Surprise Treasure

The piccture was one I did not remember seeing before. According to my older sister it was of my grandfather's sugar house. On the back someone had written something that looked like some sort of code. What did it mean? Was it about the actual picture itself or of the old sugar house.

My sister had returned to the kitchen where she was going through things there. I went and showed her the picture again.

"Yeah that's pretty neat. That's grandpa and grandma on the right. On the left is probably great grandpa and Great Uncle Joe. Grandma used to tell stories about the old days working the trees for the sap and turning it into syrup."

"Any idea what this little drawing on the back might be?"

After looking at the drawing and pondering momentarily she shook her head.

"No. No idea at all. Looks like some sort of code."

Then, after looking at it a bit closer, she seemed to get an idea.

"This looks like one of grandpa's home made frames. Is there anything written on the back of the picture itself?"

"Haven't looked yet."

"Let's just take the backing off and have a look then."

Slowly and carefully we removed the backing from the frame. Then we saw where someone had indeed written on the back of the picture. 'August 22, 1910' but there was nothing else.

"Has anybody ever been down in the woods where this is supposed to be located? I mean maybe just to see what may be left if anything."

"Matter of fact about ten years ago I was hiking through the woods just thinking about old times here on the farm and kind of stumbled upon it. The roof had fallen in and vines had pretty much taken over. It kind of blended in with the rest of the forest."

"Maybe you can show me while we are here. I don't recall ever seeing it probably because I was so little."

"Getting a bit too late in the day today to go wondering into the woods. If the weather is good how about we go tomorrow."

"No hurry, I suppose. Just going through everything will probably take the rest of the week anyway."

And we both went back to going through our grandparent's things.

The next morning, after a quick country breakfast and coffee my sister asked me if I was wearing my hiking shoes.

Best I have with me."

"Grab you a bottle of water and let's go."

Leaving the house we first had to cross the dusty dirt road. Then we passed the barn and followed the fenceline towards the woods on grandpa's old tractor trail.Next we passed the final resting place of three of grandpa's old autos. The only one I remembered was the Chrysler New Yorker. I remembered how proud grandpa had been of that car.

Next was the fence that years ago had kept the cattle from the woods. The gate was a bit rusty but not locked so it was easy to pass on to the woods.

"That was the easy part. Now it gets a bit testy."

"I can hear the rushing of the creek already."

"You remember playing in that creek?"

"Yeah. It always seemed nice and cold on those hot summer days."

"Well, we were pretty close to the old sugar house in those days. Me and our cousin Darlene used to play around the old house before it started falling apart."

"What could you play in an old sugar house?"

"Don't really remember but Darlene always came up with something to play no matter where we were. There. That should be it over there in that thick cluster of brush and vines."

Once we found the doorway through the greenery we could see that it had been a pretty good size. The inside was like a small clearing except where part of the roof had fallen.

The north wall was pretty clear and I could not help but notice a faded N by the base. That made me look at the base of the other walls. Each of the other walls had faded letters as well, obviously for their respective directions.

Sounding a bit excited I pointed them out to my sister.

"You're right. They do seem to point out the correct direction of each wall."

"So that code on the back of the picture backing...if we draw the X from corner to corner and then halfway between the E and S mark off maybe two feet. Then see what is there."

"Looks like nothing but dirt."

"Let's clear it away."

When we did there was a dried up old mat that had been covered with dirt. I pulled it aside and just like the code on the picture backing there was a small x.

I looked at my sister and she looked at me.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I think I'm thinking what you are thinking. What are you thinking?"

"For sure it is not a floor board. Seems to be just well packed dirt."

"Shall we dig?"

"Maybe there is something close we can use to dig" and in one old remaining pot there was a good size paddle.

"This might do" and I began trying to dig at the x.

"Think there is anything here?"

As soon as the words were out of my mouth I heard a thud. The makeshift shovel had hit something.

Again I looked at my sister and she looked back at me.

I dug a bit faster.

The more I uncovered the more it looked like an old make-up case grandma might have once used.

"What do you guess might be in here?"

"Haven't the foggiest."

Our excitement grew as finally enough was uncovered I could tug it out and soon it was sitting on the ground.

"What and why would they have buried something here?"

"No idea but I am ready to find out."

Carefully working the small latch so as not to break it I soon was able to open the case.

First item was what appeared to be an old deed dated August 22, 1864 with the names Frank Dixon and Thelma Jackson.

"That has to be grandma Floyd's father."

"And the date is the same as on the picture only forty-six years later."

"What's next?"

I laid the first paper aside and next was a tin photo of a civil war soldier followed by some pension papers.

"Looks like a small collection of our family history."

More papers followed with birth records, marriage records, immigration dates all seeming to conceal a compartment on the bottom.

With the help of my trusty swiss pocket knife I was able to pry up the felt covered partition concealing this bottom compartment.

Our eyes nearly popped out of our heads when we saw what was in the bottom. There was a stack of Georgia civil war notes and some from South Carolina and North Carolina mixede in.

"Maybe this was actually someone's house and was converted into a sugar house."

Under the notes were dozens of pieces of jewelry.

"Our family was supposed to have come here from Georgia sometime after the civil war. Wonder if this is what survived Sherman's march to Atlanta."

"Guess we will just have to start working on the famiy tree."

"You can. You have more time than I do."

"Let's get this back to the house and get back to sorting through things. Wonder if we will find anything else this interesting?"

"Guess we shall find out."

And we returned to the task at hand.