About Us

Under the direction of a friend’s father, Howard Alligood started digging in 1963 using an old army mine detector. Howard traveled extensively to different digs, including the camp sites and battlefields of Eastern North Carolina, and has been an avid digger ever since. He became an artifact dealer in 1971, and opened Arsenal Artifacts in Fayetteville, North Carolina in 1978. Kathleen (Howard’s wife) added prints and framing to the business in 1990. The addition of Chrissy (Howard’s daughter-in-law) in 1994, made the company more viable. The business relocated to the beautiful mountains of western North Carolina in 1996.