How have you done hunting churches?

BufordCityDawg

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Buford, Ga.
I may get an opportunity to hunt my family church. It was deeded in 1901. It was active into the 80s at least. It is about 3 hrs from my house though. I was wondering what to expect. Primitive Baptist if that makes a difference.

BCD
 
I've only dug one church that was established in the late 1800 to early 1900s. Found a couple buffalos, a few wheats and a button. Oldest coin was a 1917. I'd dig another one if I could, I hear of people finding lots of clad at newer churches too.
 
I hunted an old church that was originally built during the civil war. Did pretty well , found multiple indian cents , one large cent and multiple silvers.

But Ive hunted some other old churches and found nothing but trash. Sometimes they are good and sometimes nothing.
 
What a great adventure BCD! Back then, people came in with horses and wagons and church was an all day kind of deal...Let alone the weddings and funerals and revivals etc....

I'd stand there and give the property a look...put myself back in that era...let the terrain speak to me....Theres gotta be a shady place or creek or water hole nearby where the horses were tended and picnics happened?...And dont forget the Privey! Main travel zone and used by everyone! Take along a probe or a shovel and find that outhouse hole! Dig it up!

There might be several that were dug and filled over the years even!...It should be downwind and out back a little...Might be lilac shrubs or something nearby to mask the odors...Put yourself back in the early 1900's and let your detector tell you if your assumptions are correct...Report back!
 
One large Catholic Church I hunted originally burned in 1905, then rebuilt. Folks came for many miles for well over 100 years to attend mass and held large picnics out back. I received permission from father Mike there (he gave me the ok to hunt the cemetery arcross the street too, I declined).

The 5 acre picnic grounds had been hunted heavily since the 80's.
Still, I dug several silvers including Barber dime, Washington quarter, mercs, wheats, silver ring...and best of all an 1889 Morgan dollar that gave off a strange signal at 3 inches deep. It appeared to have been slightly scorched by fire, and came out of the dirt brown-looking. When I first posted about it online, some said it was counterfeit. It ended up cleaning up good with a little work.

Other churches I have hunted have been slim pickings.
 
I've done 5...1 was productive with nickels and 3 silvers...a couple Indians...the other 4 produced absolutely zero. Literally....zero. Many hunters back in the day viewed churches as public property and just went and hunted them. Some still do. You can assume they've been hunted before,sometimes to "coin extinction".
I worked for many hunts to get what I got...
 
Killed it at old Florida churches!


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I've hunted the church I attend and came away with a mountain of clad and a few pieces of kids jewelry.
I also got to detect a pastorate that had just been control burned, the current pastor told me it would become a parking lot the following weekend so 'have at it'. It was a very tiny lot, maybe 40X60 with much taken up by the remains of the burned house. Still came away with 142 coins - mostly clad and mostly pennies, but a couple wheats and a handful of dimes tossed in. Didn't get rich, but had a blast and found a very cool copper souvenir arrowhead - I'll attach a pic.
 

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Never found anything good at old churches, hunted churches from 1860s to today and anything in between, , all seem to have been detected hundreds times.... never anything good at a church, in almost 7 years....lol
 
I've found a few cool things around my church that was built in the 1920's and in the front yard of the minister's house next door. Around the actual church, I found a really good condition war nickel, some wheats, a neat brass plate with a small slot in it that looks like it used to go to some sort of offering box and a ton of trash...mostly copper flashing from the roof. In the front yard of the minister's house next door, which was most likely built in the late 1800's, I have found three V nickels (1891, 1899 and 1911), some wheats ranging from 1913-1950, some small lead bullets and a lot of nails. There's still some areas at both the church and the minister's house that I have yet to search.
 

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I recently was allowed to hunt a Primitive Baptist Church that was been established since 1826. I brought 2 members of my club. After 3 hours we produced about $.11 in Memorials and unbelievable numbers of pull tabs, bottlecaps and buried beer cans.

Maybe they weren't so Primitive after all....
 
Older churches are generally pretty good if you find the location where the picnics were. In the early times until the 1940's churches held family picnics often. One problem is finding the location if it is a big area, and the other is a lot of church kids carried little money.
 
Older churches are generally pretty good if you find the location where the picnics were. In the early times until the 1940's churches held family picnics often. One problem is finding the location if it is a big area, and the other is a lot of church kids carried little money.

Or areas have been paved over with parking lots and/or building additions added.
 
The first old church I hunted produced one Indianhead and a 1933 Canadian cent but absolutely nothing else. All of the other older churches I have hunted have produced nothing, not even clad garbage. Either they have been hunted to death over the years or the people who went to them back in the old days were dirt poor and didn't have anything to be lost. They are however, quite peaceful places to detect at.....especially the ones way out in the country, miles from any towns.
 
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