Treasures

Two weekends ago there were a bunch of festivities going on around town so we decided to hit a couple of them up. First stop was the Jacksonville Arboretum where the kids got lots of free loot and made their own trail mix and we went on a nice hike. So very pretty. The terrain reminded me of Ohio, not Florida.

Then we went over to Fort Caroline because they were having a reinactment of the Timicuan Indians, Frenchies and Spanish being there. Before we hiked down to the Fort, Dave started talking to this guy who was parked next to us. I walked up and couldn't believe my eyes. This man was a historical treasure hunter. And he claims he has a gift in finding historical treasures. I might believe him. He pulled this helmet out of his truck and handed it to me. "This helmet is from the 1550's, it's a Spanish conquistador's helmet."

"And this other helmet here is what a layman would have worn."

Real? YES. REAL!!! The first helmet was light and so beautifully carved. He said the man who owned it would have sent it to Italy to get it engraved because they were the masters of the art. He took this helmet to the Antique Roadshow and they appraised it for $500,000. And he just finds these things! He also pulled out a bunch of coins from the 1500's and let us touch them too. He says he has a few safes full of them at the bank. They are for his retirement. The coins are his specialty. He finds alot of them washed up on the beach. He also had all sorts of buckles and buttons from uniforms and jewelry. I can't imagine what else this man has found. Oodles of things. It's so amazing. He says archeologists hate him. We talked to another history buff (retired professor) and treasure hunter who was reinacting and he said that this man we had met in the parking lot finds as many things in 2 days as it takes archeologists in the area to find in 2 years! We asked him how he does it and this professor replied, "Research. Lots of research."

The parking-lot-treasure-man said that he goes to schools in the area and does presentations with his treasures and lets the students touch and hold the things. He believes it is much more effective and a greater experience than having all the stuff in cases in a museum. He has donated some of his things he found in Williamsburg to the museum there. Since Florida doesn't have a central museum for these kind of relics he keeps them and shares them with the public for educational purposes.

Anyway, we were just blown away to say the least. Real stuff from the 1500's, real conquistador stuff! We were definitely in the right place at the right time that day. Here are some other photos from the day at Fort Caroline:

Isaac protecting Ethan from the loud canons.

Family shot that Dave took. Boys are "fishing" off the dock.


PS: Did you know that St. Augustine, a town on the coast 45 minutes from Jacksonville is the oldest city in our Nation? There is quite a bit of history here! The area was first visited by Ponce de Leon in 1513, but it was Juan Menendez de Aviles who established the first settlement, almost half a century before the first English settlers landed at Jamestown. St. Augustine grew to become the Spanish center of power in North America for almost 200 years. Boo-yeah. I think we are going to spend more time digging in the sand in St. Augustine!