300-year-old letter tells of treasure buried beneath Society Hill

Pennsylvania treasure hunter claims to know its location, but a search is unlikely

A mysterious letter, penned May 14, 1716, by an unknown man in Jamaica, provides detailed directions to treasure buried in Philadelphia's Society Hill neighborhood.

A mysterious letter penned nearly 300 years ago remains housed at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania despite an explicit instruction by its unknown writer to destroy it.

No one knows why the letter, dated May 14, 1716, survived. But it is crystal clear why its author wanted the document burned at the recipient's earliest opportunity. It tells of treasure buried in Society Hill.

Writing from St. Jago De La Vega, Jamaica, the writer informs an unnamed brother of a treasure trove filled with Spanish currency now commonly associated with pirate tales. He provides detailed directions to recover a chest containing doubloons, pistoles, reales and pieces of eight. The letter concludes with an order to burn it.



"Well, evidently, something happened," HSP historian Daniel Rolph said. "He passed away or he decided to keep it. Or, I mean, who knows?

"It wasn't destroyed and it's not a fake. It's authentic. It's not made up. So, something happened."

That is just one part of the enigma. Another, of course, regards the fate of the treasure.

"It is possible that it is there," Rolph said. "But then again, it's possible that he retrieved it, but for some strange reason didn't destroy the document."

Rolph, an HSP historian for nearly 30 years, stumbled upon the letter while researching another subject two decades ago. He set the letter aside as one of his many pet projects, eventually posting his initial discoveries to his Hidden Histories blog eight years ago.

Given Philadelphia's trade involvement with the West Indies, Rolph suspects a member of the Society of Free Traders penned the letter. The mercantile group settled in Society Hill in 1682 and gave the neighborhood its name. The merchants were wealthy and known to travel, but the organization itself went bankrupt in 1723.

Yet, Rolph does not dismiss the possibility that pirates buried the treasure, though he finds that scenario less likely. The letter was sent during the Golden Age of Piracy, a period when Jamaica was known as a pirate hotbed and marauders sailed along the Eastern Seaboard. Blackbeard and others are believed to have frequented Philadelphia. (In fact, Blackbeard likely had family in Philadelphia, according to the 2008 book, "The Last Days of Black Beard the Pirate," written by Kevin P. Duffus.)

"Early Philly had a big trade network going into the West Indies," Rolph said. "A lot of illegal trade was going on with the French, with the Spanish. Of course, they weren't supposed to, but it happened, of course, anyway."

Rolph did not attempt to locate the treasure himself, but he playfully encouraged his readers to follow the clues outlined in the letter.
'A CHIST 4 AND A HALF FEET LONG'

The letter references a single brick house built atop rising ground called "Society Hill" and located "a little to the south" of a "gritt of water" crossable by a drawbridge. The house contained an apple orchard known as the "Cherry Garden."

It then provides specific directions to the treasure (spellings are correct):

    "Observe at the front of the house which fronts the west is a porch. Measure exactly 45 foot from that porch along the fence. ... There you will find a stone post in the ground. ... 3 foot or perhaps 4 foot most from the (stone post) is a chist 4 and a half foot long, 2 foot broad and half foot and the same deepth accordingly being about 6 foot from the bottom of the chist to the surface of the ground."

Anyone looking to unearth the treasure chest might have some trouble. The landmarks described in the letter are long gone. Society Hill, of course, is filled with historic rowhomes lined by brick sidewalks. There is little undeveloped land or green space.

But Philadelphia historian John Fanning Watson, who died in 1860, referenced the drawbridge, Cherry Garden and a "precipitous and high bank" in Society Hill in his 19th century manuscripts detailing the city's history, Rolph said. The drawbridge and creek running along Dock Street are included on old maps, but by the 1680s – some three decades before the letter was written – many brick houses were being constructed in the area.

"I get the impression it had to have been buried many years before," Rolph said. "By 1716, it was built up along the docks and all down that area."

Nevertheless, at least one treasure hunter claims to know where to find the coins – if they still remain.

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