Evan Woodard is a relic hunter. If this sounds like something out of an Indiana Jones movie, that’s because it is — sort of.
Pre-pandemic, while working a full-time job, Evan also worked as a photographer. However, the pandemic completely cratered his side hustle. Like many others, Evan spent the pandemic searching for a new creative outlet. He started going on weekly hikes with a friend. On their journeys through the Baltimore area, Evan began finding vintage beer bottles, pieces of glass, and other trash in the woods.
Sometimes he would find them in places that weren’t frequently visited by the general public. He started collecting them without thinking too much about it and soon discovered there was a whole community around relic hunting.
“It was a natural kind of progression,” he says.
Evan has always been a fan of history and archaeology. As a kid, he was obsessed with Indiana Jones. “As an adult, I'm still pretty into him and that lifestyle.”
Throughout middle school, history was always his best class. He loved geography and studying maps. He was fascinated by the movement of people and how life has (and in many ways hasn’t) changed.
From this, Evan started his business, Salvage Arc. On weekends or after a workday, you can find him exploring people’s backyards and other sites, searching for relics in 18th- to 20th-century homesteads, rubbish dumps, and privies. His finds include flasks, glass bottles, ceramics, and even dentures. He’s found two sets, one from the 1870s and a newer set probably from the late 1800s or early 1900s.
His new creative outlet has become a full-time job in and of itself. He spends hours researching areas and contacting people to set up digs.
Eventually, he began collecting so many items that he didn’t know what to do with all of them. Rather than trash them, he started repurposing his finds. On his website, you can find historical bottles that serve as beautiful pieces of art as well as containers for candles that Evan created. He’s also recently been delving into jewelry-making, crafting pieces from vintage ceramic objects. While Evan doesn’t plan to put all his energy into selling items, he likes meeting people at craft shows and making a personal connection with them. It also helps to put a face to the name. He currently has 33,200 followers on Instagram. When his followers get to meet him in real life, they love talking to him and finding out more about the pieces he sells.
Putting the items he finds and the places he explores in perspective helps Evan’s followers connect and stay engaged. One surprising fact was how many breweries Baltimore used to have. Evan says that right before Prohibition, there were around 115, with one on almost every street corner. He often finds bottles in shades of dark brown, deep green, or iridescent colors left over from this time, with the brewery names still carved into them When he posts about his findings, Evan likes to find a way to make the story engaging, noting that “People like history, but if they don't have a way to connect to it and relate to it, they're not going to be invested, like with many things in life.”
What keeps Evan going is his love of history. Whereas with photography, he had to answer to clients and felt like he was losing his creative freedom, relic hunting continues to bring him joy with no strings attached. Every excursion means a new discovery. He enjoys teaching people something they wouldn’t necessarily learn otherwise. By exploring the history behind an object and collecting facts around it, he’s able to make relic hunting entertaining and relatable.
Relic hunting also presents him with a unique opportunity to photograph, film, and write about his findings all at once.
He’s happy to see that others have also taken up relic hunting as a hobby and by doing so connected with their local history. Some have asked him if he’s concerned that people are copying his work. Evan is quick to respond that as long as they’re telling others about the history behind their finds, he doesn’t care.
“They're telling their own story. And I never see that as a threat and never see other people doing the same thing I do as a threat. I'm happy to teach people how to do something and let them go wild. I mean, if you do it better than me, that's on me!”
Before I spoke to Evan, when thinking about relic hunting, the first thing that came to my mind was an elderly white man with cargo shorts and a metal detector. When I mentioned this to Evan, I asked if relic hunting is an inclusive community. He admitted that when picking up a magazine about relic hunting or exploring the community, he was very much in the minority.
“Relic hunting is definitely, for a lack of a better term, a ‘good old boys club.’ There aren’t a lot of people of color or women or anything like that in the space. And I can really count on one or two hands the women that I know out there who are doing this. There are plenty of them in the archeological space, but as far as just having fun — the nonacademic side — I feel like it has been very targeted toward older white men. And now I'm glad that I get to come in here and make a difference and show people that history is for everyone, academic or not. I believe that everyone should be able to go out and do their own dig if it's on private property.”
There’s also a part of the relic hunting and archaeological community that believes things need to be done by the book. Evan feels like he’s stepped away from this mindset in a way that’s helped make the community more inclusive and welcoming. He wants to show people that there are many ways to tell a story, particularly since it’s been one specific group telling the same story for the past few thousand years.
Sharing on social media is a way for Evan to create an archive and educate the public. He hopes that by sharing the stories of the objects he finds, someone in the future can use the information for their own benefit.
What Evan most wants people to take away is that anyone can be a relic hunter. According to him, the most expensive item you really need is a shovel. The internet has a wealth of knowledge on maps and data to begin hunting sites. Evan notes, “That’s probably the biggest hurdle for a lot of people. It's just seeing that they can go do it.”
The other aspect is knowing how to properly dig. Just digging up a privy without any research or preparation can cause damage to the items you’re seeking.
Baltimore is one of Evan’s favorite places to explore. Growing up outside of Washington, D.C., he often visited his father’s law firm in Baltimore. He remembers how gritty and dirty the city was but also how beautiful the abandoned industrial areas were. This architecture was something D.C. lacked (and still does to this day, in his eyes, due to redevelopment).
These days, Evan has branched out to other states. He’s done digs in York, Pennsylvania, as well as lower Manhattan. He will travel wherever people will invite him to dig on their property.
One aspect of his digs that Evan is proud of is how it brings folks out to neighborhoods they wouldn’t normally explore. Many of the sites he visits are often on the outskirts of the city, places that some would refer to as “sketchy.” By encouraging people to come and watch a dig, it shows them “it’s not a danger zone.” It also shows people that a dig isn’t a five-minute job but rather an all-day affair.
What keeps Evan going out on digs isn’t money or the fact that he might make a career out of it someday.
“I wasn't expecting to be where I am right now,” he says, “If you asked me back in June of 2020 what would I be doing today? Probably just going to work like normal. But here I am. I just keep evolving and learning different ways to make history cool to people and to educate folks and get them into history. And I think that's what keeps me going. It's not like I'm getting paid. So I just do it for the love of it.”
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