Fireplace Hearth Foundation

About This Structure

A stone foundation roughly two feet high with two clearly defined right angles, uncovered during Season 8 Episode 20, aired 30 March 2021, near the northeastern border of the triangle-shaped swamp, adjacent to the stone pathway then estimated by surveyor Steve Guptill at approximately 460 feet in length. The foundation was buried beneath three feet of soil. Voids between the stacked stones initially raised the possibility that valuables had been concealed within the structure.

Archaeologist Miriam Amirault and David Fornetti excavated the foundation and uncovered a large charcoal deposit beneath the stones, with reddened soil indicating sustained oxidation from intense heat. Dr. Aaron Taylor identified the deposit as evidence of repeated burning consistent either with a working hearth or with a structure that had burned down. Geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner confirmed the oxidation pattern and suggested it pointed to industrial activity, comparable to the pine tar kiln found on Lot 15 earlier in the same season. Steve Guptill observed that the foundation's construction style resembled that of 1700s and 1800s Nova Scotia foundations and noted its proximity to the property of Anthony Graves, who purchased most of Oak Island in 1857 and was known on the mainland for paying with Spanish silver and gold coins.

Despite the scale of the burn feature, no artifacts were recovered from within or around the foundation itself, an absence that Aaron Taylor described as almost eerie and possibly indicative of deliberate clearing. Subsequent metal detection along the adjacent stone pathway in Season 8 Episode 21 produced a military-style cuff button dated 1750 to 1850, a fragment of French transfer print pottery from the early 1760s, a possible musket gunflint dating to the early 1600s, and a piece of iron identified as a possible fire grate associated with the hearth feature.