Treasure Hunting

This new book “Relics & Reminiscing: Diary of a Lowcountry Digger” was written by an award-winning journalist for the Times and Democrat, Richard Walker, about his favorite hobby of 30 years - relic hunting. I thought it was a great follow-up to my last article, and really shows how perspective has changed for this hobby.

“The book is a compilation of my efforts of providing a historical record of our area through years of going out in the woods fighting the rain, fighting the elements and wildlife to provide that record,” Walker said. “It’s fun, but for me personally, I think if we have a record of where we’ve been, we’ll know where we’re going. I try to preserve some of that for future generations.”

Walker generally targets average, everyday home sites instead of those sought by archeologists to preserve a record of how ordinary people lived. Walker said he can tell whether a family was wealthy or poor judging by what he finds at their home site.

“For the most part, the places we find are the lower- to middle-income-type residences,” Walker said. “Each site is a source, and we have to put together the pieces of that story.

“You can find one or two pieces, and that’s not a complete picture, but once you’ve worked the site for three years, sometimes you get a better picture of who lived there.”

Walker said he has always been interested in history, and his favorite movie growing up was “Treasure Island.”

His relic-hunting journey began in 1976. Walker was 12 years old and equipped with a metal detector and shovel he borrowed from his dad’s tool shed. The only thing missing was a map pointing out the hidden items he dreamed of locating.

“I had left that part out,” Walker said. “I just wanted the machine, and I wanted the shovel.”

A lot of research goes into finding a worthy site, Walker said, and the library was one of his best sources. He also made telephone calls, placed ads in newspapers and wrote relic hunters in- and out-of-state, sending an average of five or six letters a week. Many were helpful, replying with useful information about sites he could try.

Shortly after Christmas 1976, Walker got a call from Gordon Walker (no relation), an employee at a local newspaper who saw his ad requesting relics. The man shared his experience about Civil War relic hunting and gave the younger Walker directions to a nearby Confederate site.

During his first trip to the site, Richard Walker found a Hotchkiss shell sabot and said he was hooked.

“Just the thrill of picking up this piece that had laid there for 150 years was so exciting,” Walker said. “To me, an artifact is probably the best time machine there is. It beats movies or books or anything else.

“To hold a piece that was last held two or three hundred years ago is baffling.”

Nearly a year after finding his first Hotchkiss shell, Walker learned one of many lessons about relic hunting — don’t throw items away until they can be identified.

Walker’s most significant find was unearthed nearly 20 years ago during a search for what he and his relic-hunting companions called the “Lost Brigade,” a movement by one of Sherman’s brigades made up of the 25th Indiana and the 32nd Wisconsin. For years, Walker hunted the Edisto River in the area in which the troops should have been and came up with nothing.

On May 4, 1988, he decided to make another trip to the Edisto swamps to find the Lost Brigade. During this hunt, his detector gave a signal that rang out like a siren, Walker said. He carefully dug into what was a Springfield bayonet and later discovered an eagle breastplate and another Springfield bayonet.

“Relics and Reminiscing” incorporated detailed records of each of Walker’s trips, including the date, participating hunters, the site, grid patterns and what was found. His records indicate more bayonets, 16 dropped three ringers, bore cleaner minies, another breastplate and 20 dropped minies found from his discovery of the Lost Brigade.

Walker has taken some 487 relic hunting trips in the last 30 years. He admits some of the pieces he’s found may be valuable, but their historical importance is greater.

“If I sell a piece, and it loses its context, then we all lose,” he said. “Anyone whose history is related to this area suffers.”

Sounds like a smart man and a seasoned relic hunter we could all learn from. Let me know if you read this book. Go to The TandD.com for the rest of the article. Or pick up Relics & Reminiscing: Diary of a Lowcountry Digger on Amazon.com

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