How to Find Older Parks to Metal Detect Using Zillow
If you enjoy metal detecting in parks and are keen on finding old coins or relics, it can be challenging when you live in a city, like mine, which was incorporated in 2000. Additionally, the surrounding cities incorporated in the late ’80s and ’90s, making it difficult to locate older parks and greenbelts suitable for metal detecting.
For metal detectorists in my area, they are delighted when they find a coin that is older than 1965, the ‘silver years.’ In fact, local detectorists are exceptionally secretive about their detecting spots, only sharing their find locations with their closest metal detecting buddies whom they trust not to reveal them. The importance of keeping a good metal detecting spot a secret is so significant that friendships have been strained due to inadvertent leaks.
To find metal detecting spots in areas that have been incorporated since the 1970s in the United States, many detectorists rely on websites like Topo Maps and Historical Aerials, but not everyone utilizes Zillow.
Designed primarily for searching local residential real estate for sale, Zillow offers a detailed search feature that enables users to look for homes built within specific time periods. For example, I search for homes built before 1950 that have recently been sold.
After conducting a Zillow search with the right parameters “sold & maximum year built”, the maps illuminate areas that are older, and my next step is to make a note of the parks and green belts that allow metal detecting.
Following that, I take the names of various parks and green belts near the older homes and perform a Google search to check if any photos are available online. This helps me assess the types of trees in these areas, discerning whether they are older or more recently planted. If I spot older trees, I add these locations to my list of places to metal detect.
Using this method, I have discovered older parks and greenbelts for metal detecting in a matter of minutes, which is especially useful when I have limited time for research. Some of these parks have proven to be quite productive, yielding older coins, and relics as a result, they have become some of my go-to locations where I consistently find valuable items during multiple visits.
A Small Sample of Items Found in Metal Detecting
at Parks Found on Zillow Using This Method
You can also employ this same method to locate older properties, which you can then approach the owners for permission metal detecting their yards. Or you and use this method to search for potential curb strips in older neighborhoods to metal detect.
Because Zillow provides a dependable and user-friendly Android and Apple app, I utilize this research method while traveling to new locations. I use my phone to quickly and easily gain insight into older neighborhood parks suitable for metal detecting. The app is more user-friendly than attempting to navigate Historical Aerials or Topo maps on a mobile browser.
On the App click on Filter, right-hand corner, and see green arrow. 
Then a drop down will appear look for “Year Built” n the “Max” field put a date. I put 1950
Conclusion – If you are struggling to find metal detecting spots, or want to open up to tools that are easier to use than Topo Maps and Historical Maps or just want a different method of finding locations for metal detecting consider the Zillow Search method mentioned above.
Joanna Jana Laznicka, a Czech-Canadian residing in Southern California, is passionate about all things associated with metal detecting. She mainly detects on the West Coast, from Southern California to Northern British Columbia. As the founder of Focus Speed, her goal is to bring quality content to metal detectorists.
