About This Artifact
A granite boulder bearing a hand-drilled hole, found near the Smith's Cove shoreline by Gilbert Hedden's crew in 1937 while investigating a matching stone reported north of the Money Pit. The hole in this boulder measured roughly two inches deep and one and a quarter inches in diameter, identical to the companion stone, and aligned with it when sighted along the drilled axis. Hedden had the position surveyed by Halifax land surveyor Charles Roper, who calculated the distance between the two boulders at almost exactly twenty-five rods, about four hundred and fifteen feet.
Roper used the pair, together with the nearby Stone Triangle, to establish reference points across the island, including a point that landed directly on the Cave-in Pit. From 1959 to 1963, treasure hunter Laverne Johnson used sightlines between this stone and its counterpart, intersected with a line from the apex of the Stone Triangle, to argue the Money Pit was a decoy and that the true deposit lay roughly 280 feet to the north. During Season 3, Johnson's theory was revisited by his relatives Mike and Sean Harold, and Jack Begley and Charles Barkhouse paced out the bearing line and located a drilled stone matching the historical description.
Historical Context
Steele & Fader, Oak Island Mystery Solved; Sullivan, The Curse of Oak Island; S3E11 "Sword Play"
Where It Was Found
Found Near the Smith's Cove shoreline, roughly 400 feet from the Money Pit drilled stone — the north shore of Oak Island where the flood tunnel system was discovered.
