Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Treasure



I took this at Aaron's Beach this past weekend when gale force winds were blowing through; sand pelted my bare legs. If you double click on the image, you can just see the white caps on the bay. This was one of those days when people around here might say it was blowin' so hard there were white caps in the toilet.

Here lately, I've been giving a whole lot of thought to ways of earning extra money. Most of these thoughts involve highly unlikely scenarios, such as winning the lottery that I rarely play; shaking hands with and accepting an over sized check from Ed McMahon because I won a sweepstakes I didn't enter.

Or, sometimes I dream that I'm going to find buried treasure.

With so many stories floating around Mathews of pirates and buried treasure, I've decided that indeed there has to be something of value buried around here somewhere. And I'm going to be the person to find it, even though I don't know how. Or where, but I've narrowed it down to off Gwynn's Island or down Haven Beach.

Last year I wrote about the Haven Beach ghost story, and its associated buried treasure. Today I'll share an excerpt about buried treasure from the booklet "Memories of a Gwynn's Island Childhood," by Jean Sparrow Pendleton, published by the Gwynn's Island Museum.

(Note to Blog Fest guests: I am hoping the museum will be a stop on our tour. If I win the lottery, I'll drive you there in a limousine. In the meantime I hope a Saturn will do.)

"....Because of the long history of pirates who sailed the Chesapeake Bay area, many tales of buried chests circulated around the island. My grandma, Susan Sparrow, told one from personal experience. She used to visit Cherry Point as a young girl, and she remembered taking a walk one day over to the bay side on the beach, where she saw a ship anchored off the island. A smaller boat was coming toward the shore with one black man and two white men in it. Grandma was scared but curious, so she hid behind a clump of bushes and watched to see what the men would do. They came ashore, walked off so many paces from a marked spot, and began digging. They eventually pulled up some sort of chest, put it in the boat and promptly left!...."

"...I can also remember many stories about an old chest that lay buried somewhere around the black beacon just outside the harbor, right off Cherry Point. Many old-timers claimed that they could see it in the winter when the water was clear. Several tried to get it up out of the water, but it was too heavy and too well into the sand for them to move it. My father saw it several times. Over the years, as the channel deepened, the chest finally disappeared, and is probably still down there today, full of its secret treasures!"


So, folks, there you have it. There's loot buried all around us here in Mathews. Hopefully I'll find it some day, probably around the same day as I win that lottery or sweepstakes.

12 comments:

Karen Deborah said...

why don't you sell your photos on Etsy? Mount them on something thicker and do a soft non glossy finish and price em. They are great.

Ann Marie said...

Okey... call me stupid.. where is Aaron's beach?????

Mental P Mama said...

So....I should bring my metal detector? I've already spent the loot;)

Anonymous said...

First of all, I just read the last blog and it is very funny....and I also thought that CB Daddy made up the boom bam bippy part of that phrase, because he said it for many years before I heard CB Mamma say it, but...

Anyway, lots of fun. See you this weekend!

Middle Sis

Unknown said...

I used to have a top of the line metal detector, and I'd comb the beach in the early mornings after a storm. My kids were totally embarrassed but I found some pretty good stuff.

Should we pack a shovel for blog fest?

kd said...

The Ed McMahon thing probably won't work out now. (RIP Ed).

A book about Mathews might, though!

Anonymous said...

Yes, let's hope you DON'T shake hands with Ed McMahon anytime soon, may he rest in peace.
Love,
Baby Sis

Meg McCormick said...

Ed's dead... but maybe Ryan Seacrest will take over?

I'll be driving a giant, gas-guzzing, 8-passenger vehicle to Blogfest. Who wants a ride?? First to call "shotgun" gets it.

mmm said...

Yes, Ed has passed; but, I do think Publisher's Clearing House is still giving away money. So, there's hope.

Chesapeake Bay Woman said...

KD-Never really checked Etsy out thoroughly. Will have to give it a whirl, thanks. I know I ought to try something with photos, but I don't know what and don't have enough free time to investigate options, including a calendar. No matter what it is, though, I can't see it earning a great deal of money because the profit margin is not going to be huge. I'll continue thinking on it though. It's probably a better use of daydream time than thinking I'm going to find buried treasure or win the lottery!

Ann Marie - I wouldn't know it was Aaron's Beach if the sign leading down didn't say Aaron's Beach Road. Anonymous Mathews Native (AMN) confirms there's a story about someone named Aaron associated with the beach. (She is supposed to write me the full-blown story, are you reading this, AMN?) Anyway - it is located between Bethel and Haven. If you're coming from the court house, turn right at the stop sign at the little red barn with the Ocean Products sign instead of turning left to go down to Haven. Follow it to the end. Nice little beach, my favorite of the public ones.

MPM-Yes, bring one. There's plenty of good hunting ground here.

Middle Sis - I always thought Boom Bam Bippy was CB Father's expression too. See you Friday. Qwah.

GJ-Would be fascinated to know what you found. I have a shovel here you can borrow, you'll probably want to travel light and ought not be toting a shovel through airports (or in your car). Something tells me there may be a security concern...

KD, Baby Sis, Meg and MMM-Here is the *really* eerie thing as it relates to my Ed McMahon reference on the very day he dies...last night as I was typing this fast and furiously before bed, I stopped to pause because I couldn't remember if he was dead or alive. Now, voila, he's passed away. This is the sort of weird stuff that convinces me I have some sort of intuition or sixth sense about things. I can't predict per se when or what things are going to happen but I will think of a topic, stop to reflect on it for a moment, and then soon thereafter the very thing I was thinking of happens.

If only I could envision those winning lottery numbers....

Anonymous said...

I agree with KD, a book in the style of a coffee-table book that is mostly pictures with occasional words of wit or short stories intermingled.

But what do I know, I'm single and stalk blogs for entertainment.

Chesapeake Bay Woman said...

SMBS-In addition to locating a reality TV producer for me, could you now please locate a publisher willing to work with a very unorganized and frazzled individual with limited (i.e. non-existent)skills? If you can't locate any of the above, just send winning lottery tickets. Thank you.

p.s. I do really like your coffee table/picture book idea though.