'Diggers' Take Their Metal Detectors, TV Cameras To New Jersey
By John Ostapkovich
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - One of the last (if not the last) clash of the Revolutionary War occurred near the Jersey Shore and a National Geographic Channel show goes there tomorrow night.
Cedar Creek Bridge, New Jersey erupted on December 27, 1782 when Patriot troops on the hunt for a notorious Loyalist militia leader stumbled upon him in a tavern in a Loyalist town near Manahawkin.
Cue the guys with the metal detectors: "I got silver. There it is, right there on edge. Look at that."
The show Diggers follows Tim Saylor and George Wyant as they engage in a friendly competition to find the best artifacts. "Civ" is short for a Civil War find. This would be "Rev" if scholars agree.
Wyantt says, "We travel with a team of archeologists and a lot of times when we can't identify stuff they already know what happened there, when it happened and a lot of times it often opens up a whole new chapter of the area."
In this case, the Loyalist leader escaped, only to be killed months after the peace treaty was signed.
Saylor says the Diggers are rivals, "We love the idea of being able to uncover something that's been laying the ground for 200 years and we compete with each other too. And at the end of every show, I don't care who you are, you're going to get a laugh out of it because we always have a competition and the guy who loses always ends up getting hurt, humiliated or punished somehow."
The episode "New Jersey, Old Nectar" airs tomorrow night at 10.
