MYSTERY AT COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG

The Truth of Bruton Vault

David Allen Rivera

MYSTERY AT COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG: The Truth of Bruton Vault

All Rights Reserved

Copyright © 2014, 2007

By David Allen Rivera

This book was produced in the United States of America by

Rivera Enterprises

Visit the Author’s archived writings at:

http://sites.google.com/site/worksofdar

For correspondence:

contactdarivera@gmail.com

COVER: The portion of the Bruton Parish Churchyard where the site of the original church was located, underneath which the Bruton Vault is said to be located. The public is no longer permitted to walk into this area.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface11111111111111111111..1111111111111111..1.3 Introduction111111111111111111111..111..1.111111.11114 Sir Francis Bacon1111.1111111111111111..11.11111.11111..6 The Shakespeare-Bacon Connection11111111111.1.111..1111.111.1.13 The King James Bible11111111111111111111..11.1111..1111.25 New Atlantis1111111111111111111111.11...1.1111.111....131 Jamestown1111111111111111111111111...11.111.1111...35 Bacon’s Rebellion111111111111111111.111.1.11.111.1111141 Bacon’s Castle111111111111.11111111.111.111.1.111111.46 The Bruton Parish Church11111111111111.111.11..111.111111.48 Custis-Maupin House1111.1111111111111111.11..111.11111.55 Sir Christopher Wren Building11111111111111111.1.11.1..11111...63 James Geddy House1111.1111111111111111111.1.1.1.1111..84 George Wythe House11111.111111111111111111.1..11.1111.88 The Powder Magazine111111111111111111111111..1..11.11193 What Is Inside the Bruton Vault?111111.1111.11111111.11..1.1111.96 The Quest for Bruton Vault11111.11111111111.1111111..1.111..100 Mount Rushmore111111111111111111111111111111.11...126 How the Bruton Vault Became a Legend1111111.11111111111111..1132 Conclusion11111111111111111111111111111111.111..135 Bibliography and Sources Consulted111111.111111111111..1..1.111141 Acknowledgements1111111111111111111111111111111....147

About the Author111111111111111111111111111111111.148

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PREFACE

I’ve been studying the possible existence of the Bruton Vault for over 20 years, having stumbled on it during the course of the research for my book Final Warning. At the time, it seemed like one of those missing pieces that brought clarity to the underlying premise and the mindset of the Founding Fathers as opposed to the Planting Fathers. After peripherally elaborating on it in my book, I decided to flesh it out more in a stand-alone eBook that I released in 2007. However, I continued digging (pardon the pun) into it. It’s an understatement to say that things just didn’t add up. Lines of rational thinking were not followed, and I realized that the whole thing was just so haphazardly approached because of wanting to see things that weren’t there. Behind the scenes was a devious scam artist whose tendencies to go over-board, were actually theatrical performances intent on giving his money-making schemes a sense of legitimacy so he could continue to steal money from people under the guise of trying to locate the Vault. When I began to consider the facts within the context of what the evidence actually says, the outcome significantly impacted my original conclusions, and it became necessary to do a rewrite to set the story straight.

David Allen Rivera August 21, 2014

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INTRODUCTION Twenty feet below the ground of the Bruton Parish Church cemetery in Williamsburg, Virginia, according to a small group of esoteric researchers, lays a 300-year old vaulted brick chamber. Though eye-witnesses have talked of a secret subterranean tunnel system, and various kinds of testing have indicated the presence of an anomaly in the Churchyard, with decoded messages giving its location– its very existence has been vehemently denied by Colonial Williamsburg for 75 years. The web of secrecy and denial surrounding the suppression of something so historically significant seemed amazing to me. I first heard about the Bruton Vault some years ago, and I was convinced that this was the reason why the Rockefeller family had made such a huge investment into Williamsburg. The more I read about it, the more interesting it became. It’s like what Winston Churchill said in an October, 1939 radio broadcast: “It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” When my book Final Warning: A History of the New World Order was expanded and republished in 2004, I included some information about the Vault. Then in 2005, when the Walt Disney Co. released the movie National Treasure, I saw some distinct parallels to the story behind the Vault, and to me, these veiled references meant that someone knew about the Vault and incorporated it into their story.

