About This Artifact
A large hand-forged iron ringbolt recovered from the eastern Uplands near the swamp's edge during Season 8. Metal detection expert Gary Drayton and heavy equipment operator Billy Gerhardt made the find while investigating the stone pathway uncovered in the swamp. Jack Begley, Tom Nolan, and Charles Barkhouse brought the piece to blacksmithing expert Carmen Legge at Northville Farm in Centreville, roughly fifty miles north of the island. Carmen identified it as a wharf pin designed for timber rather than granite, with a split end that prevents it from pulling free once driven into wood, and dated the forging style to between the 1600s and 1760, well before the Money Pit's discovery in 1795. The ringbolt's splayed end confirmed it had been driven into a structure rather than dropped, and its recovery atop the stone pathway carried significance for the road's age. Researcher Doug Crowell reasoned that if the ringbolt dated no later than 1760 and was already buried beneath accumulated soil, the stone road beneath it had to be considerably older, potentially by two centuries. Near the same site, Billy Gerhardt and geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner examined a piece of slate with a circular indent that did not appear natural, and Gerhardt found cobblestones in a test hole confirming the road extends along the eastern swamp border before turning uphill toward the Money Pit. Earlier the same season, Doug Crowell, surveyor Steve Guptill, Rick Lagina, and Gary Drayton had searched Lot 15 for ringbolts Fred Nolan reportedly found there in 1969, without success, recovering a potbelly stove fragment instead.
Historical Context
S8E13 "The Fellowship of the Ringbolt"; S8E14 "A Bend in the Road"; S8E6 "Seaing Is Believing" (Lot 15 search, background)
Where It Was Found
Found at Eastern Uplands, near the eastern edge of the swamp — the triangle-shaped swamp on Oak Island's southeastern quadrant.
