PETTENGILL ISLAND
To locate this small island we will follow Route 1 north from Portland
until we reach Freeport Village. Here we will make a right turn at the
yellow blinker light and follow the signs to Flying Point. When we reach
Flying Point we will look offshore across the small bay and there we
will see Pettengill Island. There are no inhabitants on this island
although I believe it is privately owned.
The Author rowed over to Pettengill and landed on the rocky southwest
point. Here I discovered an old iron cleat that had been sunk into a
large boulder. The hole in the rock had been hand drilled to accommodate
the cleat. Whoever drilled this socket in the hard rock surely worked
hard, as I could see it would take a person three or four hours to drill
a hole this deep with a hand drill. What type of boat was moored to this
cleat would be anyone's guess. The cleat was checked as to age and was
believed to be about a hundred years old.
There are several open areas in the thick pine groves that could easily
be locations for buried treasure. On the easterly side of the island you
will find a small cove and perfect beach for landing. Maybe some band of
pirates also thought that this cove was a good spot to land and hide a
bit of loot. I would go over this cove area very carefully, and as I
mentioned, don't forget the southwest point of the island. I still think
you could come up with something at either location. Your iron probe
would serve you in good stead, as most of the clearings are covered with
pine needles. The probe will push easily through the needles until you
reach harder ground. Most of the islands are very rocky, so anything
that was buried would not be too deep due to the rocky condition,
probably two or three feet deep in the ground.