Cluing You in on Trove's Hidden Treasure

Dear Treasure Hunters,

Congratulations to Deb Fleischman and Gary Miller (no relation) of Montpelier, Vermont who did some seriously hardcore hunting to find the numbered stone hidden in the Trove Treasure Hunt. And thanks to every memoir-reading, puzzle-loving matey who scared up a copy of Trove: A Woman’s Search for Truth and Buried Treasure and joined the hunt. Whether you got close enough to smell that painted stone, or never left port, it’s been an honor and pleasure to have you along on the journey. After making their discovery, Deb and Gary came down to my house (45 minutes from “Treasure Island”) to claim the prize. It was a thrill for all of us.

And while the Trove Treasure Hunt may be over, what kind of treasure-hiding pirate author would I be if I didn’t take the time to clue you in on some of the solves? So grab your grog, put your peg leg up, and let me give you the breakdown of the clues you’ve been wrestling with.

To make it easy for you to reference them, I’ll put the original clues in with the solves. I won’t detail all the accompanying photos, but those were full of clues, too.

My friend David says you set up a hunt by starting with the end point. Not always so with a blog post. Sure you can cheat and skip to the end and see where the treasure was found, or you can follow along as I walk you through the clues and trust that we’ll get to the elusive answer (or stone) you’ve been looking for.

This one—that earned the finder a bejeweled bracelet worth over $2,200.

CLUE #1

Thank you for joining, all treasure-loving friends

To begin our hunt, let’s start with the end.

Stand in the wood before a many-trunked maple

Though small in stature, a New England staple.

Seek nearby, reach into a crack,

A meaty hand may hold you back.

But that is the spot where you will bait

A painted stone with numbers eight.

But first to the pages of Trove you must go

The story of treasure will lead you to know

The answers to puzzles, codes, and clues

One lucky reader will win the jewels.

As you know, this one got you started reading Trove, and I do hope you liked the story. But it also told you that when you were close to the treasure, you’d be standing in front of a many-trunked maple. As much as this writer loves a good metaphor that maple was an actual tree, as I told you later in my “Some Hints of Encouragement” post.

In fact, it was a Norway maple which were the very leaves (pulled from the Norway maple in my backyard) that formed a decorative ring around that first poem. You see, Norway maples are invasive buggers that can outgrow other trees, which will figure later in our solve. In the meantime, I used the word bait, to let you know that this hunt was fishy—literally fishy, as in set in a fishing town.

CLUE #2

I found an owl’s head tucked away,

Salt water breaking by the bay.

A dinosaur’s print like a rock-hard cake,

A falling mine, an emerald lake.

A pointed light, a natural bridge,

A tassel top, an oak on a ledge.

When on the ground, I reach to pick,

A disposable razor gives a nick.

So why not a wolfe, or a snake in a den

For recreation now and again?

A father’s direction does not always state

The place in which the treasure awaits.

The names that likely befuddled many are referring to New England State Parks: Owl’s Head, Gillette Castle (a disposable razor gives a nick), Snake Den, Emerald Lake. But I was also trying to lure you toward the North Shore of Massachusetts, with the places referencing things and sites you would find in that area, such as a castle with an emerald pool/lake, a wolf sanctuary, a light house. There is even Dinosaur Bail mountain trail—and rumors of an actual dinosaur print nearby.

But the other clue here refers to my father, William F. Miller, who, as you know from reading Trove, was the Director of State Parks and Recreation in Connecticut when he died in 1984. But A father’s direction does not always state is a hint that this will not be in a Connecticut state park.

And please don’t be mad at me that wolfe was spelled wrong. That was a typo. I know! Inexcusable. But this is my first rodeo, er, treasure hunt.

CLUE #3

At 19 it began with a college boy, an alchemy of love.

Those scrambled clues inside of me, secured in a berm, a guarded cove.

But the Hollywood end game would not come to pass until chapters more advanced.

Five numbers needed to solve this one, and math—this writer’s worst class.

Here was the so-called numbers clue in which I pulled the titles of five chapters from my book. By numbers, I meant chapter numbers. At 19 it began… gets you started with chapter 19 called Berm. The first letter (B) will be the first letter in the scrambled word that you’ll find. The others are End Game (E); Alchemy (A); Clues (C); Hollywood (H). Begin with B and unscramble the letters to BEACH. Getting closer!

CLUE #4 

A dawn’s provoker she may be

With a call to wake the dead.

Though carrion she gobbles,

Red herring are also fed.

Or maybe not, for clues and treasure

Have many meanings, yes?

For a flawless answer you must know

The place of a great tempest.

