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Would You Pick Up A Shovel to Dig for Treasure? Part 2

  • rosewaterkit
  • Sep 24
  • 6 min read

Updated: Oct 1

The Story of a Real Life, Secret Treasure Hunt

 

 

Not all treasure maps are drawn on parchment or sealed in bottles.

Some are hidden in plain sight.


Welcome to the Secret Treasure Hunt blog series, wherein I take you through the last three years of my life as a treasure hunter. There are secrets and discoveries below, but if this is your first time here (hello!) I recommend starting from the beginning.

PREISS’S THE SECRET, VERSE #10:

 

In the shadow

Of the grey giant

Find the arm that

Extends over the slender path

In summer

You’ll often hear a whirring sound

Cars abound

Although the sign

Nearby Speaks of Indies native

The natives still speak

Of him of Hard word in 3 Vols.

Take twice as many east steps as the hour

Or more

From the middle of one branch

Of the v

Look down

And see simple roots

In rhapsodic mans soil

Or gaze north

Toward the isle of B.

 

PALENCAR’S THE SECRET, PAINTING #12:


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THE SECRET JOURNAL—Strong lead/ epiphany 6/15/23:

 

While herding my two small children on Thursday, I tell my mother about Preiss’ Verse #10. That morning, we muse on the “Indies native” probably being Alexander Hamilton—the most famous Indies native of New York—and “he of Hard word in 3 Vols” probably being Charles Dickens. (Dickens wrote Hard Times, a tripartite story told in three ‘Books:’ Reaping, Sowing, and Garnering.)

 

We search for any Dickens monuments in the NYC area, and quickly discover that Dickens forbade monuments of himself in his will, as he wanted to be remembered solely through his books. I say that maybe we should be looking for a Hamilton monument near a library. My mother suggests looking for a Hamilton monument near a high school would be better, as Dickens is common high school curriculum. There are so many Hamilton-adjacent things around the NYC area that it becomes overwhelming to start the search there.

 

In the early afternoon on Thursday, I come across a potential lead via one of the Secret online message boards: Apparently, according to one his daughters, Preiss once told his children that for the NYC puzzle, they could see all the features of the accompanying painting from the treasure burial site. I turn my attention to both Painting #12 and again to the known solutions of the three already-solved puzzles from The Secret. I notice several key things:

 

Preiss’ book is strongly based on American immigration stories, with a different immigrant group assigned to a different puzzle/city. I see that the general consensus from the message boards is that Russia is the group associated with the NYC puzzle. This makes sense, as the central figure of the image is a Rusalki, a water nymph, and that there is the clear outline of Russian Orthodox church domes in the image. This makes me think of the revelation from Preiss’ daughters, and I start my search in earnest here.


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I do a wide search of every Russian Orthodox church in the NYC area. I find around 5-6 churches with domed tops, though none of them match the silhouette in Painting #12 perfectly. I don’t mind this, and zero in my search to see which church domes can be seen from nearby public city parks. Two churches and nearby parks match this criterion. One is the Transfiguration of Our Lord Russian Orthodox Cathedral near McCarren Park in the Williamsburg neighborhood in Brooklyn. I do a little walk there via Google Maps. The other church is the Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church near Grace Playground in the East New York neighborhood Ocean Hill in Brooklyn. My initial reaction to the walk around Grace Playground via Google Maps is that it’s absolutely nothing special and is most likely not the solution. But I pause the search here and decide to turn to another part of the verse.


The domes of Holy Trinity as seen from Grace Playground
The domes of Holy Trinity as seen from Grace Playground

I return to Hamilton and “nearby” Charles Dickens clue. I discover a Fort Hamilton HS along Shore Rd in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn. I see that the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island, formerly known as Bedloe’s Island until 1956, is directly north of the school. The Isle of B mentioned in the verse, perhaps? I also see that there is a large clock tower at Fort Hamilton HS, which maybe signifies the arm, as a clock arm. I also see that the campus road is called Narrows Rd. Perhaps this is the slender path? But the other clues are not lining up. I pause my Fort Hamilton HS research.

