Hurried Signs

[dawgwood]

We have one of those local hidden gold stories still floating around about one of the properties we own. There was a 63 year old man who hid his season's earnings in an iron pot in 1863 and with the help of one of his slaves buried the gold and told no one. It is rumored he then killed the slave but the family says that is not true. No one has ever found the "pot". The man and his family are also buried on our property. What we know of the man is that he was a surveyor and a master mason. With this knowledge and the fact that he died 3 days after he hid his gold what type of signs do you think he would have left? Any help will be greatly appreciated! We have our property "posted" but of course we still find people at times walking around with their MD. We have found chiseled rocks with some markings and a dogwood tree split in the middle with a rock and the rock is still there andhas not been removed after all of these years. I can add photos of these markings later.

Thanks!
Dawgwood

 

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[Kentucky Kache]

Those pictures will be interesting.
Have you done research on the old man? And his slave?

 

[dawgwood]

We can not find any information about the slave or the validity of the slave being killed at that time. We are still researching "the man" and plan to visit the local library to see what else we can find out next week.

Thanks!
Dawgwood

 

[BuckleBoy]

How large is the property that he owned? Do you currently own all of the property that he owned in the 1860s?


-Buckles

 

[dawgwood]

I own most of the land he owned. I own where his house was, the cemetery, and his cotton field. I will try to get photos on before I have my total knee replacement on 11/11. That darn knee is keeping me from getting things done. I should be home a week later and can't wait to start looking again. I have heard that kicking a shovel around for years did help with the arthritis and deterioration. I hope my new bionic knee will only help me dig faster!

 

[Seajay]

Dear Dawgwood,

Here in Eastern NC, our county historical society published a county history which included family histories, a story/lead about a pot of gold being buried, and a slave uprising as well. Perhaps your county historical society has published one of these books that might be of help. There is an elderly gentleman in our church who recalled a lynching incident as well. It was passed down to him by the elderly folks in his day. Casual inquiries might just jog someon's memory, elderly person or historian, as well. The lead sounds interesting and no telling where it might lead. Anyway, just a couple of ideas I thought I'd pass on to you. Hope the bionic knee helps, too!

Seajay

 

[xdanthemanx]

most likely if there was a cache buried and you know where the house was its withing seeing distance, wouldn't you want to be able to keep your eye on your stash
anyone with with a bit of experience and a 15" coil in all metal should be able to hit that a few feet deep no problem, start at the foundation and work outwards, a few cans of grass marking paint might help out to keep track of where your at.
dan

 

[dawgwood]

Thanks Seajay and Dan:

I am posting some photos taken this morning below. Any ideas or suggestions are greatly appreciated. One photo is a rock embedded into and splitting a tree. In the V of the tree you can see a rock. That rock is about 8 feet away and is chiseled into an arrow shape with a another arrow pointing to 2 huge oaks that make about a 12 foot triangle with the rock tree. Beside the rock/tree is another rock with an open end chiseled out. Also on the rock tree is a carved arrow above the rock. Hope all of this makes sense. If not I'll try to draw a map.

Thanks!
Dawgwood

 

[dawgwood]

More tree with carved marking and rocks behind.

 

[dawgwood]

OK, here are the rocks!
The arrow rock is about 30" long and open ended rock is about 20" long.
Thanks

Dawgwood

 

[xdanthemanx]

you should re post this in treasure marks and signs board, a lot of the guys that do a lot of homework on this stuff and really know thier %^& hang out there and might not necessarily spend a lot of time browsing the rest of this board,

also from late 1800's i would say that tree isn't big enought to fit the story
i would start there by validating the tree, measure it figure out what kind of tree it is etc. looks like maple to me in which case some of them grow pretty fast.

the story might be true but as for him making markers to get back to his money, it is doubtfull in my opinion, think about it logically, would you bury a crapload of money out of your own site and also are you going to bury it in a place that you are totally unfamiliar with??
I would say the rocks are a coincidence fueled by a story and something you want them to be.

