Father and Son Stumble Upon Buried Treasure near Kingston, New York
You really never know what you'll stumble upon in the Hudson Valley of New York, even centuries old treasure.
The Hudson Valley is well known for its rich history when it comes to many things and events in American history. It amazes me that still today folks from all over are still finding hidden treasures buried across the area.
Buried treasure has been discovered by a father and his young son while they were doing a little searching in Ulster County on the 4th of July. Ian Mills and his 4 year-old son were out searching along the sides of the Rondout Creek when they discovered a rare colonial artifact. Ian told us, "my son and I were searching around in the Rondout Creek on the Kingston side of the Eddyville bridge on Route 213 when we found an extremely old pipe."
How did they score such a rare find? Ian said, "It was a particularly low tide so we were able to walk in an area that's usually submerged. My son reached down into the water and says 'look dad', took me a second until I saw the 13 stars on the back. That's when I realized it was an oldie."
Old it is, after doing some research, Ian said that pipe dates back to the mid 1700's and was made by a company that went by the name Thomas and Davidson. The pipe has 13 stars on it to identify the 13 original colonies, along with the letters T & D on it.
Ian told us that, "Pipes like the one we found are found in rivers throughout Europe so they're common in that sense. But not so much in the states. Also the stem is stubbed off because after you'd smoke the pipe you'd snap off the tip for the next person to smoke."
How "rare" is the pipe? Ian said, "There are pipes like these in the Bear Mountain Museum and other museums in the area, BUT non of which have an entirely intact bowl piece."
This isn't Ian and his sons first discovery. Ian told us that he and his son have discovered a few other pieces across the Hudson Valley. Take a look at some of their finds....