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If you’ve Googled “Bruton Vault,” then you know there is very little information available about it. It’s one of those things better left to discussions between like-minded people; because it’s too wild to be caught talking about it, yet too mysterious to ignore. Though the evidence seems circumstantial at best, there seems to be an abundance of it. Because of that, I decided to expand, and clarify my initial research, and do a serious, in-depth treatment of the Vault, which gives you a complete overview of what the Bruton Vault is all about. Welcome to a dimension of history you never before dared to enter. It is a history that goes far beyond your college History class. Some would call it the dark side of history. I guess history is one of those things, that because you were never going to need it after you graduated, or use it out in the real world, you never gave it much thought. However, as layers of transpired history masks a truth that may never be fully realized, by studying information gleaned from a broad spectrum of sources, we may be able to get a glimpse of a more certain reality.

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SIR FRANCIS BACON1

The story of the Bruton Vault begins in London, at a time of great religious upheaval between Catholics and Protestants.2 After the death of Queen Mary (Bloody Mary) on November 17, 1558, Elizabeth I (daughter of Henry VIII and Ann Boleyn), her half-sister, became the Queen. It seems that the Queen was in love with Robert Dudley, the 5th son of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland.

Both of them had been prisoners at the Tower of London in 1554 and 1555: Elizabeth under suspicion of treason for planning to secure the throne to the Protestant Succession, and Robert for helping his father attempt to place Lady Jane Grey (who was married to his son, Guilford Dudley) on the throne. Jane and Guilford were beheaded. Elizabeth and Dudley fell in love when they met at the Tower, and were secretly married in 1557. In Francis Bacon: Last of the Tudors, Deventer von Kunow records that the chronicles of the Tower of London reveal that there was a marriage ceremony between the two which had been performed by a visiting monk.

On August 13, 1560, a Report in the State Papers by Lord Burleigh indicated that Mother Anne Dowe of Brentwood said that the Queen had become pregnant by Dudley. Dowe was imprisoned. On September 8th, Amy Robsart, wife of Dudley was found dead at the bottom of a stairway with a broken neck. Some said she was murdered, others said she committed suicide. Either way, Dudley was now free.

Count De Feria (a representative of King Philip of Spain) wrote in an April 18, 1559 letter about Queen Elizabeth’s behavior toward Dudley: “Her Majesty visits him in his chamber day and night.” In a second letter he wrote: “Sometimes she appears as if she wants to marry him (Arch Duke Ferdinand), and speaks like a woman who will only accept a great Prince, and then they say she is in love with Lord Robert and never lets him leave her.”

The May 10, 1559 letter from Schafanoya, the Venetian Ambassador states: “My Lord Robert is in very great favour and very intimate with Her Majesty.” Surian, the Venetian Envoy later wrote: “The love which Her Majesty bears for My Lord Robert is so great that she will eventually take him as her husband or none at all.”

It is believed that on September 12, 1560, Queen Elizabeth and Dudley were married at Lord Pembroke’s house.

When Queen Victoria was staying at Wilton House, the Earl of Pembroke informed her that in the Muniment Room was a document containing written evidence that the Queen was pregnant with Dudley’s child, and that the two were secretly married in 1560. She demanded to see the document, and after reading it, threw it in the fire, saying: “One must not interfere with history.”

1 Information compiled from the following online sources: Sir Francis Bacon’s New Advancement of Learning <http://www.sirbacon.org> An Authorship Analysis: Francis Bacon as Shake-speare <http://fly.hiwaay.net/~paul/outline.html> The Francis Bacon Research Trust <http://www.fbrt.org.uk/frameset.html> Bacon Is Shakespeare <http://home.att.net/~tleary/> 2 Roberts, J.M. The New History of the World. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2003, pg. 580.

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By November, 1560, she was visibly pregnant, and in December, a secret dispatch by the Spanish Envoy revealed that the Queen was pregnant with Dudley’s child. Elizabeth was told that if she would confirm the pregnancy by marrying Lord Leicester, France and Spain would combine their forces to remove her from the throne and replace her with a Catholic ruler.

