Guardian Stone Care Guardian Stone CarePreserving America's Stories in Stone

Ground Explorer

See the shape of the land under the trees. Old cellar holes, stone walls, lost roads and forgotten burial grounds show up plainly in government laser-survey maps — free to use, anywhere in the United States. It can also point out where stream gold settles and where the old gem quarries and mines were. Looking for stream gold or old gem quarries? Try our full explorer, Lost Homesteads.

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?

HOW CLOSEZoom in
3 free scans a day

3 free scans every day. The AI scan works, but we’re still fine-tuning it. Treat what it marks as places worth a closer look, not sure things, and always check on the ground with the landowner’s permission. Found something, or think it got one wrong? Tell us at jim@guardianstonecare.com — it helps us make it better. Testers who report back earn free scans and a spot on our Field Testers page.

How to Use It

  1. Find a place.Type a town or address, or tap “My location” if you are standing there.
  2. Pick what you are looking for.Old homes & graves, gold, or gems. The map tips and the AI change to match.
  3. Switch to “Hidden Ground.”The trees disappear and you see the bare earth, lit from the side.
  4. Try “Fine Detail.”It takes away the hills and shows only the small bumps and dips: walls, cellar holes, sunken roads, even rows of graves under the trees. Hollows look dark, raised spots look light. Zoom in close to use it.
  5. Turn on “Old map.”It lays a government map from the 1890s–1950s over the ground. Roads and houses drawn on it that are gone today are your best leads. Turn on “Today’s roads” to see what is still there.
  6. Follow the lost roads.Families lived along the roads and buried their dead close to home. Walk your eye along an old road and check every knoll and rise near it.
  7. Zoom in until the box at the top says “Close enough.”Cellar holes and graves are small; they only show up close.
  8. Look for straight lines and square shapes in the woods.Nature rarely makes them. People did.
  9. Not sure? Ask the AI to scan.It marks anything that looks man-made and tells you why.

What to Look For

Cellar Holes

A square or rectangular dip, often 20–40 feet across, sometimes with a mound beside it where the chimney fell. Usually near an old road or a stone wall corner.

Stone Walls

Long, thin raised lines, often meeting at right angles. They mark old fields and property lines — and a farmhouse is rarely far away.

Old Roads

A shallow sunken lane, often with a low bank on each side, wandering through the woods and sometimes lined with walls.

Burial Grounds

A small square enclosure, or rows of slight dips. Family plots were often set on a knoll near the house. If you find one, treat it with respect — and let us know.

Search Responsibly

Before you go: get the landowner’s permission — tap a lot with “Property lines” turned on to get its map and lot number for the town office. Never dig or metal-detect in a cemetery or burial ground. Archaeological sites on public land are protected by state and federal law. Leave stone walls and cellar holes as you found them; they are someone’s history. Gold in a streambed belongs to the landowner, and every state sets its own rules for panning and sluicing — check with your state’s geological survey or environmental agency first (in Maine, for example, hand panning needs no state permit if you don’t disturb the banks, while motorized gear has a set season and some streams are closed). Old quarries are private land with deep water and loose rock: ask the owner, and never go alone. Map features are approximate — always confirm on the ground.

Gear for the Field

What experienced cellar-hole hunters and detectorists carry.

Handheld GPS

Phones lose signal in the woods. A dedicated GPS gets you back to the spot you marked.

Find one

Soil Probe

Find buried foundation stones and sunken markers without digging.

Find one

Metal Detector & Pinpointer

For permitted searches on private land — never in a cemetery.

Detectors Pinpointers

Field Guides

Reading stone walls, old foundations and the bottles and pottery found around them.

Books

Trail Boots & Tick Protection

Old farm sites are brushy and tick country. Gaiters and permethrin-treated clothing help.

Find them

Gold Pan & Sluice

A pan, a screen (classifier) to sift out the big rocks, and a small sluice box — the basic kit for working stream gravel.

Pans & kits Sluices

Rock Hammer, Loupe & Safety Glasses

For checking quarry dump piles and ledges for tourmaline, quartz and garnet. Rock chips fly — wear the glasses.

Hammers Loupes

The Gravestone Guardian’s Manual

Found a burial ground? Our book covers documenting it properly and caring for the stones safely.

See the book

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No guarantees. The Ground Explorer and its AI scan cannot promise to find every cemetery, cellar hole or old home site, and a spot it marks may turn out to be nothing. What they do is point you to likely places worth a closer look. Always confirm on the ground, with the landowner’s permission.