$20,000,000 up for grabs!

[evilC]

I've been trying to locate the whereabouts of Buford's Tavern, which is apparently in the vicinty of what is now Montvale VA.

 

My interest in this stems from reading about the Beale Cyphers. See http://www.albany.net/~cybernet/beale.htm for more info if you aren't familiar with the story.

 

I though perhaps someone in the area could even have created a cache linked to this story but apparently not. As far as I can tell the GeoJoker5 cache is about the closest?

 

Anyway, I'd be grateful if anybody can tell me anything more about the precise location of Buford's Tavern, etc.

 

I'm from New Zealand so not likely to be search for the treasure anytime soon but if I crack the cypher I'll be heading your way in a flash!

[+RiverCacher]

The D-Day Virtual Cache is in the general area as well.

 

Our resident expert on the Beale Treasure here in Bedford County is Peter Viemeister...you can contact him through http://www.peterv.com

 

Scott

 

Lynchburg, Virginia

[BassoonPilot]

One would figure a seismologist would have figured a way to locate this without bothering with the cyphers long ago.

[RoanokeTVGuy]

The Beale treasure is one of those local legends that doesn't make too much sense to me, but is widely believed. If you search for it, WATCH YOUR STEP! You may find yourself staring down the barrel of a shotgun, as the landowners are getting sick of "treasure-hunters" tromping through their fields/woods.

 

But good luck anyway!

[+RiverCacher]

"One would figure a seismologist would have figured a way to locate this without bothering with the cyphers long ago."

 

The late famed Mel Fisher searched for this treasure a number of years ago..as I recall, they actually found an underground chamber...empty, I might add.

 

Scott

 

Lynchburg, Virginia

[+briansnat]

There was an article in a local NJ paper about this a few weeks ago. Aparently there is a group of people who basically have devoted their lives to breaking the code. They profiled one NJ couple

who works on the code for 6 or more hours every evening and most of each weekend. Guess its better staring at the tube watching Friends, but I think it's a big waste of time.

 

They also profiled a Dowser who says he found it, but its 20 feet underground and he and can't get to it.

 

All these people spending all this time on what is most likely a hoax. Hey, whatever makes ya happy.

[evilC]

I first read about the Beale papers in Simon Singh's "The Code Book" which I highly recommend if you are are interested in codes and ciphers and their history.

 

Here is one site that questions whether the whole thing is a hoax:

 

http://www.myoutbox.net/bealhome.htm

 

Personally, I find the arguments that it was a hoax pretty convincing now, but it is still a facinating story!

 

I've also since gathered that Buford's Tavern doesn't actually exist any longer (??), and that Montvale used to be called Bufordsville until 1890 or thereabouts.

 

Re the suggestions that seismologists should be able to find it (if it exists), how would they do that? I don't know that much about metal detectors and so forth but it would seem to unlikely that they could detect something buried as deep as this treasure was meant to be? Maybe other better/different technology is available also but how accessible is the whole area anyway. Seems also like there would be quite a wide area to search even if you assume the "about four miles from Buford's" is reasonably accurate.

 

Anyway, my current plan is to spend about $100 on a metal detector (plus a bit more on airfares!), set a waypoint in the middle on Montvale, and then walk in a giant circle (using my etrex of course) of 4.000 miles radius until I hear the tone.... :-)