Yesterday my brother and I went metal detecting around a 1820’s grist mill! The grist mill is now a public park and has a wonderful covered bridge from 1902 onsite. We didn’t find much, but we had a great time exploring the outdoors.
Metal detecting finds from 1820’s grist mill.
As you can see from the above finds, we didn’t find anything from the original mill. However, the slag was found on a modern park pathway and I believe probably predates the park and is from prior activity on the site (the current park is relatively new, built within the last 18 years).
We just barely touched the parks grounds, we never even made it past the covered bridge to the back half of the park. I’ll keep you updated on our progress and I hope to make it back to the park again soon.
Mike metal detecting near where the cross and slag were found. You can see the 1902 covered bridge in the background.
The original Cherokee county of North Georgia occupied around 1/4 of the current state of Georgia. I spent a few hours tromping around in the woods of North Georgia in the region of the original Cherokee County looking for any relics from the 19th century or prior.
There are numerous small rock piles or rock mounds in Georgia. The area where I was metal detecting have these rock mounds scattered through out them. Here’s a photo I took during my metal detecting hunt showing three mounds stacked neatly in a row:
Mysterious rock mounds of North Georgia
The origin of these mounds are unknown. I think the theory relating to farmers stacking stones as they cleared a field seems the most likely. However, these particular rock mounds are on the side a of hill overlooking hurricane creek, which is not a great or easy place for farming! Another theory is the rocks mounds pre-date early Georgia farmers and were made long ago by Indians, perhaps during the Middle Woodland Period ( 300 B.C.–A.D. 600).
In addition, to these rock mounds, the area I was metal detecting is very close to the temporary trail of tears indian containment sites of North Georgia. Over 20,000 Cherokee indians from the surrounding area were marched to Oklahoma by gun point. Only 75% survived the trip, the remaining died along the way. This is a sad fact from U.S. history and something no American should have condoned.
I don’t know if early Georgia farmers, Cherokee indians or indians that pre-date the Cherokee created this wonderful mounds on the hills surrounding hurricane creek, but with metal detector in hand I was determined to find something that pre-dated the 20th century.
I was using a White’s Eagle II SL for this metal detecting excursion. I had previously hunted the area in question using the same detector, but this time I turned off discrimination. I wanted to find absolutely anything that might be from antiquity and the most likely would be ferrous relics such as an axe head or early tool.
Wow, what a great time I had, tromping thru the woods looking for relics of the past. Every target got my heart pumping. I don’t think I found anything that pre-dates the 20th century. Here are my finds:
Metal detecting finds hunting North Georgia woods with indian rock mounds
I only found two targets the really got me excited, the T-shaped metal fragment and the pocket knife. Curiously, I found them within 5ft of each other on the side of a hill. Here’s the area where they were found:
Metal detecting is fun and I enjoyed every moment this afternoon. Did I found treasure, no, but the real treasure is in the hunt. Get out there and enjoy life to the fullest!
