I had exhausted all our land hunting sites in Worcester County so spent this month travelling the roads of Somerset . Due to the weather being so hot, I thought it would be good to look at the American Legion near Princess Anne. This site dates back to the late 1700’s and was home to one of the oldest academic institutions in the county. Adjacent to this site was an old mid-1800’s fairgrounds. Unfortunately for us, the hay was still in the fields of the fairgrounds site so we had to concentrate our efforts on the old Academy/Legion site and lawns.

The conditions here were gorgeous. It was breezy, shady and cool and we had a nice pavilion which served as our “temporary headquarters” and rest area. I had gotten permission for the hunt here from the Legion commander who had no problem with us being here because he knew that past visits here had left the property looking as good or better than it had before we were there.

Members spread out under the large shade trees and began hunting. It wasn’t long before finds started appearing. I saw a handful of silver dimes, some wheaties, an Indian head penny or two and a beautiful early 1900’s silver Barber quarter, along with the usual relics and doodads. We only stayed here until about 11:00 when we headed into Princess Anne for an early lunch at the Washington Hotel Inn.

I thought if we ate sooner than we normally did, we could get to our second hunt site before it got too hot to hunt. This was a good plan but things didn't quite work out that way. Lunch started off well enough as the waitress arrived and quickly took our drink orders. She delivered these promptly but after that the service was extremely slow. They were short of wait staff that day and it was over an hour before some of us received our meals. In fact, some had already finished their lunches before others had been served. We did enjoy having a cool rest period but needless to say, we will look for another eating spot when we’re back in this area again.

We were all looking forward to our afternoon hunt. This site was unhunted and was owned by a farmer who owns lots of land in the Worcester-Somerset area. We had hunted some of his other property before and he had been impressed with how clean we left things. I was sure that this time things would be no different.

We made the 20-minute ride to the site in West Post Office which was three open fields. Two old homes had stood on the site and an old school and voting house were nearby. The owner’s house was also close and parts of it dated back to the 1700’s. All these facts led me to believe that we would find something here. As it turns out, finds were scarce but members made a good effort and did manage to dig up a few Indian heads, more wheat pennies, lots of neat buttons and relics and at least one large British penny.

We hunted until about 4:00 p.m. when everyone had finally had enough of the hot sun. Thankfully I had been able to get permission for us to park on a lot across the road and there was a little bit of shade here otherwise we wouldn't have been able to hunt as long as we would have liked. It had been a long, hot day but fun had been had by all. There was a little something for everybody and guess what? Soon it’ll be time to do it all over again and I’m looking forward to it.

Please keep your eyes open for open fields. If you spot one, kindly do some research on the property to find out what used to be on the site and ask if the landowner would like us as guests on our monthly outings. As I’ve said before, this is a very slow time for land hunting and we need all the help we can get.

Let’s not forget about our member’s only hunt sneaking up on us. If you’re interested in helping out, let an officer know. If you see any extraordinary buys for prizes, keep us informed. We hope the hunt will be on the beach at Assateague in October before the weather gets too cool and when there aren’t so many people around. It’s always fun and everyone’s a winner. We’ll talk more about the hunt prices and rules between now and then.

Bill Winkler tells me that there’s not much going on at the beach right now. People seem to be leaving their jewelry and coins in their hotel rooms or condos and finds are scarce. Some military artifacts are still turning up in the Fenwick area and the beach replenishment efforts at Ocean City are limiting finds there as well. Things should improve as the summer wears on.

I got a nice thank you note the other day from Jon Rowles of Bakersfield, CA. He had been in the area vacationing a few weeks ago and had been put in touch by Bill Winkler. I took him out hunting and he found his first Indian head penny. He also found a two-cent piece. Before finding these, he had never seen either variety in person. Congratulations, Jon, and welcome to the club.

Sonny and I went out last week to look for a lost ring. Sonny had found another ring lost by this same man last year and we were hoping that history would repeat itself. It didn’t happen this time as a search of about three hours turned up no sign of the ring.

Don’t forget that you can get your name on the list to help find lost rings and other items. If you recover and return a ring, you receive two points and a golden dollar in addition to the gratitude of the person who lost the ring in the first place.

I’d like to thank Barbara, Ed and Julie for filling in for me at the meeting. My wife had had a yearly physical along with a colonoscopy and I felt that she needed me to stay home while she was recuperating.

That’s it for this month. I’m looking forward to seeing you at the meeting on the 12th and the hunt on the 17th. Look for me in the field because I’ll be looking for you. Stay cool!

Bill Draper,
President
(and Huntmaster)

The last meeting of the SHORE SEEKERS Artifact and Recovery Club was held on Monday, June 14, at 7:00 p.m. at the Mt. Hermon UMC Community Hall.

The winner of the 2009 Lincoln penny mint set raffle was John Fassel.

Magazine raffle winners were Richard, John F., Bill C. and Wayne. Thanks to Barbara and Warren for the donations.

Bill was absent from the meeting this month as he was at home while his wife was recuperating from a physical and colonoscopy.

CORRESPONDENCE

Extra copies of The Seeker were also available.

OLD BUSINESS

The minutes were approved as distributed.

The treasurer gave her report.

NEW BUSINESS

Richard gave a brief and informative presentation about the history of the U.S. large cent. He recommends using www.wikipedia.org as a basic research tool.

Wayne will give a presentation on the Flying Eagle penny at the July meeting.

Richard mentioned that he has become a member of a coin grading service. He joined because he noticed that his 1877 Indian head penny had started to deteriorate and this service would conserve the coin. Members may use his membership if they wished to have a coin graded or conserved. The cost would depend on the value and variety of the coin. Contact Richard for more information.

Sonny mentioned that he went to the recent coin show at the Civic Center and saw many unusual and valuable coins.

Wayne brought in displays of his monthly finds which were very impressive. Sonny recalled that many members used to do this during the early days of the club.

Bill sent in a short report about his recent visit with new member Jon Rowles of California. Jon had been in the area the week before the club meeting and Bill had arranged for a hunt. During the activity, Jon managed to find several wheat pennies, Indian heads and a 2-cent piece. He hadn’t found any of these before and was especially excited about it.

Cynthia mentioned the possibility of a detecting trip to England in the spring of 2011. The last trip to the UK was in 2007 and some people are anxious to return. It is too early to estimate costs until we know how many would be going. Cynthia will get in touch with our British contact, Peter Welch, shortly to get the ball rolling. Please let her know if you are interested.

CLUB HUNT

There is no hunt site yet but we will have a place by Saturday. Watch your e-mail for more details.

The winner of the 50/50 raffle was Warren Timmons.

Julie Pryor,
Secretary

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