It sounds like something from an old movie, with a map, a skull and crossbones, and a hidden treasure, but it was real for one woman in Vermont recently.
Kelly Wakefield, who was weeding and caring for some plants in Taylor Park, Saint Albans, VT, dug up a true treasure. She wasn’t expecting to find buried treasure, but when she came across a rock with skull and crossbones and a hashtag, she remembered reading a book about a treasure hunt and realized she had unexpectedly hit literal “pay dirt”— straight from the pages of Lady Liberty’s Treasure Hunt.
She continued to dig and found a cache of old coins, some silver and some gold, along with some antiques and other items. Also included was a Civil War-era bullet, a rare find for any collector and likely very valuable.
In an interview with NBC5 in Burlington, VT, Wakefield was still getting used to finding buried treasure, saying, “It’s in a safe-deposit box, [I] probably should get an appraisal. Maybe it’s a little bit of retirement funds. I’m not going to spend it on anything really big because I’m going to keep working.”
Lady Liberty’s Treasure Hunt, written by author Michael Cloherty O’Connell, is the second book of his to feature a treasure hunt and New England locations. The first, Riley’s Treasure Hunt, is geared to a younger audience. In an interview with WCVB, Boston, O’Connell said, “On the back of the book, there are the grand prizes and they haven’t been found yet. So they’re still out there.”
The book and the hunts are sure to be a hit with the upcoming tourist season in New England. Once the leaf-peepers arrive in NH and VT, there might be many more people looking for their next big find. There are still real treasure chests hidden in New England, just waiting to be found. Happy hunting!
Brenda Kelley Kim lives in the Boston area. She is the author of Sink or Swim: Tales From the Deep End of Everywhere and writes a weekly syndicated column for The Marblehead Weekly News/Essex Media Group. When not writing or walking her snorty pug, Penny, she enjoys yard sales, flea markets, and badminton.
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