Dr. William Rawley, Bacon’s secretary and chaplain, wrote: “Francis Bacon, the glory of his age and nation, the adorner and ornament of learning, was born in York House, or York Place.” Although it may seem as though he really wasn’t sure where he was born, he was actually elaborating on the rumors that existed, and was indicating that he was a Royal Tudor. York House was in the Strand, near the Watergate, and was the home of Sir Nicholas Bacon; and York Place, a name no longer used, was the name used for Whitehall Palace, the home of Queen Elizabeth I.

In 1562, Robert Brooks, of Devizes, was sent to prison for publishing the information that Elizabeth had children by Dudley; and in 1570, a man named Marsham, of Norfolk (or Norwich), was sentenced to have his ears cut off for saying: “My Lord of Leicester hath two children by the Queen.”

Plus, as evidenced by the representation of Dudley in Hilliard’s Miniatures, Francis Bacon bore more of a resemblance to him compared to Sir Nicholas Bacon.

So, it’s quite clear, according to various researchers that Elizabeth and Dudley had been lovers. Following her accession to the throne of England, he was appointed as Master of the Horse, a prominent position which allowed him to be with the Queen; and gave him lodging at the Court, where he was given a bedroom next to hers at Whitehall.

Officially, Francis Bacon was born on January 22, 1561, the fifth son of Nicholas Bacon (Sir Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England, who, with William Cecil, were very influential) and the second son of the second wife (Lady Anne Bacon, who, around the same time had given birth to a still-born child), yet he uncharacteristically rose in prominence. Now we can see why– because most likely he had been born to Elizabeth I and an unacknowledged husband. When Nicholas Bacon died in 1579, his will, which can be seen in Somerset House, left no money to Francis, presumably because he assumed that Queen Elizabeth would take care of him. He was the rightful heir to the throne, but it could never be known, and he then became Dudley’s heir.

Sir Nicholas Bacon had built a home for his family at Gorhambury, and it was reported that the Queen visited there frequently through the years.

Sir Nicholas Bacon

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Gorhambury, the childhood home of Francis Bacon

The ruins of Gorhambury today

In 1562, when the Queen fell ill, and feared for her life, Dudley was named the Protector of the Kingdom. In 1564 he was made the Earl of Leicester.

In 1571, Leicester proposed to Lady Sheffield, and secretly married her two days before the birth of his second son to the Queen. Elizabeth remained unaware of this relationship. However, Dudley later married Lettice, the widow of Walter (Earl of Essex), one of the Queen’s cousins, in a public ceremony; and when the Queen found out, she threatened to imprison him in the Tower of London. He remained under house arrest at Greenwich Castle.

Without a doubt, Francis was heavily influenced by his devoutly religious foster-mother, Lady Anne Bacon, who had been well educated, and knew the Bible very well.

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In a letter, dated April 18, 1593, Anne wrote to Anthony Bacon (Francis’ older brother, Lady Anne Bacon’s first child): “...it is not my meaning to treat him [Francis] as a ward: Such a word is far from my Motherly feeling for him. I mean to do him good.”

In 1573, at age 12, Francis entered Trinity College in Cambridge and studied the sciences. He also began studying Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Spanish, Italian and French. He would leave in 1576.

Young Francis Bacon

In 1576 he was accepted at the law school known as Gray’s Inn. It was at this time that the Queen revealed that he was the Queen’s son– the unacknowledged “Prince of Wales.” She instructed him to never write, print, or speak secrets under his own name.

At the age of sixteen, at the direction of the Queen, he was sent to Paris (with English Ambassador Sir Amyas Paulet on the large ship known as the Dreadnought) to study Egyptian, Arabian, Indian and Greek philosophy with particular attention given to the Ancient Mysteries and their Ritual Rites. He learned how ciphers were used secretly in diplomatic affairs, and personally wrote that while he was in Paris, he created a secret cipher system that could be inserted into a document without arousing suspicion. In fact, his mother, Lady Bacon, in a later letter to his brother Anthony, wrote about his “enigmatical folded writing.”3 While living in Europe, Francis Bacon was initiated into the mysterious Order of the Knights Templar. For next three years, before returning to London, he traveled to France, Italy, Germany and Spain.

On Feb 20, 1579, he was summoned back to London upon the death of his father Nicholas, and arrived there on March 20th. At the age of twenty he completely devoted himself to the study of law at Gray’s Inn. Because of his understanding of the secret information he had

3 “Bacon’s Advancement of Learning (1605) and The New Atlantis (1627),” The World Classics (Volume XCIII).

