Treasure Hunting in New Jersey - Read or Post a Message / Question

    New Jersey Metal Detecting Clubs - On Lost Treasure Online^©!

RELICS, COINS, & JEWELRY

New Jersey has a rich history of early settlements and battlefields - the perfect combination for an energetic relic hunter!  Here's a few more ideas to get you started:

• Schools and College Campuses
• Parks / Playgrounds / Picnic Areas
• Foundations, Wells, and Cellar Holes of Old Churches or Houses
• Downtown Construction Sites
• Swimming Holes, Beaches, and Natural Springs
• Camp Grounds, Boy Scout Camps, WPA Camps, and Mining Camps
• Sports Facilities
• Ghost Towns
• Rodeo Arenas, Riding Stables, and Race Tracks
• Old Fair and Carnival Locations
• Old Town Dumpsites

GEMS

Although the State is not often thought of as a gem producing State, deposits in New Jersey do furnish a number of collector/specialty stones. Facet-grade, colorless analcine is recovered from the Watchung basalt flows, facet-grade datolite is recovered from basalt flows in Passaic and Bergen Counties as is gem-quality natrolite, and deposits in the State also produce gem-quality epidote. The world famous zinc deposits near Franklin and Ogdensburg in Sussex County produced gem-quality sphalerite, willemite, and zincite.

LOST TREASURE

As in other areas of the US, there are several tales of lost treasure in New Jersey concerning caches buried for safety.  In many of these stories, people either died or forgot where they buried the stash.  Contributing factors include:  

    1.  Federal laws making possession of gold illegal in the early 1900s

    2.  Distrust of banks during the Great Depression. 

• Throughout recent years, numerous old coins have washed up on New Jersey beaches, particularly after storms and high tides or, especially, after a combination of both of these events.  Asbury Park, Stone Harbor, Beach Haven, and other coastal sites have been mentioned in this regard.  Pirate gold is also said to be secreted at several places including Perth Amboy and Cape May.
• Near Colt's Neck and near Farmingdale, both in Monmouth County, robbers who terrorized the pine barrens are said to have buried their loot.
• Near Caldwell a German naval officer is said to have secreted a treasure before he was killed.

These excerpts are a sampling from American Coin Treasures and Hoards

References to Find More Treasure in New Jersey

• New Jersey Atlas & Gazetteer
• Diver's Guide to NJ Beach Diving Sites  
• Iron in the Pines - New Jersey's Ghost Towns 
• Atlantic City - 125 Years of Ocean Madness 
• Myth, Reality, and the Media in Civil War New Jersey 
• General William Maxwell and the New Jersey Continentals 
• New Jerseyans in the Civil War - For Union and Liberty 
• New Jersey and the Revolutionary War 
• The Calamitous American Defense of NJ, 1776 
• A Guide to New Jersey's Revolutionary War Trail
• Winter Soldiers - The Battles for Trenton and Princeton 
• Remember You Are Jerseymen - NJ in the Civil War 

New Jersey Metal Detecting Leads

• Historic New Jersey Maps - Quad Index ~ Town Index ~ Image Map
• Ghost Towns.com  - Premier Ghost Town Site of New Jersey
• Ghost towns of the NJ Pine Barrens
• New Jersey Grids -Use this tool to document the location of your finds!
• Lost Treasure - New Jersey State Treasure Tale of the Month
• Online Maps of New Jersey - Collection Index

Back to How & Where to Find Treasure               Treasurefish HOME

     Information posted is from various United States Geologic Service (USGS) material and the Gold Prospectors Association of America ( GPAA) Mining Guide.  The GPAA is a professional, family oriented organization that's been around for awhile and they'll treat you right.  There's many more areas to find gold than what's listed above.  If you are serious about finding gold, we recommend that you check out your local club to learn the proper techniques and some good spots to hunt from the pros.  The only alternative is to spend a whole lot of money on gas and wasting valuable time doing your own thing.  For more information, Click Here