About This Artifact
A massive wrought iron hinge was recovered from the Smith's Cove area by Gary Drayton during Season 6 excavations. The hinge was found more than six feet below the seabed, beneath the slipway structure that treasure hunter Gilbert Hedden had first discovered in 1936. It featured what appeared to be a square hole, and its scale was substantially larger than domestic or everyday hardware, indicating it came from a heavy door, gate, or large structural panel.
Marty Lagina, Alex Lagina, and Doug Crowell brought the hinge to blacksmithing expert Carmen Legge at the Ross Farm Museum. Carmen concluded the hinge was the oldest piece in the Smith's Cove collection, dating it to the early 1600s and noting it predated the Money Pit's discovery in 1795 by nearly two centuries. He determined that the hinge had held something substantial, at least two to two-and-a-half inches thick. At the Mug and Anchor pub in Mahone Bay, the team discussed Carmen's findings and grew increasingly confident that the slipway and its associated artefacts were the work of the original depositors rather than later searchers.
A hinge of this size in the Smith's Cove context has been connected by researchers to the flood tunnel system, where large fitted panels or gates could have been used to control water flow during the original construction phase. The concrete wall discovered nearby in the same season contained two rubber tubes embedded in its base, a configuration consistent with a valve or flow-control mechanism. No physical gate or door frame has been found in association with the hinge. A smaller handwrought iron hinge was later recovered from borehole 8-A at the wash table during Season 7 at approximately 103 feet in the Shaft Six tunnel, which archaeologist Laird Niven identified as non-mining-related and possibly from a chest.
Historical Context
Gary Drayton; Carmen Legge analysis
Where It Was Found
Found at Smith's Cove — the north shore of Oak Island where the flood tunnel system was discovered.