London: Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press, 1913, pg. xix.

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learned during his initiation into the Knights Templar, he came up with the idea of reviving various Secret Societies, and in 1580 founded the secret Rosicrosse Literary Society at Gray’s Inn. Later in the same year, he established the Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, or

Speculative Masons, also at Gray’s Inn.

In 1582, he was made an utter barrister at Gray’s Inn. He was living at the Inns of Court on an allowance from the Queen. Two years later he entered the House of Commons, and became politically active. In 1588, Bacon was elected as a Member of the Parliament for Liverpool, and appointed as the Queen’s Counsel Extraordinary. In 1592 he held a seat in Parliament for Middlesex, and took a leave from Gray’s Inn to pursue philosophy. In 1592, the first of the Shakespeare plays, Henry VI (Parts 1, 2, and 3), appeared anonymously.

In 1593, at the age of 32, he fell out of favor with the Queen because he opposed her Money Bill, and by 1594 he was earning his own money as a lawyer. He eventually made amends, and in 1595 he became the Queen’s personal advisor. In 1597 he served

as a Member of Parliament in Southampton.

In 1599, the Queen supported him in an effort to acquire his family’s estate at Gorhambury, and in 1602 Lady Anne Bacon surrendered her interest to the estate. She died in August, 1610 at the age of 82.

In 1601, Francis moved out of his room at Gray’s Inn to live at Twickenham Park. Twickenham was sold in 1608 when he moved into the estate at Gorhambury.

On March 24, 1603, Queen Elizabeth died and was replaced by James I (James VI of Scotland, son of Mary Queen of Scots). On July 23, 1603, Francis was knighted by King James two days before the King’s Coronation ceremony. On June 25, 1606, Bacon was appointed to the office of Solicitor-General, and became the Chief Advisor to the Crown. He used his position to present new ideas to the Government in regard to the Reformation of the Church. At the age of 52, he was appointed Attorney-General.

In 1609, records indicate that Bacon, along with Pembroke and Montgomery were founding members, and held shares in the Newfoundland Company, and the Virginia Company (who would establish Jamestown). Manly Palmer Hall wrote in The Secret Destiny of America: “Bacon quickly realized that here in the new world was the proper environment for the accomplishment of his great dream, the establishment of the philosophic empire1he was the head of a secret society including in its membership the most brilliant intellectuals of his day [and] together with Bacon, they devised the colonization scheme.”4

4 Hall, Manly Palmer. The Secret Destiny of America. Los Angeles, CA: Philosophical Research Society, 1944, pg. 129.

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On March 7 (or possibly March 3rd), 1617, at the age of 57, Bacon was named Lord Keeper of the Seal, the position held by his father Sir Nicholas Bacon, and in 1617, he was promoted to the Lord Chancellorship. As such, in the absence of the King, he was a Regent and in control of the government of England. He also held the titles of Baron Verulam (1618), and Viscount St. Albans (1621). Within four months of reaching the pinnacle of his career, due to the efforts of his political adversary Sir Edward Coke, he was convicted without a trial (at his request) of bribery, and was removed from office, fined forty thousand pounds (later forgiven), and sentenced to imprisonment at the Tower of London (only serving three days).5

Biographers say that while Bacon was experimenting with the effect of snow in retarding the decay of meat, he caught a cold and developed bronchitis. On April 9, 1626 (Easter morning), Bacon died at Lord Arundel’s house, in the arms of his nephew Julius, at the age of 66. Although he had married an alderman’s daughter in 1606, he left no children.

