Monday, June 9, 2008

Civil War Artifacts in the Back Yard


Morehead City- Noon Rotarian George Norris, with a presentation on Civil War Era Metal Detecting, was the guest speaker at the June 9, 2008 meeting of the Newport Rotary Club.

Rotarian Norris described his technique for locating artifact rich sites in and around Eastern North Carolina, researching old maps for farm roads, farm locations and sharecropper houses. Newport's more famous Civil War locations, such as Fort Benjamin and the Confederate Barracks, still yield artifacts, as technology gets more advanced. The Nautilus metal detector is his preferred searching tool.

Interestingly, many Civil War artifacts are found in sharecropper locations because White Confererate soldiers were banned from wearing uniforms for 5 years after the war, so many ended up being used by former slaves for clothing.


Many "dug" artifacts were displayed, including buttons, belt buckles and saddle shields. "Undug" artifacts displayed included a smooth bore .69 caliber musket, an Enfield rifle, a Haversack, a Naval Officer's sword with a stingray skin grip, various pistols, and a number of Colonial Era artifacts such as buttons and shoe parts.

RuthAnn Sluss of RuthAnn Sluss Realty, Ocean Way Plaza, Newport was inducted into the club and presented with her name badge and membership pin. She was inducted and proposed by PDG Bevin Wall.








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