Well, there are a lot of sites in the area (I live in Middleburg). Kingsley's Original plantation, Laurel Grove, was located in Holly Point East. A small (3 pounder) cannon was located there when they widened a drainage ditch in that neighborhood. If you could get homeowners permission, you night get very lucky. St Johns Landing Apartments in Green Cove Springs was the site of a Seminole Wars Camp, a Civil War Fort, and the original Florida Military Academy. But it's off-limits to hunting, unless you get a specific homeowner's permission to hunt their property. But most of the grounds belong to the Apartments, and are off-limits. There was a Confederate artillery battery located on Fleming Island, but no one has ever tracked it down, just as no one has ever found the "Confederate Headquarters" located on Doctors Lake. I personally think the headquarters was probably located near the Thresher-Horne Center on St. Johns River State College property. There were several Civil War skirmishes located near Lake Asbury, The Jennings State Forest, and Russell. I found a few bullets near the intersection of 218 and 739, but I've hunted nearer to 218 and north towards Middleburg, and the bullets thin out fast. It's likely that most of the skirmish was fought in what is now Lake Asbury neighborhood, maybe near W. Simmons, Arthur Moore Drive. I have not gotten around to asking permission there. But if you want to hunt together as a team, I am game. Just contact me and let me know when.
thom_parham@yahoo.com
Very interesting my friend! I myself found one of those civil War era bullets when I was walking home from the bus stop in my neighborhood that my parents still live in off 215 near camp blanding!
I definitely would love to metal detect at that apartment that used to be a Seminole War camp I've heard that there might be treasures buried in and about that place from when it was rated and possibly guarded long enough for the people who bury things to not be able to make it back to cover them... I've always been interested in treasure hunting and the historical side of it especially when it comes to the United States and although there's not much in the way of famous stories coming out of Florida especially Northeast Florida where I live and have grown up there are a few but most of them are pretty shaky and the stuff that is real is so old that it's hard to get any information on a lot of times...
I spent the last few years compiling information in the hopes of possibly doing a documentary and possibly one day making a script for a feature length movie about Fort Caroline and making it more nitty gritty realistic and not a Hollywood fanciful polished looking type history!
I believe that I have more than shown evidence of and a very rational presentation of where the original fort Caroline location is and where the fort San Mateo of the Spanish doings and buildings which was located on top of that site after it was sacked and besieged by the Spanish during the hurricane of 1565 AD!!!
Well, there are a lot of sites in the area (I live in Middleburg). Kingsley's Original plantation, Laurel Grove, was located in Holly Point East. A small (3 pounder) cannon was located there when they widened a drainage ditch in that neighborhood. If you could get homeowners permission, you night get very lucky. St Johns Landing Apartments in Green Cove Springs was the site of a Seminole Wars Camp, a Civil War Fort, and the original Florida Military Academy. But it's off-limits to hunting, unless you get a specific homeowner's permission to hunt their property. But most of the grounds belong to the Apartments, and are off-limits. There was a Confederate artillery battery located on Fleming Island, but no one has ever tracked it down, just as no one has ever found the "Confederate Headquarters" located on Doctors Lake. I personally think the headquarters was probably located near the Thresher-Horne Center on St. Johns River State College property. There were several Civil War skirmishes located near Lake Asbury, The Jennings State Forest, and Russell. I found a few bullets near the intersection of 218 and 739, but I've hunted nearer to 218 and north towards Middleburg, and the bullets thin out fast. It's likely that most of the skirmish was fought in what is now Lake Asbury neighborhood, maybe near W. Simmons, Arthur Moore Drive. I have not gotten around to asking permission there. But if you want to hunt together as a team, I am game. Just contact me and let me know when.
thom_parham@yahoo.com
Very interesting my friend! I would love to go metal detecting at that Seminole Indian encampment in Green cove springs that you mentioned!... Many people including myself have theorized that there is always a slight possibility that treasures are spoils from some of their raids were stashed in and around the area of that Native American encampment! And, it's also possible that the military stationing itself on the site to discourage the use of it and the return of the brigands; has possibly made the situation come about that the native warrior or rebel fighter that buried his loot in the area could have passed away before being able to return and recover what was buried or stashed...
I have spent the last few years studying and compiling information documents maps etc as well as different theories and different types of lidar information aerial photographs and time lapse photography of landscapes relating to the topic; and the topic being the search for Fort Caroline and it's original location back in 1564 AD...
