Coin Hunting on Wildwood, New Jersey's Five Mile Beach

You don't need a calendar to tell you when it's Summer in New Jersey. Just take a ride on the Garden State Parkway and count the Canadian license plates headed south. For perhaps two decades Canadians have been invading my home state's shore points in growing numbers. And most of them, it would seem, go to the four similarly named beach resort towns collectively called The Wildwoods (Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, North Wildwood, and West Wildwood), on an island all the way down at the end of the state. How far down is it, I hear somebody who's never been there asking? Well, once you pass the Atlantic City exits (#40-to-#38) you still have at least a half hour to drive. For the purpose of this story we're simply going to call the destination "Wildwood."

The Canadian presence is very welcome business in Wildwood. So much so that many motels, restaurants, and other businesses that cater to tourists have signage in both English and French. Actually, I think that's because a lot of folks in New Jersey think everybody from Canada speaks French.

And the number of visiting Canadians seems to grow by leaps and bounds each year. Why? Because many have been finding coins, lots of them, along the area's famous Five Mile Beach. People with metal detectors have been culling the Wildwood sands for as long as most people can remember. To be sure, hundreds of coin hunters also work other beaches for several miles along the New Jersey shoreline. But the Wildwood hunters are a loyal lot. They love Wildwood. And their ranks have increased in recent years. And if you listen hard you might hear someone slowly walking in the sand singing "Thank heaven....for little girls...." (You'll be able to tell quickly if the singer is an American since the tune would be off-key).

"If found some gold rings, silver chains with religious medals, but mostly coins," notes Ben Aranui of White Plains, N.Y. "Every so often I turn up a Canadian coin or two, and I know a few fellows who've had the same experience. But the Canadian stuff is usually pretty modern, mostly coins minted in the last fifty years."