 

I discover that there was another high school named after Alexander Hamilton in Brooklyn, simply known as Hamilton HS. Hamilton HS is actually quite close to the Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church. The HS was named after Hamilton until 1985, when the name changed to the Paul Robeson HS of Technology. This is an exciting development, but I have to pause here and put my children down for bed. 

 

By the time I get back to my desk, I know exactly which clue to research next. There is a major avenue, Atlantic Ave, connecting Hamilton HS to Grace Playground. I carefully count the blocks between. They are exactly 22 blocks apart—“twice the number of the hour,” just as the verse and painting convey. More specifically, the park is 22 blocks east of the high school.


The clock in Painting 12 at 11 o'clock
The clock in Painting 12 at 11 o'clock

I also notice that the street right above Grace Playground and the Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox church is Liberty Ave. This feels like an odd coincidence, given the prominence of the Statue of Liberty in Painting #12. Atlantic Ave for the ocean. Liberty Ave for the woman. I pause again, as I don’t want to chase down one lead and ignore other possibilities. I turn to another area in the verse.


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I already suspect that the rhapsodic man in the verse refers to George Gershwin of “Rhapsody in Blue,” because I believe that Preiss is trying to give straightforward clues, not trick his intended reader. I look up everywhere Gershwin did important things around the NYC area. I see that the house of his birthplace, where in 1963 the New York Times recorded the unveiling of a historical marker plaque on the house, is half a mile west from Grace Playground—only a nine minute walk. More confirmation. I pause again.


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I do another Google Map walk around Grace Playground. I can’t get inside the park, but Google Maps does allow me to walk the perimeter. I find a very interesting tree in the shape of a wonky v, with one branch jutting out in the middle of the two angles of the v. This tree is located in the southeast corner of the park, at Vermont St and Belmont Ave. I see a clear rectangular doorway on a nearby house from this angle, as well as the domes of Holy Trinity. By this point I know that there are only two domes on his church, not three as in Painting #12, but as the name of the church is Holy Trinity, I still feel like this theory works well.


Interior of Holy Trinity Church next to Painting 12
Interior of Holy Trinity Church next to Painting 12

Plus, I can see from walking around the park that there is a visible very similar teal topped tower just across the street from Holy Trinity, over on New Jersey Ave and Liberty Ave, that seems close to the third blue dome featured in the painting.

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I think about the Isle of B clue again. I look up all the possible islands in the NYC area and discover a very small Belmont Island just north of Brooklyn. Belmont Island. And I’m currently standing on Belmont Avenue. The cryptic clue suddenly becomes a clever riddle. I think I have found the correct location.

 

By this time it’s 1:00am, but I cannot sleep. I look over the verse for any aspects I have missed. I realize I have not addressed the arm pointing down a slender path. I zoom out on Google Maps to start a new search for various statues in the area, when I pause. I look at the water, the East River curling under Manhattan, and suddenly see the shape of an arm and hand pointing in the exact direction of Grace Playground.


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I think about the lines from the verse again. In the shadow/ Of the grey giant/ Find the arm. The “Grey Giant” might indicate downtown Manhattan. The East River is just under Manhattan, technically in its shadow. I go back to Painting #12 and see that the Rusalki has an arm and finger pointing out, and that the hand and pointer finger are almost the same shape of the Wallabout Channel extending from the East River.


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I zoom into the Wallabout Channel and see the South Williamsburg Ferry. By this time, I’ve stopped by various The Secret message boards enough to know that the “whirring sound in summer” is thought by many online treasure hunters to be a reference to a ferry. I realize that the line “cars abound” could also mean “cars are bound,” either to land or on the ferry.


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I finally go to sleep, ready to send the NYC Parks & Recreation Department an inquiry about probing the southeast corner of Grace Playground later the following month.

 

THE SECRET JOURNAL—Heart-breaking revelation and update 6/17/23:

 

…to be continued in Part 3

 

 

You need not be an expert. Just be curious enough to look closer.


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Illustrated and designed by Danika Corrall

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