If you have kids of a certain age, then you can relate to the measurement of time in terms of the end of one season of youth activities to the beginning of the next. Such is the system by which our years are divided, leaving time for Digging For Good (DFG) to exist only within the few, infrequent, and precious gaps. But just as a stiflingly hot day of sunscreen lathering, mosquito-feeding, and hole digging makes the end-of-day shower that much sweeter, so too does the waiting for our next dig, and that was the sentiment with which we approached our most recent excursion to a sweet little 18th century cape.
The day was the sticky kind of humid that compels you to move in slow motion, but it could not curb our enthusiasm or that of the family who invited us to detect their property. Even as the sweat bubbles formed on DFG-V’s nose, homeowner Stacy urged us on with phrases like, “Has anyone tried this area yet?” And, “How about digging here? This seems like a good spot to have dropped something!”
Well, DFG-Rob discovered that she was right! Not far from the from front door and apparently on the path that led to it from the old road, he uncovered the most exciting find of the day, and arguably one of our most significant finds to date. About 4 inches below the surface, and ringing in with a consistent high tone, DFG-Rob unearthed a pocket watch fob decorated with the letter “B.” What made the find so significant is that the surname of the earliest-known owners of the home and property began with the same letter.
According to research recently conducted by the local historical society, the home and surrounding land was the property of the B— family from at least the late 1700s, and perhaps even earlier, until 1825, when it was sold to another family with the surname S—. Furthermore, the popularity of pocket watch fobs coincided with the timeframe of the first family, known to be amongst the earliest inhabitants of this particular town. To find something interesting and to be able to link it to a specific person or family from history is the epitome of successful detecting!
Other noteworthy finds from the day included a complete hoe head (we wondered if a lengthy rust removal bath might reveal it to be a famed Scovil or Connecticut Manufacturing Company hoe), an 1883 “V” nickel (it’s always exciting to find shiny things with a readable date!), and a large fragment of a Dinky toy (perhaps a fire truck or tractor, with “Made In The United States of America” proudly marked on the underside). These finds made the detecting a success, but it was watching our DFG kids and little-C play huckle buckle beanstalk (or at least a game similar to it which I played during my youth), sharing a jug of lemonade with the team, DFGers and homeowners alike, finding scraps of history for Stacy and Chris to display in their cozy home, and being invited by them to come detect again that made it a pleasure!
