‘Dirt fishing': Old golf course shows its mettle
“We call it ‘dirt fishing’,” Steve Herr said of using a metal detector to search for hidden items in the soil. He’s among the hobbyists who explored the golf course at Overton Park while the surface was being graded. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian)
Steve Herr holds a Civil War-ear musket ball he unearthed at Overton Park April 15, 2021. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian)
Steve Herr waves his metal detector around the Overton Park golf course April 15, 2021. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian)
Many of the items Steve Herr has unearthed with his metal detector predate the founding of the park in the early 1900s by many decades. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian)
What do you get when you mix bulldozers with acreage that has been populated for generations? “The opportunity of a lifetime,” says one hobbyist who spent 10 weeks hovering his metal detector over the Overton Park Golf Course.
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Overton Park Overton Park Conservancy Links at Overton Park metal detectingTom Bailey
Tom Bailey retired in January as a business reporter at The Daily Memphian, and after 40 years in journalism. A Tupelo, Mississippi, native, he graduated from Mississippi State University. He has lived in Midtown for 36 years.