My hunting partner, Rob Fahey, and I had almost given up trying to locate a lost ghost town in a neighboring New England state. I had stumbled onto an account of “a village” of several Colonial homes abandoned for reasons unknown. It sounded very interesting, and conjured up visions of multiple detecting sites, but we kept putting it off for one reason or another. Since it was a long drive, we talked ourselves into believing that other treasure hunters had also done research and beaten us to the punch. Besides, we had other productive areas closer to home that we’d been working successfully.

Finally, one weekend we decided to take a gamble. Even if the site of the ghost town had been previously detected, we could still enjoy the adventure of locating and photographing a site that dated back to the 1700s. It’s fun to try to go back in time and imagine what life was like with no running water and no electricity. Of course, actually metal detecting at early settlements like this is the pinnacle of our quest, and I enjoy creating displays of whatever relics may surface.

Conflicting theories surrounded “The Village” high in the hills of New Hampshire, and research turned up speculations from various historians: a hamlet of Revolutionary Tories, freed slaves, people afflicted with diseases… to me, all guesses. Additional tips from a hiker brought us up the same winding dirt cart roads once used by the original settlers. Unfortunately, however, vague directions and unfamiliarity with the area led us to every path but the correct one. After going in complete circles with tiring legs, cliches like “striking out” and “can’t win ‘em all” were uttered. It was now late afternoon. I looked at my watch and said, “Let’s drive just a bit farther to be sure.” I’d hate to think we were so close and gave up. Finally, we spied stone walls leading into a depression resembling a house site. “The Village!” we yelled.

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