There are three different stories given about where he actually died. There is no record of his death, funeral, or burial. The vault beneath his tombstone monument at St. Michael’s Church at St. Albans was sealed up. This monument contains the Latin inscription Composita Solvantur (“let the compounds be dissolved”), which is certainly reminiscent of a Shakespearian exclamation. Some researchers believe that he did not die in England, but went to Holland and lived under an assumed name for about ten years, where he worked on developing his secret society.6 Others believed that he staged his own death and came to the New World to help establish the Society he envisioned, eventually dying in 1684, at the age of 123.7

Sir Francis Bacon was a lawyer, composer, and was fluent in a number of languages. He also excelled at mathematics, painting, astronomy, science, classical drama, philosophy, history, theology and architecture. He had many interests, aims and goals. He is known as the “father of modern

science,” framer of modern law, and patron of modern democracy. A man ahead of his time, he was recognized as the leading scholar of his day. He is also recognized as the “founder of Free Masonry (he was Grand Master of the London Lodge)...the guiding light of the Rosicrucian Order, the members of which kept the torch of the true universal knowledge, the Secret Doctrine of the Ages, alive during the dark night of the Middle Ages.” He had been initiated by a secret society of intellectuals dedicated to civil and religious freedom. In his book Instauratio Magna, he wrote of a movement to “reorganize the sciences and restore man to the mastery over nature that he was conceived to have lost by the fall of Adam.” His life and works are extensively 5 Bacon, Sir Francis. The Works of Francis Bacon: The Wisdom of the Ancients and Other Essays. Roslyn, NY: Black’s Reader Service, 1932, pg. ix. 6 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat Foundation, 1984, pg. 143. 7 Vaughan, Steve. “Vault Believers Want New Dig.” The Virginia Gazette, August 21, 2006 <http://www.sott. net/article/118387-Vault-believers-want-new-dig>

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documented, his many writings published, and his intellectual accomplishments have been widely noted.

“Lord Bacon was the greatest genius that England, or perhaps any country, ever produced.” -- Alexander Pope (1741)

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THE SHAKESPEARE – BACON CONNECTION8

One of Marie Bauer’s (who would later become the wife of Manly Palmer Hall) major contentions, is that the plays, believed to have been written by William Shakespeare, were actually written by a group of Masons (and contain many codes) led by Francis Bacon. Of the 33 in the group, 22 were notable writers, including Sir Thomas Meautys,9 Thomas Moore, Christopher Marlowe,10 Ben Jonson, John Donne, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Tobias Matthew, Edmund Spencer, Francis Drake, George Withers, known as his “good pens,” and Lancelot Andrews, Bishop of Winchester, who was a member of the committee who worked on the King James Version of the Bible.11 These men represented the greatest minds and intellect of the period, and it was to these men that Bacon shared the vision he had for the New Atlantis.

In 1785, James Wilmot began putting together a case for the fact that William Shakespeare was not the author of the works that bore his name. During his investigation in the area of Stratford, he found very little evidence that Shakespeare had actually written anything. Although his proof was circumstantial, he concluded that Bacon was the most likely author of the plays attributed to Shakespeare. One of the things that he discovered was that the names of three characters in the play Love’s Labour’s Lost (set in Navarre)– Biron, Dumain, and Longaville, coincided with the names of three ministers at the Court of Navarre where Anthony Bacon lived. In 1917, a woman by the name of Bunten discovered that Bacon’s passports were signed with the names Biron, Dumain, Longaville, and Boyesse (also a character in the same play). Wilmot believed that Bacon destroyed his manuscripts because he felt that people would believe it beneath his dignity to write plays. Although it was okay to circulate poetry and such among friends, it was not acceptable to publish it. Anthony Bacon

It has come to be accepted that Bacon did write some poetry, as well as some prose writing. There were times that he put together letters for the Earl of Essex, that were signed with the Earl’s name. At least once, and possibly twice, he drafted a document for the Earl to give to the Queen. He also wrote a speech for the Earl of Sussex. He anonymously wrote the Christmas Revels at Gray’s Inn in 1594-95. In 1589, at the request of Sir Francis Walsingham, the Queen’s

8 Information compiled from the following online sources: Sir Francis Bacon’s New Advancement of Learning <http://www.sirbacon.org> An Authorship Analysis: Francis Bacon as Shake-speare <http://fly.hiwaay.net/~paul/outline.html> The Francis Bacon Research Trust <http://www.fbrt.org.uk/frameset.html> Bacon Is Shakespeare <http://home.att.net/~tleary/> 9 Joseph, Frank. “The Lost Treasure of Sir Francis Bacon.” Fate magazine, June, 2005, pg. 30. 10 Wheeler, Ward. “This Bruton Business.” Royalist. November, 1938, pgs. 20-21. 11 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat Foundation, 1984, pg. 100.

