The Great Treasure Hunt
Peche Island
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My brother David and sister-in-law Ronnie arrived with their small army.
They came from the Hudson Valley in upstate New York in a small RV packed with children — ten of them — plus a babysitter, sleeping bags, food bins, and just enough chaos to overwhelm the quiet order of Grosse Pointe.
Also in the mix was my sister Mary Alice, her husband Jim and their two sons from Phoenix—Mike and Jimmy and my other sister Vickie and her daughter Kristyn from Port Huron.
It was a long awaited family reunion with an epic twist.
It didn’t announce itself. It waited to be noticed.
It didn’t announce itself. It waited to be noticed.
The Bottle
The bottle was old. Or at least it looked old.
The paper inside had darkened edges, singed enough to suggest a long passage of time and mystery.
When one of the children, Mike Fox, pulled it from the canal in front the family cottage leading out to the Detroit River, the adults went quiet.
Not because we believed it —
but because the children already did.
The map in that bottle could only be pointing to one place—Peche Island.
Where Mike Fox found the floating bottle.
Route the treasure-hunting party took out to the Detroit River.
The crossing from Detroit to Peche Island
The intrepid treasure hunters.
The actual stretch of the island where the treasure was found.
Peche Island — in international waters between Canada and the US.
What the map had promised in symbols and lines now existed in shoreline, trees, soil and sand. It was dramatic and mysterious. It was waiting to be revealed.
After the river crossing by boat the search began here.
After the river crossing the search began here.
The atmosphere grew charged as they marched toward the spot marked on the map.
From the beach to the island’s jungle like interior.
From the beach to the island’s jungle like interior.
Grandpa George Van Lokeren—his grandchildren in tow.
Grandpa George Van Lokeren—his grandchildren in tow.
They had arrived at the site. Now the ground had to yield to the shovels.
They had arrived at the site. Now the ground had to answer.
Mike Fox, the boy who discovered the bottle zeroing in.
This is where pretending ended. Dominic Van Lokeren’s shovel plunged into the earth.
This was where pretending ended. Dominic Van Lokeren’s shovel plunged into the earth.
Everyone held their breath—the tension thick around us.
The shovel struck metal with a bright, ringing clank.
The shovel struck metal with a bright, ringing clank.
Anticipation gave way to treasure and relief.
Anticipation gave way to treasure and relief.
Part wonder, part triumph.
Part wonder, part triumph.
The children were spellbound as they examined the trove of metals and gems that the metal box in the ground had given up. Passing the treasures from hand to hand each discovery met with a sense of disbelief and surreal wonder.
To this day where that bottle originated from remains a mystery although there are plenty of suspicions.
This would become a story told for generations.