This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Business & Tech

Urban Pirates Plunder Bridgewater for Modern Gold and Historic Stories

Local treasure hunters Ron and Roland DeGhetto, of Gold Digger Metal Detectors, search for gold, but often unearth pieces of history.

Out west, modern cowboys may try to capture John Wayne's western spirit, and roam the open land in search of truth and meaning.

But in Bridgewater and Raritan, there are two urban pirates who have found meaning by searching for "gold" in local parks.

Ron and Roland DeGhetto, owners of Gold Digger Metal Detectors in Raritan, search for their treasures in such places as Duke Island Park, local beaches and fields. 

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

"My father and I started the hobby of treasure hunting about 30 years ago," Ron DeGhetto said.  "We would try to get out and treasure hunt every chance that we could." 

Over those three decades, the two have found many tangible treasures, like jewelry and historic coins. Recently, they unearthed a 3/4 carat princess cut engagement ring,  and before that, a platinum wedding band.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

But over time, they have also discovered the intangible, namely a father and son camaraderie.     

"This was something we could do together," Roland DeGhetto said.   

But as time passed, their knowledge of searching and the necessary tools also grew, and, in March 2007, Roland DeGhetto started Gold Digger Metal Detectors.

"After all, we had acquired a lot of knowledge on the subject," Ron DeGhetto said. 

It is this knowledge combined with an innate curiosity for history that has helped father and son find coins in parks in Bridgewater and Branchburg.

"[Spanish] reals circulated in the colonies before we had our mints," Ron DeGhetto said. "Our first mints were started in 1793. So Americans didn't make coins for the country until 1793. So the coins that we found predate the American coinage, which means that these were coins that were circulating in the colonies at the time."   

One of their most sentimental finds was a Spanish 2 real that dates back to 1867. They said it was a love token presumably from a mother or father to a child, with the girl's name and date of birth inscribed on one side.

They said they found the coin on a nearby farm, having been very likely transported from New York City where it was lost and then mixed in horse manure used to fertilize the farmer's fields.   

"The best part of treasure hunting is when you hear a solid positive signal that you know from years of experience to be that of an old coin or relic," Ron DeGhetto said. "The anticipation of digging the object out of the ground, not knowing what it may be, is very exciting,"

"Then, all of a sudden, an item that was dropped years ago comes to the surface to tell its story to you," he added. "Whether it has a significant value or not, you have just recovered a small piece of history. Every piece has a story." 

Researching the history of an area is an important part of "treasure" hunting, whether it's from a book or anecdotal stories. Roland DeGhetto, who grew up in nearby Bound Brook, said he remembers when much of the area was all corn fields.

Unfortunately, he said, when the area became developed, much of the topsoil that could have contained coins and relics was removed and sold.

So for them, it is helpful to have actual knowledge about the past.

"Research is very important," Ron DeGhetto said. "That, and talking to old timers."

"Old timers are the best," he added with a broad grin. "[Talking about the past] brings them back to their youth. The stories they tell are really interesting, making them come back to a different time." 

Relics that date to the time of George Washington can also be found in the area.  Although hunting in national parks is off limits and those who do can incur a heavy fine and jail time, Washington's troops were all over New Jersey, Ron DeGhetto said.

A local woman who was digging a rose garden found an actual cannonball.

"She thought it was a rock," he said. 

In addition to searching for treasures, Gold Digger Metal Detectors offers a vast selection of high end, American made metal detectors. They carry brands such as Detector Pro, Fisher, Garrett, Minelab, Teknetic, Tesoro and White, and also carry accessories and supplies.

Ron and Roland DeGhetto said they are very happy to give demonstrations and instructions on how to operate any of the equipment. Their goal, they said, is to teach each and every customer the proper way to find and recover treasures, along with having fun and, hopefully, uncovering profit.

"After all, it's not really so much what you find, but the story behind it," Ron DeGhetto said.

Download the movie

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?