Vermont

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

Federal land is closed. Access to state land is decided by Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation 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.

State land is managed by the Department, and historic sites fall under separate protection again. Rules are not the same across all properties, so check the individual site.

We do not publish a summary of individual park rules, because they change and they differ site by site.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 Vermont. 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 Vermont 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.

Vermont cleared more land in the early 1800s than it has ever had cleared since. The merino sheep boom stripped the hills to pasture, and when wool collapsed the farms went with it. Something like three quarters of the state is wooded now, and much of that woodland was open field within living memory of the stone walls still running through it. Add the Revolutionary ground around Bennington and the Champlain corridor, and there is a great deal under those trees.

1. 1700sContested settlement, the New Hampshire Grants
2. 1775 onwardRevolutionary campaigns, Bennington, the Champlain corridor
3. 1810 to 1840Merino sheep boom, hills cleared to pasture
4. 1850 onwardWool collapses, farms abandoned, forest returns

Glacial till, often shallow, with limestone influence in the Champlain valley that treats buried metal noticeably better than the granite uplands. Where the soil is sweeter, silver and copper come out cleaner than anywhere else in New England.

Coppers and early silver around farmsteads, sheep and fencing hardware across the old pasture, military material on the Revolutionary ground, and the usual dense scatter of domestic iron wherever a house once stood.