Horse Track/ Ball Field/ Old County Fair Grounds...w/ ~UPDATE~

[Grampy]

I had purchased a book of local history in which i saw a photo and caption of an 1800's early 1900's Ball Field/ Horse Racing Track and site of the Long ago, County Fair. After some reading, found it was city land, at end of dead end rd. Horse track shown on 1908 map.
Not the best weather, but take what u get w/ work. (Should have brought camera, but it jinxes me.)
It's a wooded area now very flat. Found the perimeter of the racing track, must b a mile around... Oval, so Ball Field and Fair Grounds where in the middle. Lot of stomping around in wet bushes... This was the scouting mission. Made a guess as to where the "front" of the park was, started swinging. Crazy windy, and I was soaked by that point. Not the best chance. Tons of 1940's trash, cans, metal !!!!, glass. Managed a high tone, which turned out to be a 1924 Merc... Getting warmer!? Not far from there got a weird tone, was a buffalo nickle, scanned same hole and got a 1925, a '24 , '27 wheat! Wheats were toast... Buff, tons corrosion. Not minding being wet as much, I swung on... Sure enough another strong high tone... now this was getting fun! Another Merc! '27. Oh... and it's only my 2nd outing w/ my new Safari!
Not easy, trying to piece together the layout of such a large, now forested area! All the coins were with in 50 ft. of each other, along an old pushed up 4ft high clay berm, that runs about 150 yrds. Don't think this was part of the Horse track. Looks to have been a saw mill in the 1940s set up there. I think they scraped up the top soil there, for some reason. There are many more acres to hunt that have not been disturbed. I think the site should hold older coins. I was very fortunate to find what I did. The coins today may have been from the mill workers, and not from the Fair, or Horse track...? Also in the most likely places... so I dont think other detectors have been there. (Have not read or seen anything about a mill there, so it was short lived, and after the Fair stopped). There is more to cover, but all the surface trash metal, makes areas impossible. On the side of the track there is a foundation of the Field House, but of course, TONs of metal there... Big sheet metal, not good.
Any thoughts as to next trip? Thanks for reading!

~ Locals at Ball Game, see the horse Racing Track in background? And horse/ wagon in right hand corner.

[RIdetector]

Great finds!!!

[John W.H.]

Nice job on doing your research. Hit that area hard, theres bound to be lots of goodies there. I would love to find a site like that around my area! HH

[Ohio Digger]

Way to go. I'm starting to enjoy the research part a bit more now that I have more resources all thanks to folks on this site. At least I'll have something to do this winter.

[NevTrac]

Looks like you found an awesome area to hunt. A place you can go back to many times. I would section out A small area and dig everything, then when you get frustrated digging trash you can cherry pick for A while. That way you will always know the areas you have covered thoroughly and the ones you haven't. Hope that makes sense. Good luck. Can't wait to see more goodies that you find there.

[CoolAzDad]

This shows what good research will do... Congrats on your Mercs!

HH, Dave.......

[wolf-n-wa]

Great job Gramps. Keep hittin that spot brother. WOLF

[NoNeck]

Great job on the research and those mercs look nice CONGRATS.

[Grampy]

Thanks for the replies guys...

The County has not held a fair for over 70 years. The Fair Grounds are a place that if you mention to locals... NO ONE, has even heard of it!
HH, Best Luck,
~Gramp

[rcptuna]

Great research and great old pic. It's always great when research pays off and sounds like you've found a honey hole. The silver is waiting for you!!

Good Luck!

RCP

[Grampy]

Talking w/ a friend and He mentioned that the long 4 ft high berm of dirt/ clay, where I found these coins, may have been the result of the Top Soil being scraped off and sold... Prob. around the time of the Saw Mill. Only a small section looks like this, so majority of the Grounds are Hopefully, undisturbed... The next hurdle is all the above ground trash, metal, old beer cans, ect. That junk takes up some prime swinging area also.
So there are a few flies in this honey jar...

~Gramp

[zeemang]

Good job on the research, looks like it's starting to pay off!

[NebTrac]

That's the way its done. Its fun when something works out. I've found something very similar on private propert and am having a ball. Probably pulled out 50 some coins with the newest being a '28 wheatie. Been lots of fun and I think there are decades of hunting there.

NebTrac

[kbrown]

Contrats on the Mercs. Sure there is plenty more to come. Nice location.

[Silversmith45]

I found an 1877 Seated Dime and a Barber Half at an old horse track about twenty years ago.

[The Rebel]

Nice job Grampy! Looks like you have your work cut out for you but at least its been abandonded so long that you won't fins modern clad. Can't wait to see whatr else you find! HH!!

[Brucem]

Very similar to the Topsfield fairgrounds. I found there was a greyhound track there, and after getting permission, searched it(where the dogtrack was)for about 5 hours and came out with a lot of trash and a 45 Quarter.
All pennies were totally trashed, and I wonder If its because it was such a low lying area, which got wet quite a bit, combined with a lot of animal waste which is quite acidic.
Congrats on the find. I'm still trying to do a lot of research on Massachusetts as well.

[xxnshcxx]

Great research. Hope you dig a lot out of there

[Grampy]

It's been about a week since I first was there, and this a.m. I finally got time to hunt again.
From what I can tell, one long side of the oval, of the track, has had modern fill put over it... not the entire thing but that side. The middle looks non disturbed, and is lightly forested. There has been a tree stand put in there by A Bow hunter, since i was there. They don't have 2 wear orange... but i think i will.
Wandered around swinging here and there for couple hours. Looks like the locals used much of the area to dump. Bottles and cans from 1960s. That !!!! is covering another portion of what should be prime grounds. total mess in places. Did manage 2 pick up a Pat."D" Coca Cola bottle, right off the surface.
As for coins, they are good at staying hidden. Even the area of Old Dirt looks to have been pushed around long ago by equipment. In the same area as last weeks finds, I had dug several bottle caps. Got a signal that was clear, but not a super high tone. Thought it was another bottle cap, or at best a wheat or Indian. Only about 4" down, out pops a well worn Barber! 1909 Dime few feet from there I pulled 2 wheats well toasted. Pounded that area but these were all I managed. Really tried to find another section would yield a coin, but no.
Kinda bitter sweet 'cause I have hunted my but off for these...
The site may have held many coins, but over a hundred years of activity, may have removed or covered many of them.

[John W.H.]

At least you pulled one more silver coin! You'll probably get more. Boy the ground is not nice to pennies there. I went to a place my cousin told me about that was supposedly an old horse racing track over the weekend only to find it was now a nature preserve with hiking trails. Didnt feel right to hunt there so I poked around the outer perimiter for a while with no luck. Good luck! HH