TOLL GATE DIGS Public Deposited
The E-Sylum: Volume 6, Number 14, April 6, 2003, Article 11
TOLL GATE DIGS
Joe Wolfe writes: "This is an article I wrote for a metal
detecting club's monthly newsletter and thought you might
want it for The E-Sylum also. It would demonstrate some
of the research successful coin shooters do to find coins or
caches and provide a little background on where those
dropped coins come from."[I've edited the article a bit to cut down its size, but
the main points remain. -Editor]"One source of sites to search for old coins are tollgates on
pre-1900s turnpikes. The word turnpike by definition contains
tollgates which were the collection points of tolls on the early
Virginia roads. ... I believe people dropped coins around the
tollgates, in the road, at the tollgate, and on the way to the
tollkeeper's house. Remember the tolls were collected all year
long, even during storms, snow, sunrise, and sunset. So a coin
dropped in the mud, snow, or dark could be easily lost.In my research I concentrated on Fairfax and Loudoun Counties
but turnpikes exist all over Virginia and in other states. I found
15 different turnpikes.The single and best source for tollgate locations are old maps.
Not only do they list tollgates but they show the exact location,
the path of the turnpike, place a date on the tollgate, and often
provide the name of the tollkeeper. All these can help to
pinpoint the tollgate. Other sources include books, articles, and
archives for the old turnpike companies. Archives exist in several
local libraries and the State Library in Richmond. The State
Library also has an unpublished manuscript on Virginia Turnpikes.
But maps are the best and this is where I would direct you.Tollgates were usually authorized every five miles and were
often located near bridges and crossroads. I assume this was
to prevent travelers from bypassing the tollgates. The bridge
created a bottleneck in the road and the crossroads allowed
tolls to be collected from everyone passing by. Tollgates
often changed locations as new roads opened and when the
tolltaker changed. Often a person already living in the area
was selected to be the tolltaker and the tollgate moved to his
house. So the tollgate near Difficult Run might have four
different locations, both sides of the road and both sides of
the stream. Of course a map only shows a snapshot of the
tollgates on a turnpike on a certain date. If an old house
exists next to a substantial stream it may be an undocumented
tollgate. I should mention I found the modern reproduction
maps from various sources of data to be worse than useless.
They seemed to place the word "tollgate" on the map where
it was most convenient to write it.I have visited many of these tollgates and I am sorry to say
many are covered by asphalt. As our use of roads developed
the roads were widened and the tollgate covered. The
collection point was often located right next to the road. The
grading of the shoulders of roads also took care of many.
The best to detect are the ones where the tollhouse still
stands or its ruins can be found.One final point is there are still many tollgates around. I found
over 50 locations in Loudoun and Fairfax alone and according
to its annual report the Little River Turnpike, circa 1830,
made over $100,000 in its busiest year.I am still searching for an untouched tollgate and have found
only a few coins so far. The oldest was a 1773 pillar dollar
that was paper-thin."- 2003-04-06
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