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Secretary of State, he wrote a letter, in French, to a French official, from Walsingham. There are also other instances that Bacon’s writing abilities were utilized in the names of others.

Initially, while growing up, Bacon’s Puritan mother would not have approved of Francis writing plays– because she considered the theater the work of the Devil. As he got older, to publish plays in his own name, a vocation viewed with contempt among the circles he frequented, would have hindered his pursuit of the position he hoped to aspire to. Besides, the fact that all of his life he had to hide who he was, made him secretive by nature. In his essay Of Simulation and Dissimulation, Bacon wrote: “There be three degrees of this hiding and veiling of man’s self. The first, closeness, reservation, and secrecy; when a man leaveth himself without observation, or without hold to be taken, what he is. The second, dissimulation, in the negative; when a man lets fall signs and arguments, that he is not that he is. And the third, simulation, in the affirmative; when a man industriously and expressly feigns and pretends to be that he is not.”12 In a 1603 letter that Bacon wrote to his friend, poet John Davies, who had traveled north to meet the King: “So desiring you to be good to concealed poets, I continue, yours very assured, Fr. Bacon.” In the 1607 and 1612 version of his essay Of Friendship, Bacon wrote: “There be some whose lives are as if they perpetually played a part upon a stage, disguised to all others, open only to themselves.” In a 1623 letter from Tobias Matthew to Bacon: “The most prodigious wit, that ever I knew of my nation, and of this side of the sea, is of your Lordship’s name, though he may be known by another.” Probably the most telling of the arguments against William Shakespeare actually being the author of the works attributed to him is the fact that there is no record of him ever attending any school, and therefore would not have had the intellectual capacity to write about English law, historical events, and court etiquette– not to mention details about foreign countries and their languages, since it is a known fact that he never left England.13

The signatures of Shakespeare from his Will

12 Bacon, Francis. “Of Simulation and Dissimulation.” The Harvard Classics. New York, NY: P. F. Collier & Son

Corp., 1937, pg. 18. 13 Bauer, Maria. Foundations Unearthed. Glendale, CA: Veritas Press, 1948, pg. 5.

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In contrast, the signature and writing of Sir Francis Bacon

William Shakespeare (whose last name was actually Shagspur), was born to illiterate parents, and at the age of 16 was an apprentice to a butcher;14 and was employed by Nathaniel Bacon, the Earl of Leicester, as a groom. It is believed that he was recruited by Francis Bacon to be the “face” of their writings.15 The name actually means: “The Will of the I AM will shake the spear of wisdom.”16 Among those who doubted his abilities to have written what was attributed to him: Mark Twain, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Benjamin Disraeli, Walt Whitman, and John Greenleaf Whittier.17 Ben Jonson said: “The most learned of works could not have been written by the least learned of men.”18 In her book Foundations Unearthed, Marie Bauer went even one step further by saying: “William Shakespeare, the Stratford man most definitely could not have written them, because it has been proved, time and again, beyond the shadow of a doubt that William Shakespeare could not read or write.”19 When he died, he had not owned any books, there were no incomplete writing projects found, and there was no mention of manuscripts in his will. There were no manuscripts in his possessions. The first folio did not appear until seven years after his death. Even though he is

14 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat Foundation, 1984, pg. 93. 15 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat

Foundation, 1984, pg. 101. 16 Joseph, Frank. “The Lost Treasure of Sir Francis Bacon.” Fate magazine, June, 2005, pg. 30. 17 Sora, Steven. The Lost Colony of the Templars: Verrazano’s Secret Mission to America. Rochester, VT: Destiny Books, 2004, pgs. 245-246. 18

Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat Foundation, 1984, pg. 98. 19

Bauer, Maria. Foundations Unearthed. Glendale, CA: Veritas Press, 1948, pg. 3.