I believe that not only do I know where the original Fort Caroline site is but I believe that I have presented and compiled a very convincing and irrefutable presentation as well as a list and source of documents maps and other pieces of evidence to back up my claims!... I'm not really interested in the treasure aspect when it comes to that story because it is a historical subject dear to me and I believe it to be historically one of the most if not the most important story and happenings of that explorer era of Florida and La Florida as the Spanish knew it as! [But it must be noted and mentioned that there were many reports from the French that they had recovered lots of silver bars and quite a few gold bars in the types mentioned being *finger bars mostly (*a small handmade/handcrafted round bars about the width of an adult human finger, & roughly the length of a human hand or those distance from the wrist to the elbow on an adult) they were traded for and obtained by bartering with the natives and the timucua in the area all around the St John's in St Augustine had plenty of treasure as well as the native encampments further inland in Central Florida for verified and accounts pour in from the French that everyone sent out to scout for treasure or other resources were able to acquire much in the form of silver and silver bars and some gold] I mentioned that side note of treasure as it relates to Fort Caroline in the same sense that the Seminole Indian fort would be mentioned as relating to such treasure tails because of the nature of the attack on Fort Caroline that drove the French out of Florida and eradicated the Huguenot and the French presence in the area for some time. The similarities between the two forts and the camp mint situations is that both Fort Caroline and the Seminole War encampment were known to have some treasure and valuables in it or around stash in the area by those living or staying there and a sudden attack and skirmish broke out driving the Garrison or the encampment population out into the wilderness and away from the site much faster than time that would be needed to recover any treasures or goods buried in the area for safekeeping by The warriors or by the French Huguenots in the Fort Caroline vicinity...
I mentioned this because it is a fact that it may be the case but not for the reasons of treasure hunting or exciting anyone to the possibility of looting the site that I have found or any other site believe to be Fort Caroline or the encampment in Green cove you spoke about!!!.... I personally advocate that everything be done legally by the book and documented doesn't have to be stalled up for months and years so that gatekeepers at UNF or some other university or state ran archaeological organization can control the situation and control any artifacts and where they go etc which doesn't need to be the case if things are done legally and permits are paid then who's to determine moral trust or who is likely to steal artifacts a person who cares about the site like myself and who wants it to be known to the world and 100% publicly available for anyone to research and learn about it or some professor with an agenda and a past record of calling in the Smithsonian and those type institutions to come disappear it into their files and into their storage locker type facilities never to be heard from or seen again!!!...
One treasure story that I will mention on here and that may apply to those hunting in the area you mentioned being Green cove etc and the CR's 220/218 areas is the not well known story of the member of Fort Caroline's Garrison who was close to the admiral that funded the colony for the most part and his and his alone special permission from the Fort's Commander René Goulaine de Laudonnière; to go out into the wilderness as he pleased and trade and look for resources and means of wealth which he did supposedly and found a group of timucua living on an island in the middle of the St John's somewhere west of Fort Caroline and he acquired much treasure and much silver and gold as well as other trade goods like skins and artwork etc and was living like a king who actually ran most of the daily going ons at the Native American encampment having married the chief's daughter in an alliance bid from the chief and the timucua and for a while was considered to be the most powerful man on the island and in the area! This island is believed to be Fleming Island by some people or maybe some other place further up River from there but not terribly far and it is believed that on his way back to Fort Caroline after some time of being away and inquiring these goods he was attacked and murdered by the Native Americans that were sent with him to guard him as requested by the chief that he was the son-in-law of!apparently the chief as well as many of the natives or just about sick of his antics and his concert demand for them to push themselves physically to acquire things for him and to go places great distances to trade for gold and silver where they knew it to be and where he had gotten stories from others about it being he did acquire much treasure but that was never recovered as his encampment on what is believed to be Fleming Island where he was attacked was quickly abandoned and his goods were buried somewhere in the area according to the story as well as the treasure which had no real purpose for the natives as they did not value it like the Europeans did and even though they later realized it was valuable to trade to Europeans at that moment it wasn't established yet because there were no Europeans in the area but the French and the few Spanish and those Europeans had done nothing but trade useless decorative items in broken glassware and rocking chairs that needed work for a huge amounts of gold and silver so it wasn't even worth the Native Americans keeping the treasure around or lugging that weight etc!
I mentioned this story because it is somewhat mysterious and unknown if all the details are factual but from what I gather it has some basis in reality and in history and it would be interesting to know if there are any Native American encampments they could be discovered of significant size from that era on Fleming Island or in the vicinity and if it at all possible that someone could get lucky and recover a shallow and quickly buried hoard of gold and silver bars as well as other things from the coast like Amber grease and a few of the other things mentioned that may survive the centuries buried!!!
Anyway hope this makes it to your screen and you find it interesting or useful feel free to contact me about any information you wish to share or request or discuss I live and breathe this stuff so I'm never sick of hearing new things or rehashing old things lol... I do have a small metal detector from Garrett it's an older one doesn't have any tones to distinguish what it is that I'm getting a buzz from just a single tone and a dial in knob for changing what you're looking for but no screen with digital readout it's a very simplistic and pretty much dated Garrett model it's a Garrett crossfire II supreme deep seeker coil attached to a Garrett treasure Ace 200! But it finds things and I plan to getting a nicer one as soon as I can afford to but haven't been able to afford anything like that recently hopefully things will change in the meantime but if anyone wants to link up for a treasure hunt or a historical expedition in the Northeast Florida or South East Georgia area!!! I'm down like 4 flats! Haha... Peace Joshua Carter Blankenship. Jacksonville FL.
