certain rocks on the top of (or in the middle, or at the bottom of) rock walls that were created by clearing the planting/grazing fields. Look for a good spot that would've been
easy to memorize.
Most any "memorable marker" could be just about anywhere, too.
You jus' hafta try an' think like times were back then... an' how you could hide your (whiskey, for instance) money. The wives would hide money also (from thier husbands? Yeah, maybe. You never know).
A walk to the well (or water supply) would be a great place (and time) to either stash or get monies that were being saved for a special occasion of sorts, behind an ancient oak tree, or in the corner of a field furthest away from the house. Look for huge rotted stumps left from the trees (that's exactly where I found my very first "keeper"... an 1800 Draped Bust half cent) that would have been where the "fam" would get out of the heat of the summers (when the air conditioners were broke down) and watch the kids pushing huge rings down the dirt road... sipping home-made whatever drinks.
(This one might sound a bit rediculous, but...) If you have access to an old house that's still standing (and if it's safe to go inside), check the walls with your machine... check the ceilings... check the floor boards! During the harsh winters, it was easier to hide savings inside their homes than it was to hide it outside (which was already covered with that white stuff... depending on where you are).
Those, rich enough to have built root cellars (or "hidout" cellars), would have hidden their precious life's savings down there. Who knows? They even could have been killed or died from the old "incurable deseases" and noone would have been the wiser as to any "family fortune" that they had buried.
More modern houses might have a single mud brick (or modern brick) that was ideal to hide gold or silver in, because it was generally the man of the house that would do biddings with the "downstairs" business... and if he died, for whatever reason, without revealing even the existance of a family "stash", noone would have known that it even existed.
(thank you Mr. Stubborn, and Mr. Miser!
)
These ideas are the tip of MY iceburg/search-ideas when I'm out there in the woods!
(open that mind an' time-travel years back! BE the past... LIVE the past... an' you just might find your/thier cashé)
Happy hunting to all... and you all have a simply sparklin' Saturday hunt (those of you that don't have this frozen ground that
I have to contend with)...!
Sure hope this helps someone...!
Krom (Knots Remain, Outrage Maintains)