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considered one of the greatest literary personages that ever lived, there have been no personal letters from him found. The reason for that is that he could not write. The only documented evidence that he ever even picked up a pen are the five signatures that appeared in his Will. They are nearly unintelligible, and may have been the result of the solicitor guiding his hand.20

And then there is The Promus. Between 1594 (the first page, Folio 85, is dated December 5, 1594) and 1596 (Folio 114, dated January 27, 1596), according to The Shaksper Illusion by Edward D. Johnson, Francis Bacon kept a private journal which he called The Promus of Formularies and Elegancies where he would jot down words, similes, phrases, proverbs or colloquialisms which he thought might be useful in any future literary work. The word “Promus” means “storehouse,” and true to its name, it contained about 1,560 entries, in his own handwriting, in languages such as English, Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, and French. It can now be seen in the British Museum. In 1883, it was reproduced and published for the first time by Mrs. Henry Pott. It seems that he used very little from his Promus in works published under his own name, however, we can find them frequently reproduced in the plays published in the name of William Shakespeare. It is apparent that the author of the Shakespeare plays had access to The Promus, for there is no other explanation for the correlation. Because Shakespeare could not have seen Bacon’s notebook, then it is logical to assume that the author of the Plays and The Promus are the same.

An important clue is the appearance of the word “albada,” in Folio 112, which is Spanish for “good dawning.” This expression only appeared once in English print, and that was in the King Lear play (which wasn’t published until the 1608), in Act 2, Scene 2, where we find the line: “Good dawning to thee friend.” Since Shakespeare could not read Spanish, that means someone would have had to tell him about the word. In 1596, Bacon also recorded salutations such as “good morrow,” “good soir,” “good matin,” “bon jour,” and “good day,” conceivably to catalog and be able to use them. In 1597 came the play of Romeo and Juliet, which contained some of these salutations, and then afterwards in other Shakespeare plays: “good morrow” (used 115 times), “good day” (15 times), and “good soir” (or “good even,” 12 times). These words have only been found in the works of Shakespeare and in no other literary works.

20

Bauer, Maria. Foundations Unearthed. Glendale, CA: Veritas Press, 1948, pg. 5.

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In 1901, Robert Theobald wrote in his book Shakespeare Studies in Baconian Light: “If Bacon wrote Shakespeare, the Promus is intelligible– if he did not, it is an insoluble riddle.”

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BACON’S PROMUS ENTRIES SHAKESPEARE’S PLAYS

Thought is free. Thought is free. (The Tempest Act 3/2)

Thought is free. (Twelfth Night 1/3)

Qui dissimulate liber non est. The dissembler is a slave. (Pericles 1/1)

To stumble at the threshold. Many men that stumble at the threshold. (3 Henry VI 4/7)

Might overcomes right. O God that right should overcome this might. (2 Henry IV, 4/4)

A fool’s bolt is soon shot. A fool’s bolt is soon shot. (Henry V 3/7)

Seldom cometh the better. Seldom cometh the better. (Richard III 2/3)

All is not gold that glitters. All that glitters is not gold. (Merchant of Venice 2/7)

An ill wind that bloweth no man to good. The ill wind which blows no man to good. (2 Henry IV 5/3)

Good wine needs no bush. Good wine needs no bush. (As You Like It, Epilogue)

Plumbeo jugulare gladio. (To slay with a leaden sword)

Wounds like a leaden sword. (Love’s Labour’s Lost 5/2)

Happy man, happy dole. Happy man be his dole. (Merry Wives of Windsor 3/4) (1 Henry IV 2/2) (The Taming of the Shrew 1/1) (The Winter’s Tale 1/2)

Of sufferance cometh ease. Of sufferance cometh ease. (1 King Henry IV, v. 4)

All’s well that ends well. All’s Well That Ends Well. (Title, 1623)

Things done cannot be undone. What’s done cannot be undone. (Macbeth, 5/1)

Always let losers have their words. Losers will have leave to ease their stomachs with their bitter tongue. (Titus Andronicus)

Diliculo surgere saluberrimum est. Diliculo surgere, thou knowest. (Twelfth Night 2/2)

The nature of everything is best considered in the seed.

If you can look into seeds of time1Speak then to me. (Macbeth 1/3)

The which observed, a man may prophesy, with a near aim, of the main chance of things as yet not come to life, which in their seeds and weak beginnings lie intreasured. Such things become the hatch and brood of time. (2 Henry IV 3/1)

I had not known sin but by law. What do you think of the trade Pompey? Is it a lawful trade. (Measure for Measure 2/1)

Gratitude is justly due only for things unbought.

