Big Boys Hobbies

Kicked off Loudoun Co, Va, park this morning

Gatchaman

Gatchaman

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Joined
Nov 27, 2012
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286
Location
Virginia
Can't work due to Govt (yay) so went swinging this morning at a local ball park I haven't been to yet. Hit a broken bracelet right off the bat (might be silver, not sure) and a few trash pieces before a groundskeeper came over and asked if I lost something. He said I shouldn't be digging holes and didn't think it was legal. He was a cool guy and we spoke about it briefly, he ended up giving me the number for the head of the parks and rec for Loudoun Co. I talked to him there on my cell, he put it plainly that metal detecting is illegal on all Loudoun parks and he's going to email me the law.

Oh well. Will wait and see what is sent, I found nothing online. :(
 
you would think that they could compromise and allow it at least for clad close to surface where you can "pop" them out without pulling plugs. no more harm than cleats or kids and squirrels tearing up turf.
 
Metal detecting is illegal in Claude Moore Park because it is Lanesville National Register Historic District, due to the presence of Vestal's Gap Road, Lanesville Ordinary & Post Office (a mini-ghost town), Native American Trail, Virginia Civil War Trail. I don't think the other parks are off limits. Best wishes, George (MN)
 
I know Claude Moore is off-limits. I'm still waiting for the Rec Dept guy (Mr Burke) to email me back, he said all County parks were illegal to use a metal detector. I was pretty pissed about it, but wasn't going to raise a fuss with the groundskeeper guy there.

I called the Loudoun Parks info number, lady on the phone had no idea. Ended up leaving a message for the parks division manager (Mr Davidson).
 
Sigh. Word document sent today from their office.

Loudoun%20County%20Parks%20Metal%20Detecting%20Law.png
 
Its never fun to be told to leave.

There is just no nice way about it. But over the years, places that the general public was allowed into and allowed to hold functions have been taken away. We pay for it, and may even have done it there before since we were lil kids. But now many places are off limits to Detectors.

The preferred treatment educated idiots get in this country is beyond reason and against our laws. Yet we support this and accept it. The odds are that natural resource they are trying to preserve is being covered in modern trash and the site(s) are contaminated. The time for them to do any survey is long over due as anything more than 10 years old is covered in filth and cant be considered historical. The fact folks dont see this is confusing to me.

There is only one type of a site that should have this protected status. That is Graveyards. That is the real difference between me and you, the modern day Grave Robbing Archys.

I think Archys have a great job. I have a lot of respect for them. I have a morbid curiosity about what they do. But the Grave Robbers rule the city parks and I am just as upset and confused as everyone else about it.
 
I don't envy the angst and frustration some of you guys/girls in CW areas get to deal with.

I get the archaeologist aspect of wanting to preserve/discover new sites.

It's not like someone md'ing a public city/town park would dig a skull and not call the police or start a full on dig.

The stigma that we are just grubs digging holes is still prevalent in some areas.
It sucks for those of us who respect the places we hunt and clear trash and cut/replace plugs properly. Much easier to blanket deny it to not have to deal with the people who add to the negative view on MD'ing by leaving holes, leaving trash and costing more money because parks dept workers have to run around fixing turf..

you can come up here and hunt. there are only 5 or so of us that MD up here and you can hunt pretty much anywhere you want....

there's a 200$ permit fee, payable to myself....
 
It doesn't have anything to do with others leaving holes.

My $02 is that it has everything to do with the local historians. Their view is they went to college and got a degree in the field, and you didn't. Thus, you should not be using a metal detector.
 
I wouldn't have a problem with protecting areas for "historical" reasons if they had any plan to excavate the area for the artifacts that they think are there. In most cases though, they have no intention of doing so and would rather the items stay in the ground forever than anyone else have them.

This was the case at a place I once worked. Before the building was allowed to start, a survey by a state university had to be carried out to search for archeological artifacts. They did indeed find some ancient indian relics on part of the property. This did not include any type of human remains per the report. That part of the property was designated as an "historical site". Digging there is limited to normal agricultural practices. The report also concludes that there is no plan to excavate the site now or in the future. So any artifacts laying there will remain in the ground and be lost forever. Makes no sense to me.
 
Well, if a historically significant area was open to digging, metal detector optional, how well preserved would they be, once someone starts finding something worth a few bucks?

Not all of us dig holes, or very big ones. But some of us don't have a problem with using a garden spade (least on my own property). Rules usually don't get created, until there is some need for them. Could have been a past problem, we get to pay for...

A lot of places get a Historical Designation, because there was federal grant money available. Accepting the cash, also meant accepting the restrictions. Usually, the folks living around there, get to vote, or argue with the city council for a while, before the check gets cashed. My city tried to create a downtown historical district, which somehow included my property (house built in 1946). Would have meant that I had to keep the outside of my house consistent with the period, which would have driven up repair costs, upgrades, expansions. Fortunately, most people thought it a silly idea. Voting can be very tricky business, they only put a short summary on the ballot, but there can be less desirable stuff hidden in the actual issue.
 
Gatchaman said:
Sigh. Word document sent today from their office.

Loudoun%20County%20Parks%20Metal%20Detecting%20Law.png
Click to expand...


gatchaman, how much you want to make a bet, that such-a-city's laws saying such a thing, probably had its origin in some person, prior to that 2002 law, going in and asking permission to detect? Then in response to such requests, guess what the powers-that-be must do (in the absence of anything specific prohibiting it) ?? They will INVENT a law, to "address this pressing issue".

And sometimes the rationale for such laws they invent, will cite things like "holes" or "cultural heritage", right? So what do all of us md'rs do when we read those reasons? We think "durned those md'rs who left holes" or "durned those archies or historians", right? But when you look closer at the evolution, it was never holes or archies that brought this scrutiny about. Was it? Even though they might cite those as reasons, those are merely the "go to" reasons to justify the creation of such a rule. When in fact, it was the skittish md'r thinking he needs permission, that simply brought it up on the radar as something that needs a rule, needs to be addressed, etc...
 
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