Local metal detecting club welcomes new members 

Is it a trinket or a treasure? For Jim Riendeau and Joe Bustamonte, the real value of metal detecting lies in the friendships, history, and time spent outdoors.

In January, the Bellingham brothers-in-law launched the Central New England Relic Hunters, a regional metal detecting club that meets at the Bellingham Sportsman Club on the second Monday of each month from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Members showcase their finds, vote on favorites, hold raffles, and collect donations for Loaves & Fishes Pantry in Bellingham. The club has already attracted 49 members from across Massachusetts, as well as New Hampshire and Connecticut.

“It is such a cool hobby. It’s lots of fun and great people,” said Riendeau, who introduced Bustamonte, the club’s president, to the pastime.

Members have uncovered relics and coins throughout the region, often working with historical societies and coin dealers to identify their discoveries. One member found an Oak Tree Shilling—a rare coin minted in the Massachusetts Bay Colony between 1660 and 1667—worth more than $50,000. Others have recovered George Washington inaugural buttons from 1789, valued at several thousand dollars.

For many detectorists, however, the monetary value is secondary.

“We all do it for the love of history—both the items we find and the towns where we find them,” Riendeau said.

The group organizes three or four outings each year, always securing permission to search, removing litter, and carefully restoring any disturbed ground.

On the club’s first outing of the year in Wellesley, member John Silva of Attleboro unearthed a Spanish 8 Reales coin minted during Mexico’s colonial era.

Metal detecting involves far more than waiting for a machine to beep. Bustamonte said members spend hours researching historic properties, studying old maps, and identifying locations marked by stone walls and other clues.

“You go onto old maps and try to figure out what was there 100 or 200 years ago,” he said. “A lot of it is researching war sites, Puritan settlements, and colonial areas.”

The hobby combines historical research with modern technology. Detectorists use mapping applications and LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) imagery to identify long-forgotten foundations, roads, and homesteads hidden beneath forests and fields.

Oxford resident Robin Rivera, who has been metal detecting for about 16 years, said LiDAR imagery can reveal subtle features that are invisible from the ground.

“If there’s an old foundation in the middle of the woods, you’re apt to see it,” she said.

Rivera recently found a small metal bird on a neighboring property. After researching the item, she learned it was a sewing bird, a tool used in the mid-1800s to hold fabric while sewing. In another case, she recovered a pocket watch that a property owner later matched to an old family photograph, allowing the artifact to remain with its descendants.

Many enthusiasts belong to multiple clubs. Marty Conceicao of Carver joined Central New England Relic Hunters to meet fellow detectorists and explore new locations.

“It’s a chance to metal detect areas I haven’t done before,” he said.

For Bustamonte, the club's appeal extends beyond the finds themselves. “It’s about friendships, laughter, and amazing finds,” he said. “We’re bringing history back to life, one hole at a time.”

New members welcome. For more information visit their public Facebook page @CentralNewEnglandRelicHunters. 

Edited by Theresa Knapp