No survey of Connecticut pirate treasure legends can be complete without recounting the tale of what might have been the richest buried treasure ever recovered in the Nutmeg State. Given all that digging along the shores and all the speculation about Capt. Kidd, it is both strange and ironic that the discovery was made more than thirty miles inland from the nearest tidal waters, and had nothing to do with the ubiquitous Kidd. For this is the legend of Blackbeard's booty, buried in a granite-walled excavation in Hampton, and discovered -- or was it? -- less than sixty years ago.
Before he died in the fall of 1939, a man named Cady owned a property in the Howard's Valley section of Hampton long known as the Jewett homestead. In his final days, Cady was fond of telling the tale of a stranger who came to his house one evening in 1938. Although Cady lived alone and was somewhat wary of strangers, there was something about his visitor that inspired trust, the homeowner said, and so he asked him in. The stranger, who gave his name as Barney Reynolds, proceeded to tell Cady a remarkable story. Reynolds was, he said, a direct descendant of the notorious Capt. Edward Teach, known wherever sailors spun their yarns as "Blackbeard," the meanest, most ruthless pirate who ever sailed the Spanish main. Cady's visitor said that he had recently inherited a treasure map, handed down from Blackbeard himself, which unquestionably placed a buried hoard somewhere on Cady's property.
When Reynolds spread the yellowed map upon the Hampton man's dining room table, Cady said he could scarcely believe his eyes as the stranger showed him landmarks etched on the parchment which pointed to the exact location of the buried treasure: in the dooryard of a house, a stone shaped like a horse's head; following a line southeast-by-south across the road, a boulder, perhaps chipped purposely, resembling a dog's head, pointing south; and, across a small brook, on a line bearing right, a fish's head, the eye, realistically placed on the low stone, looking directly at the treasure pit, just twenty paces due south. Cady's heart beat faster, he said, for he immediately recognized them all! They were, indeed, on his land.
Reynolds then proposed a deal. If Cady would provide him with the proper digging tools and promise not to bother him until he had excavated the site where Blackbeard's treasure was buried, he would split the hoard with the landowner, fifty-fifty. Cady agreed, and the following morning Reynolds tramped off across Cady's land, headed for the boulder with the fish's eye. Two days passed, the Hampton man said, and he began to wonder how Reynolds was doing. After a third and then a fourth day went by with no word from Blackbeard's relative, Cady's curiosity got the better of him. Even if it meant giving up his share of the booty, he had to find Reynolds and check his progress.
Quickly he followed the trail marked on the old map, until he reached the place where he knew Reynolds was working. But when he got there, an astonishing sight met his eyes. There was a pit fully eight feet deep and about five feet square, the walls lined with large slabs of smooth granite too perfectly placed to have been naturally formed. Over the pit lay timbers rigged in such a way as to hoist a flat capstone which topped the vault and lay on the ground nearby. All around the in-ground vault Cady's tools were scattered, as if dropped in haste. There was even a pair of muddy boots at the bottom of the hole. But most alarming of all, Cady recalled, there was no sign of Reynolds. And, indeed, the owner of Blackbeard's map was never seen again. "No one ever knew whether he found the treasure or where he went," Cady said.
Why were pirates so far inland? And what was Blackbeard doing in Hampton? Cady had a theory. Between 1713 and 1718, Capt. Teach was known to have pirated West Indian shipping. He may well have anchored off New London, unloaded his portable booty and made his way northward over the old Nipmuck Indian trail, either to reach Boston by way of an overland route, or more likely, to evade pursuers. Near the "Canada settlement" in Hampton, Cady theorized, the pirate party crossed easterly to reach the North and South Road, later the King's Highway, which, in turn, led to the Connecticut Path to Boston. Or, if he were so inclined, he could have doubled back to New London by the east route, originally the old Tatnick Trail, from Worcester to Norwich. The Cady home was just off the Nipmuck Trail, near a place where many paths intersected. Thus, Blackbeard, wishing to lighten his load before heading for Boston or back to New London, designed the elaborate burial pit, made the map and buried his treasure. And there it lay, Cady thought, until Reynolds took it away. But, then, like everything else connected with pirate gold, this is only the way the story goes.
from Legendary Connecticut by David E. Philips
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