Mike,
Hit the fields (especially after a rain and they have been plowed or disk up) Look for shards of pottery or glass or bits and pieces of bricks. Run in "all metal" mode and look for square nails. Square nails were used before 1900's. Look for cedar trees, especially those is threes, the sign of the trinity. They would more than likely be on the north side of the house for wind break in the winter. Water - you won't like find a house place without water close by, a well, a creek, or a river. They didn't haul water in those days. Lots of houses were simply built on rock pillars that were stacked to level the house. So loose stones or rocks (flat ones) that you find that seem to be out of place are likely to be a house foundation. In the spring look of yellow or white flowers, like daffodils. Also rose bushes and iris come up every year. If they seem out of place now, they probably not back then. Probably the flower bed in front of the house. Your stone walls were fences back then. They had to pick up the rocks out the fields to plow them anyway, and they lasted a lot longer than a wooden fence. Besides the wood needed to be used for heat and cooking fuel. As already mentioned – large trees. These were probably shade trees and were usually on the west side of house to block the hot summer sun.
just my 2 cents,
Cuniagau
steve
