Treasure hunt and train wreck

James River in Bedford County

Third day of the vacation and first day of seeing things except from a London hotel room and the freeways from Dulles to Lexington. I was supposed to drive from my hotel in Lexington, Virginia to my first goal in Ferguson, North Carololina, but I had planned to see one thing along the way. Therefore my first goal was Danville in southern Virginia, 120 miles south of Lexington. I keyed in the town in my satnav system, and left Lexington. I followed the instructions to the book, and suddenly I was at a familiar place.

In 2000 on my first trip to USA, we (thats me and my famliy) visited Natural Bridge, and now I found myself on the road outside the entrance building. I stopped and took some pictures but didn't visit this time. Thjne place didn't open until 9 am, and at that time it was only around 7.45.  After my photo session I continued south. At this time it had started raining, and as it happened it didn't stop the whole day.

Shortly after having left Natural Bridge a signpost told me, that I was now entering Bedford County, which brought something else into memory, namely the following quotation:

”I have deposited in the county of Bedford, about four miles from Buford's, in an excavation or vault, six feet below the surface of the ground, the following articles, belonging jointly to the parties whose names are given in number "3," herewith:

The first deposit consisted of one thousand and fourteen pounds of gold, and three thousand eight hundred and twelve pounds of silver, deposited November, 1819. The second was made December, 1821, and consisted of nineteen hundred and seven pounds of gold, and twelve hundred and eighty-eight pounds of silver; also jewels, obtained in St. Louis in exchange for silver to save transportation, and valued at $13,000.

The above is securely packed in iron pots, with iron covers. The vault is roughly lined with stone, and the vessels rest on solid stone, and are covered with others. Paper number "1" describes the exact locality of the vault so that no difficulty will be had in finding it."

This is how the famous or infamous Beale Treasure is introduced to the world. Buford's Inn doesn't exist any more, but this inn was situated where you today find the small village of Montvale, around 13 miles northeast of Roanoke and 30 miles west of Lynchburg. The treasure has - as far as I know - not been found yet, so I thought: "Why not give it a try". Hundreds of people already have, with no luck. There a four possible explanations to the treasure story. One: It's a complete hoax, there has never been a treasure. Two: The treasure was there, but was picked up by the very same people who buried it. Three: The treasure was there, and it has been found by people who never told anyone about the find, but just kept it for themselves. Four: The story is true, and the treasure is still there, but it has been so cleverly hidden, that it has not yet been found.

Anyway I changed my goal to Montvale and corrected my satnav. Actually I did'nt really want to go treasure hunting, I just wanted to see the area. As I continued south and west, the rain was getting heavier, and when I finally reached Montvale, I didn't want to leave my car, but I did, and I took some photos. If you take Buford's Inn as the center of a circle,  4 miles in diameter, you have to search an are of 50 square miles in rather rough terrain in order to find something buried six feet below the surface. A difficult task. And that is only if tre story is true and the measurment is exact. Someone believes that the treasure is hidden somewhere in the vicinity of Peaks of Otter, but that's 10 miles from Montvale, rather than 4. Anyway as it still rained heavily I gave up on thed treasure hunt, and continued to Danville.

Historical marker on Route 58 in Danville.

As the rain continued to get worse I decided that I needes some rain proof clothes, which I hadn't brought from Denmark, so my first stop when I got to Danville, was at a Walmart, where I bought a jacket that claimed to be waterproof. It later was proven, that it was not though! When I left the Walmart it had stopped raining, but only ten minutes later it started again. My goal in Danville was to see the site of the 1903 train wreck, that was the true story behind the old ballad "Wreck of the old 97", that has been recorded in more than 100 cover versions since G. B. Grayson og Henry Whittier made the first recording in 1923. I had a little difficulty locating the place, but finally I found it. The tressle bridge that the train fell from is long gone, and the stream that it crossed has dried out. The ravine is overgrown with vegetation but in spite of that - and the continuing rain, I took some pictures, including a picture of the historical marker, that commemorates the event. Between 9 and 15 people were killed in the accident (the sources don't agree on the number probably because some was killed immediatley at the accident, while others died later of their wounds). After my visit I bought a cup of coffee on a gas station and continued east, to a place where I could get closer to Dan River. which was also photographed.

As it was now raining even more heavily, I decided to go straight to Ferguson, 140 miles away. I didn't stop anymore before I got to Stoney Fork Bed Breakfast at 2204 Mount Zion Road in Ferguson. Because of the heavy rain most of the way it took me more than 3,5 hours to get there. When I arrived I was received by Jim, the owner, who carried my suitcase to the nice room on the second floor. When I had settled I left the place again. From home I had searched the internet, and dicovered that there was a bookstore in Hickory, 30 miles away, so I drove there. I bought some books, but the one I was actually after I didn't get. It didn't become available until the next day, so I prebooked it instead. When I left the bookstore, it had gotten dark and as it was a little past 6 pm, I decided to have something to eat before returning to Ferguson. Next to the bookstore was a restaurant called Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen, that I had never tried before, and to be honest, probably never will again. I had some eatable food, but I have had better - a lot better, and the service was at best "so or so".

I returned to Ferguson, and the first part of the trip went smoothly, but when I got to the small roads, they had somehow gotten narrower and more twisted in the dark, so I went a little slow. Returning to the B&B I was introduced to Jim's wife Kathy, his mother in law, Stephanie and a daughter who's name I have forgotten. We chatted for a couple of hours, and they told me that they had lived in Ferguson for three years after moving there from Florida. I told them that I was mainly there for the Dula case, of which they didn't knew much, so I told them a bit of what I knew. Around 10 pm I went to my room, and had a good nights sleep before the next day, that should be the first real sightseeing day. When I went to bed around midnight it was still raining.

In my article Heat, sand and planes on the 2014 Big City Tour page I told of our truck counting game. In spite of being alone, I continued the game by counting trucks from the chosen transport companies, and after my 405 miles trip, the score was

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