Maryland

Yes, on private land with the landowner’s written permission. That is the clearest legal route in Maryland, and it is the only thing we do.

Federal land is closed. Access to state land is decided by Maryland Park Service, Department of Natural Resources and the rules are not the same at every property. Private ground, with the owner’s written agreement, avoids all of it.

On federal land, the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 makes it an offence to disturb or remove archaeological resources over 100 years old without a permit. The National Park Service prohibits metal detecting outright in national parks.

The Maryland Park Service sets the position for state parks, and it differs by property. A number of sites hold protected archaeological ground where the answer is a flat no regardless of what the neighbouring park allows.

We do not publish a summary of individual park rules, because they change and they differ site by site. The authority above is the one that decides, and they will answer directly.

Public land is complicated. Private land with written permission is not.

Ask the landowner and get it in writing, or book ground where the permission already exists. Knowing where to look is only half of it. The right to be standing there is the half that decides whether the day is detecting or trespass.

1. Identify the ground. Old maps, cellar holes, vanished settlements and terrain will all point you at likely land in Maryland. None of that grants access to it.
2. Find who owns it. County parcel records name the owner. Knocking on the door still works, and still fails most of the time.
3. Get the agreement in writing. Who may search, which fields, on what dates, what happens to anything found, and who carries the liability.
4. Or skip to the end. Every FieldFinders listing in Maryland is land whose owner has already agreed, set their own rate, and approves each request by name. The written search agreement comes with the booking.

Maryland was founded at St Mary’s City in 1634 and grew on tobacco, which meant plantations, private landings and a scatter of small ports rather than towns. Later it became the ground between Washington and Richmond, and the Army of Northern Virginia crossed it twice, at Antietam in 1862 and on the road to Gettysburg in 1863. Southern Maryland and the Eastern Shore still hold farmland that has never been anything but farmland.

1. 1634St Mary’s City, and the tobacco colony
2. 1700sPlantation landings, Annapolis and the rise of Baltimore
3. 1812 to 1814The Chesapeake campaign, Bladensburg and Baltimore
4. 1862 to 1863Antietam, and the Confederate crossings north

Coastal plain soil on the Eastern Shore and through the south, easy to work and kind to silver. Piedmont ground west of the fall line is heavier and more mineralised. Tobacco land that has been ploughed for three centuries keeps bringing material to the surface, which is exactly why it is worth walking twice.

Colonial coppers and Spanish silver on plantation ground, buttons and buckles across the whole state, War of 1812 and Civil War material along the marching routes. Antietam and the other federal battlefield parks are closed.