DoctorWhy
Full Member
I have been researching a long-forgotten homestead on my Maine island home. It does not show on a 1776 map, is marked on an 1881 map and disappears from a 1903 map. Using a GPS with an overlay of the 1881 map, I was able to get close to the site but no cellar hole was immediately obvious. After stumbling around in the woods with the detector for a couple hours, hearing only 'iron grunts', I finally found a well-defined cellar hole cammoflaged by brush and a couple huge blown-down spruce trees. Searching around the cellar hole I found a handle fragment of an old brass spoon, a fragment of a bone-handled dinner knife, a scythe fragment...and this coin! Out of the ground, it was failry crusty, but the word "BROKE" was visible over a bust on the obverse. A shadow of Britannia and the date "1814" were visible on the reverse. After some research I learned that the coin was from Nova Scotia, was a 1/2 penny token, and was minted in honor of Captain Phillip Broke, commander of the British warship, HMS Shannon and his capture of the US Chesapeake during the War of 1812.
The site is so overgrown with tall weeds, grass, brush and covered with blow-down, so I'll probably return to do a more detailed search in the Fall once the overgrowth has died off. Can't wait...
Happy Hunting!
--Bert
The site is so overgrown with tall weeds, grass, brush and covered with blow-down, so I'll probably return to do a more detailed search in the Fall once the overgrowth has died off. Can't wait...
Happy Hunting!
--Bert