About This Artifact
After draining the swamp in 1969, Fred Nolan dug up pieces of old hand-cut wood which he believed came from an ancient treasure chest. One piece still had old iron hinges attached. Crooker lists the find alongside beach stones, bits of old wood, and metal that Nolan recovered from beneath the swamp, and alongside the pieces of wood and rock that Nolan interpreted as survey monuments. The chest interpretation is Nolan's; Crooker reports it without endorsing it, and no dimensions, joinery description, or dating of the wood or hinges are given. Hinged wooden boxes, from sea chests to tool boxes, were common on any working shoreline, and the find is consistent with a range of origins. The piece is distinct from the small handwrought iron hinge recovered from the 8-A borehole spoils in the Money Pit area in Season 7, and from the massive iron hinge found at Smith's Cove in Season 6. Its present location is not recorded.
Historical Context
William S. Crooker, Oak Island Gold (1993), chapter 21
Where It Was Found
Found Beneath the swamp on Nolan's property. Location: the triangle-shaped swamp on Oak Island's southeastern quadrant.
