Detecting old schoolhouses

Tom_in_CA said:

Huh ? I think this is a typo. You mean that kids carrying coins today is more common than kids-back-then. Right ?

When I was a kid, in the 1970s, it was not uncommon to talk to people who had been through the depression (my own folks, for example). Ie.: people could remember the 1920s and '30s, if they were then in their 60s, 70s and '80s. And since I was new to the hobby (in high school) , I peppered the old folks, in my town, with questions as to where they picnicked, the 1-room schools, etc....

And I remember many of the elderly people, who had gone to country-1-room schools saying "we never had coins or money". I figured this was just a "wax-romantic " comment (like the walking to the school barefoot uphill in the snow type-remarks). So I always dismissed these comments.

But as time went on, I began to see that there is a ring-of-truth to these comments. Because at inner city schools that date to the late teens and early '20s in my town, I began to notice that most of the silver and wheaties we found, were invariably 1940s/50s silver.

At first, detecting in the late 1970s and through the 1980s, I always wrote that off to : "our detectors simply aren't getting deep enough to reach the 1910s/20s silver". But as time went on, and detectors got deeper, I noticed that the date ranges never changed. Even when school turf got scraped (for various demolition projects), it wasn't like "barbers and teens coins were jumping out of the ground". Yet I could distinctly recall HUNDREDS of 1940s mercs, wheaties, silver roosies, silver washingtons, etc.... Huh ? What gives ? Where are all the SLQ s ? Where are all the crisp 1920s mercs ?

And I began to realize that what the old-timers said was actually true : Prior to WWII : Kids didn't have much need (nor affluence) to have coins in their pockets. But after WWII, the USA entered into the most prosperous affluent economy ever. And school lunch / milk programs evolved, to where every kid began carrying a nickel or dime in his pocket now.

Hence my experience (at least here in CA), is that when we hit 1-room school sites (EVEN WHEN VIRGIN), is that if the date of the school usage was pre WWII, is that coins will be scarce. Even though we get buttons, harmonica reeds, slag, etc.... (showing we're the first ones to hit it). And if its usage continued till the 1950s, then sure ..... we'll get a 1940s merc, a few 50s wheaties, etc.... And if a '20s coin turns up, it evidences more wear like it was lost in the 1940s.

JMHO

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metaladdict said:

I was a kid in the 1970s and had coins for hot dog and ice cream days.

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amc rulz said:

I’m a kid of the twenty twenties, I use coins every day!

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k2gleaner said:

I'm pretty curious when it comes to detecting and I generally look forward to finding all sorts of relics. Since I'm relatively new to this, I've found a few flat buttons and one 1944 Walking Liberty half, amongst other junk and coins.

That being said, I've been researching the locations of former one-room schoolhouses in my area. I was wondering what one can expect to find? I'm assuming the older the school, the less chance of coins b/c how many kids had coins to carry back in the day? Am I right? Maybe they lost some marbles...but that won't come with the detector.

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Dan B. said:

I came across some old 1871&1886 maps that have the locations of all the one room School houses, churches and homes for my county. I was able to get copies and place them in a folder. I guess this is a benefit of working for the county, ask the right questions get the right answers. I am set up for a lifetime.

Here's a locket that was found at a one room School.

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k2gleaner said:

I live in a rural area.

I called a man I know who knows a lot of the history here. I called him bc I have maps showing a schoolhouse location on his property next to his current house. However, another map shows it just up the road a 1/4 mile. Surprisingly, he didn't know about it.

Better yet, IMHO, was his response: " I don't know about that school but I know where the old hotels used to stand!" Whaaaa???

(And it turns out I had just gotten blanket permission from a local farmer who owns the land where one of those hotels used to be...)


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Culbles said:

Gotta say it again: where there was an old school there were other buildings where people gathered and handled money.

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