You can often find Donna Arsenault in a cellar hole.

Gary Baril can be found roaming old settlements.

They’re searching for history with modern technology, and if the historic remnants they find are valuable, so much the better.

Arsenault and her husband, Joe, as well as Baril and hundreds of other Maine “detectorists” regularly scour Maine’s farms, beaches and even ocean bottom, looking for treasure with metal detectors.

Arsenault, of Livermore Falls, has been detecting for about 12 years, ever since her husband came home from work one day with a metal detector. They were hooked right away.

“We usually have decent luck finding stuff,” she says.

Many types of terrain are fair game for detecting. “Everybody has their little niche,” Arsenault notes. “Some people like to do strictly water, some people like to do strictly the saltwater beaches. . . . It all depends on the person.”

Those who live close to the beach are likely to spend a lot of time detecting at the beach. Arsenault herself likes old cellar holes and early settlements. “I like the history of it,” she explains.

“The coolest thing I ever found would have to be an early militia button,” Arsenault says. “We knew it was an early military button because it had an eagle on it and it had 13 stars around it.”

To learn more, the Arsenaults brought the button to Republic Jewelry & Collectibles in Auburn, where Dan Cunliffe Sr. identified it as being from the late 1700s to early 1800s. “That was pretty cool for me because there’s a lot of military history in my family,” says Arsenault.

A lot of others think finding buried treasure is cool too.

When Arsenault and her husband decided they liked detecting so much they would start an online forum — Metal Detecting Maine — to provide a place for local detecting enthusiasts to swap stories and tips, they started in 2006 with about eight to 10 people. Today, almost seven years later, there are about 900 members on the forum.

Like the Arsenaults, many detectorists are searching for more than fortune. Historical finds can be as big a draw to the hobby as the idea of lost treasure. Among such enthusiasts are forum members Bill Calthorpe and Gary Baril.

Baril, of Livermore Falls, has been detecting off and on for about 15 years. “Finding old relics and trying to find the back story of them,” he explains, is what interested him in metal detecting. “Everything has a story.”

Baril refers to the Maine Memory Network or historical maps to find promising spots to go detecting. Often places like old foundations are good bets for finding something interesting, and detectorists can then backtrack and find out who used to live there and what the items might be.

His recent favorite finds include an 1854 large cent and a Murdoch & Freeman bottle from 1895, which was the first year that company made crown-top bottles.

Calthorpe, of Chebeague Island, likes tracking the ownership of items and getting them back to their owners whenever he can. “I’ve found a lot of rings that I’ve been able to return,” he says.

Living in a small community has its benefits. “I know everybody,” Calthorpe explains, “and if I can find something with initials on it, I can usually figure out whose it was and return it to them or to a family member.”

For Calthorpe, metal detecting was a childhood hobby that he rediscovered as an adult. He is now an active member of the online forum at MetalDetectingMaine.com. Arsenault describes the forum as “a place where people can share their stories and share their knowledge, and where people who are interested in the hobby can sign up, ask questions and get some information.”

Members are happy to give tips and advice to beginners. For instance, Arsenault encourages detectorists to “be mindful of the land,” always get permission before detecting on private property, and return land to the way it was, leaving behind no big holes or lots of overturned land.

For those interested in trying metal detecting, Arsenault encourages going along with an experienced detectorist to get the feeling of the hobby and see what it’s like. Once interested, she suggests picking up an inexpensive metal detector and trying it out firsthand.

Prices can range from under $200 up into the thousands of dollars. The forum has links to metal detector dealers who have specific knowledge of the equipment and can help beginners find a detector for their specific needs. For instance, some detectors are made for water submersion and some are better for specific terrain.

Renting is also an option. Republic Jewelry in Auburn rents detectors starting at $20 a day, and will put the rental cost toward the purchase of a metal detector if a renter is later interested in buying.

People find and bring in a wide range of items for evaluation. “Coins are one of the big things that everybody finds,” says Dan Cunliffe II of Republic Jewelry, “but we’ve also had people bring in diamond rings and bracelets that are worth thousands of dollars.”

Cunliffe says he sold a detector to someone who went to Arizona and found 28 ounces of gold in the ground.

Whether detectorists keep the items, return them to their owners or donate them to a historical society, most feel they have uncovered something from the past that will likely be of value to someone.

The best way to start detecting is to just get out there and do it, says Baril. “You may not make riches off of it, but you’re out there uncovering history.”