Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
 |
| Encrusted Coin After Some Cleaning. |
I think the coin shown above is a mercury dime. After about 24 hours in vinegar, I can almost make out the winged head of mercury. It took perfect lighting to show that. There is still a heavy black and very hard crust on the coin. It is very much like the crust on a cob I found back in December. The vinegar wasn't very effective on that one and so I began electrolysis but got interrupted and didn't finish it yet. It looks like this one will require electrolysis too, but it probably isn't worth it except to satisfy my curiosity. When I dug it, I could see no details at all but from the look of the corrosion and size of the coin I thought it was probably a silver dime. That find encouraged me because I thought I might find some more old stuff. Even though the other coins were mostly encrusted, they were on average only about fifty years old and the gold ring didn't look very old.
The coin shown below was also heavily encrusted and showed no details, but I could tell that it was clad by looking at the edge of that coin. The mercury dime, on the other hand, shows a solid blackened and worn silver edge.
 |
| Edge on a Corroded Clad Dime |
When you can't see a date, you can often tell if a coin is clad by looking at the edge of the coin where you'll often see some copper.
Tuesday I was also digging some small chewed up pieces of copper and other metal such as the piece shown below.
 |
| Encrusted Small Piece of Dug Metal. |
Anyone seen one of these?
---
On my last metal detecting outing, I saw the remains of an old building foundation that was exposed on the beach as a result of the erosion. All four outer walls were evidenced by a remaining foot or two of concrete.. There were gaps, but all four corners and most of the bottom of most of all four walls could be seen. There was evidence of two rooms.
 |
| Remains of Foundation on Beach. |
The photo above doesn't show all four walls well, but they were visible when I was there.
There were also concrete erosion control structures on the beach, but this foundation was something different.
A decade or two ago I saw a foundation uncovered on the beach a mile or so to the south. I only saw it once when the beach was eroded way back. It was right up near the water line and at times actually covered by the water. It was near the end of the access road just south of the condos just north of John Brooks beach. I thought there was a World War II watchtower near the same location but much closer to A1A. There was a lot of junk there, including iron and other things that could have been remains of the watchtower. I forget how I found out that is where the watchtower once stood, but the foundation slab I am saw was out at the waters edge instead of being back behind the beach. I don't know what kind of building or construction the slab came from.
I found a WWII watchtower on an old U.S. Geological Survey map. It was located to the south of Frederick Douglass but north of the next beach access. I visited teh site and located the remains of that one, which back then, was in the Australian pines just behind the beach. I'm sure about that one, and don't know why there would be two so close together although there were once more than 15 thousand of them around the United States. Many counties had more than one.
I don't know what building the foundation up near the jetty was. It could have been associated with World War II activities, but I don't know that, and now I'm not so sure now about the one to the north of John Brooks beach. I don't know now how I originally learned about it.
 |
| Preserved World War II Coastal Watchtower at |
In any case, World War II America is fascinating history. Everybody pitched in. They had fund raising drives, and communities actually funded, built and volunteers manned the watchtowers and watched for enemy aircraft or ships.
Here is one link to a little bit about that interesting part of our local history.
World War Two Watchtower Ormond Beach
It amazes me how little people know about such recent history of the land they walk on. Landmarks quickly disappear and people quickly forget and young people generally aren't interested.
If you can shed any light on the newly exposed building foundation, let me know.
---
 |
| Wabasso Beach Cam Thursday Morning. |
 |
| SurfGuru.com Surf Chart for Fort Pierce Inlet Area. |