Here is a very revealing clue to the town. As you know from Trove, I am obsessed with my crow which I think of as A dawn’s provoker. I wanted those words to be strange enough to catch your attention, because they anagram to RAVENSWOOD PARK, which is a place in Gloucester, MA, but (Ha!) not the correct place. Still, I love the reference to a raven which is basically a big crow, and the park—which has some wonderful trails and sites—will put you in the right city. Yep, the gorgeous coastal city of Gloucester, Can you smell the bait yet? How about the red herring?

The other part of this clue feels like a giveaway. For a flawless answer you must know the place of a great tempest. C’mon! There have been some crazy tempests in New England, but “A Perfect (Flawless) Storm” (as described in Sebastian Junger’s book) that took place in Gloucester is pretty iconic. If you haven’t read the book or seen the movie, it’s a great way to “visit” Gloucester while COVID-19 quarantine still has you contained.

CLUE #5

A quartet appears in the pages,

Spare, summer, song, and another.

In all the many stages,

She watches us like a mother.

This was relatively easy, but you had to use the clue correctly. I mention the moon four times (a quartet) in my book—with the descriptors spare, summer, song, and another. Now put moon together with the next clue.

 CLUE #6

The drinking age

The weight of the soul

Tarot trump cards

Minus the fool

A winning hand

Signs in a book

The point by which

You are hopefully hooked

If you figured out the answer is “21” then that’s great But what to do with that number? If you look at chapter 21, you’ll see the title is signs = signs in a book. That’s the hallway point of my book which is 42 chapters. It’s also the point at which you are hopefully hooked.

 Now put ½ with moon and beach and start googling. Maybe you’ll find Half Moon Beach in Gloucester.

 CLUE #7

With longing for a bigger world,

A yearning heart aspires.

When intolerant of boundaries

and a father’s loss of fire,

There is a place that calls three times,

The third to ease the tired.

Grant it can’t make wishes true,

But it holds these natural desires.

Find a spot that mimics this.

Through a giant magnifier,

A place where one can contemplate

The powers of those much higher.

This is my favorite clue of all because it references some deep moments in the book and should get you to one of the most spectacular sites in Massachusetts. But to know what this is, you have to find the place that calls me three times in the book, and that is the rock I call Treasure Island (an anagram of natural desires). I go there three times, including when my father is dying with his loss of fire. It’s also granite (Grant it). So if you figure out that this is the granite boulder that I call treasure island, you now need to think of this through a giant magnifier, which means you are looking for a huge granite boulder in New England near Half Moon Beach in Gloucester. And there is really only one place this could be which is Tablet Rock at Stage Fort Park.

CLUE #8

You’ve likely come miles, sagacious one,

And it’s time to return to the start again.

The difference is 284,

not a number you knew before.

A confirmation of your pursuit,

Of both treasure and the truth.

A native altar, a writer’s tool,

And not so far from claiming the jewel.

Now go around with eyes alert,

For this is the place where you must search.

Treasure muscles you will flex.

To find the stone, the proverbial X.

This clue confirms Tablet Rock (a writer’s tool and an altar of the Native Americans who lived here). The rock also has a plaque on it, and to get to 284 (not a number you knew before) you need to subtract 1603 from 1907, which are two of the dates on the plaque.

I then wanted you to go around the rock and search on the trails behind it. It’s really a giant oak grove, but there are a few of those invasive Norway Maples here and there, one small many-trunked one, in particular.

EXTRA CLUE – Here, I’m going to let the finders, Deb and Gary, who made this video, explain the exact site. Deb keeps saying that they went in the fall—she was excited and maybe forgetful having just found treasure—but they actually went on Christmas Day 2019, right after I released the final clue. She was certain that this was the site and that she’d find it that day. But such is the life of a treasure hunter. Half the battle is persistence.

So, there you go. The rock was tucked away in a crevice in view of the ocean, and about a fathom and a half from the Norway maple. I picked this spot because Mark and I got married “on the grounds of an old stone castle overlooking the Atlantic.” (Trove, pg. 187). That is Hammond Castle, just up the hill from Stage Fort Park. The number on the painted rock is our wedding date 08311997. It’s written forward on one side and backwards on the other.

And for those of you who tried valiantly to solve this but didn’t, I do hope you’ll still head to Gloucester sometime and visit Tablet Rock at Stage Fort Park, Hammond Castle, Ravenswood, and then eat some fried clams at The Cupboard while staring out at the gorgeous rocky coast of New England. I promise it will be worth the trip.

Finally, here is part of Clue #8 that I wrote but didn’t include because I thought it gave too much information. Perhaps it will remind you that life is an ongoing treasure hunt for love, for connection, for painted stones, for beauty, and for all that is hidden away waiting for you to find it. Search on.

Getting closer, walk with care

For toward this spot there are no stairs

Once the stone you have found

Take it up to higher ground

Look upward toward a castle grand

Where in the book, I pledged my hand.

This search is over. This quest is done.

But maybe another has just begun.