If i were to come search your property this is how i would go about it.

start and the foundation and gradually work your way out. this would be the start of any type of search. once i had achieved a distance of about say 20 yards i would then start looking for large rocks or other landmarks to hunt around, if you have quite a few large rocks and such look at the arrangement i would search in line like connecting the dots between each landmark or something you can line up with something else. an arial photograph of your property could get you a good idea at some of the obvious places to look first before starting the inch by inch detection methods. if you dont have an arial maybe some pictures of the property taken in each direction from you know the house was , taking note of any rocks or landmarks, really old trees etc.
knowing which way they entered the property at the time will help also.

Dan

 

[dawgwood]

Thanks again Dan:

As I look off of my back deck which was their original front porch I can see this site ahead of me about 20 yards. So it would have been in his site as he was very sick at the time he buried the gold. I know if it is ever found it won't leave my site!!

Dawgwood

 

[xdanthemanx]

yeah well if you do find it , dont tell anyone, the state will step up and claim it under some treasure trove crap.

 

[Zephyr]

I'd especially check where his house was. If any part of a fireplace still exists, chances are that he hid it behind a brick or stone inside or beneath it. Or behind any other stonework for that matter (considering his occupation. )

 

[dawgwood]

Our house sits where his once did and we have now have a basement. Nothing was found during the building of this house 15 years ago. We have huge piles of rock everywhere from old slave quarters and the foundation of his old house which was the first brick house in the county made with hand made bricks.

His son who died several years before he died has a hand hard carved on his tombstone. I am not sure if Mr. Gold-man did this or the man's wife but I was wondering if that was a clue?

I will post a picture of that later. Thanks

**also I checked with one of the oldest living relatives, he's like 95......anyway, he had once asked me if the old oak tree were still standing. So I called him this morning to ask if there photos of the old house with the oaks and 3 very old dogwoods wood in them, he told me no, but in his his great grandfather's notes he mentioned planting the 3 dogwoods in the front yard in 1859 when his wife fell in love with them while visiting in Charleston. He actually bought her 25 and most of them and more are still here today. That rock is in the center of the center dogwood. I was so excited to here this. It was hard to get through to this precious man as he has a tough nurse who now cares for him. He now lives in SC and I promised to visit him after I re-coop from my knee replacement. I pray he lives that long as it appears he is in bad health, but his mind was great!

Dawgwood

 

[CWnut]

The slave? Did he get the gold? Did he mysteriously disappear? I believe I would do a lot of research on what became of him. And in the meantime conduct a careful search of the property. Sounds like fun...good luck and keep us posted

 

[dawgwood]

Thanks, I can't wait to get started on a full search. It was reported the slave was killed and buried with the gold. Only the family says that is not true. I am doing a search of the slaves he owed and the dates of their death now to see if anything matches.

 

[Mr. Mojo]

Dawg,

He was a surveyor? any hash marks in the trees? They will have been overgrown, and look like old damage to trunks. They could indicate direction from tree, and distance. Often used to reference corners in old days.

Good Luck
A scketch map for us could provide some help.

Chuck

 

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

OHIO: The rock with the arrow isn' t too clear, but from what I can see, the mark appears to be by Nature.

Don Jose de La Mancha

 

[Ecominer]

Dawgwood,

Unlike the Spanish, most of the Anglos, back in the old days has little experience with signs and symbols. I'm not saying what you have found are meaningless, but may be sourced from different people.

Since you said your treasure is buried in a pot, it is probably made of cast iron or maybe steel. I would suggest obtaining a magnetometer which would pick up anything ferrous within a given area. Once you narrow it down with the magnetometer then using a metal detector will give you a better opportunity to find the treasure. Even if the signs you have are meaningful the magnetometer will get you to the location much quicker, especially if it is buried many feet from the surface.

Ecominer