Last modified on Wed 21 Apr 2021 03.31 EDT
Socially distanced archaeologists in masks trudged through the wet forests on Marylandâs eastern shore, searching for signs of a long-abandoned home.
Julie Schablitsky, the chief archeologist for Marylandâs state highway administration, used a metal detector, hoping for nails or other signs of an old building.
Instead, along the roadway, she found an 1808 coin imprinted with the word âlibertyâ.
âWhen this thing came out of the ground, I was shocked,â Schablitsky told the Guardian.
Her discovery in November became a hopeful calling card: she and her team understood they might be getting close to finding the one-time home of Ben Ross, father of the famed Underground Railroad conductor, political activist and abolitionist Harriet Tubman.