Captain Kidd's Rock

Here's the local history on Shaw's Tavern and Captain Kidd's letter....

http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/conn.river/palmer.html

One of the most mysterious legends born in Palmer is that of the Captain Kidd letter found on the property of Samuel Shaw in 1849 (today the Pottoquatnck District). The story is about 2 young Shaw men who were out hunting rabbits when their dog chased one under a stone ledge. The young men reached in and found a glass vial tightly sealed with sheet lead and wound in wire. Brought to the house, the bottle had to be broken to be opened inside was a roll of paper dated 1700-1, the old method of dating 1701.

The paper was a letter from Robert Kidd and addressed to John Bailey Esq. of New York. The letter stated that Kidd had been captured as a pirate and was to be sent back to England for trial. Kidd instructs Bailey to rush to Boston, specifically to Conant’s Island in Boston Harbor to dig up 2 chests “containing from fifteen to twenty thousand pounds sterling, in money, jewels and diamonds.” The letter goes on to give specific information on where the chests are buried and cautions Bailey to say nothing about the letter, to ‘keep dark to any but my friends.” The courier was instructed to hide the vial if he met with trouble or was taken by Indians, and return for it if he was able to escape. In 1701 Palmer was wilderness except for the Indian Trails that crossed through the area.

The finding of this letter 148 years later caused a major stir in town. The great debate was over whether the letter was genuine and if there really was a treasure buried in Boston Harbor. Samuel Shaw later that year went to Conant’s Island, by then renamed Governor’s Island. By the time Shaw arrived its name was not the only thing that had changed. The shores of the island had eroded and the coastline altered. The area where the chests were to have been buried had been long ago swept away by the tide. Consequently the mystery has never been solved; to­day the place “where x marks the spot” is covered by Logan Airport. The note today is in the collection of the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum in Springfield.