You mistake my love, I give it freely ever, and there’s none can truly say he gives, if he receives. (Timon of Athens, 1/2)

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Clavum clavo pellere (To drive out a nail with a nail).

One fire drives out one fire; one nail, one nail. Rights by rights alter; strengths by strengths do fail. (Coriolanus 4/7)

Even as one heat another heat expels or as one nail by strength drives out another. (The Two Gentlemen of Verona 2/4)

As fire drives out fire, so pity pity. (Julius Caesar 3/1)

Fire shall try every man’s work. The fire seven times tried this. (Merchant of Venice 2/9)

Conscience is worth a thousand witnesses. Every man’s conscience is a thousand swords. (Richard III 5/2)

If our betters have sustained the like events; we have less cause to be grieved.

When we our betters see bearing our woes, we scarely think our miseries our foes. (Lucrece)

When he is dead, he will be loved. I shall be loved when I am lacked. (Coriolanus 4/6)

Our sorrows are our schoolmasters. To willful men, the injuries that they themselves procure, must be their schoolmasters. (King Lear 2/4)

Give sorrow leave awhile to tutor me. (Richard II 4/1)

Suum cuique. (To every man his own.) Suum cuique is our Roman Justice. (Titus Andronicus 1/2)

Galen’s compositions, not Paracelsus’ separations.

So I say both of Galen and Paracelsus. (All’s Well That Ends Well 2/3)

He had rather have his will than his wish. So the maid that stood in the way for my wish shall show me the way to my will. (Henry V 5/2)

They have a better question in Cheapside, What lack you?

What lack you? (King John 4/1)

Poets invent much. The truest poetry is the most feigning. (As You Like It 3/3)

He who loans to a friend loses double. Loan oft loses both itself and friend. (Hamlet 1/3)

We think that a rich man is always right. Faults that are rich are fair. (Timon of Athens 1/2)

Have recourse to a foreign war to appease parties at home.

Be it thy course to busy giddy minds with foreign quarrels. (2 Henry IV 4/5)

Always let losers have their words. Losers will have leave to ease their stomachs with their bitter tongues. (Titus Andronicus 1/1)

The prudent man conceals his knowledge. Tis wisdom to conceal our meaning. (3 Henry VI 4/7)

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Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak.

Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice. (Hamlet 1/3)

Leisure breeds evil thoughts. We bring forth weeds when our quick minds be still. (Anthony and Cleopatra 1/2)

A boy’s love doth not endure. He’s mad that trusts in a boy’s love. (King Lear 3/6)

A cat may look on a King. Every cat and dog may look on her. (Romeo and Juliet 3/3)

He had need be a wily mouse should breed in a cat’s ear.

That’s a valiant flea that dare eat his breakfast on the lip of a lion. (Henry V 3/7)

To fight with a shadow. He will fence with his own shadow. (Merchant of Venice 1/2)

Out of God’s blessing into the warm sun. Thou out of heaven’s benediction com’st to the warm sun. (King Lear 2/2)

Put no confidence in Princes. O, how wretched is that poor man, that hangs on princes’ favours. (Henry VII Act 3)

Frost burns. Frost itself as actively doth born. (Hamlet 3/4)

En mangeant l’appetit vient. (Appetite comes by eating.)

As if increase of appetite had grown by what he feeds on. (Hamlet 1/2)

Better coming to the ending of a feast than to the beginning of a fray.

The latter end of a fray and the beginning of a feast. (1 Henry IV 4/2)

He stumbles who makes too much haste. They stumble that run fast. (Romeo and Juliet 2/3)

Anyone can manage a boat in calm weather. When the sea was calm, all boats alike show’d master-ship in floating. (Coriolanus 4/1)

A thorn is gentle when it is young. What! Can so young a thorn begin to prick. (3 Henry VI 5/5)

He who has not patience has nothing. How poor are they that have not patience. (Othello 2/3)

Know thyself. Know yourself. (As You Like It 3/5)

El buen suena el mal vuela (Godd dreams, ill waking.

Dreame as I have done, wake and finde nothing. (Cymbeline 5/4)

Haile of Perle. And hail rich pearles on thee. (Anthony and Cleopatra 2/5)

Albada. (Good dawning.) Good dawning to thee friend. (King Lear 2/2)

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BACON’S WRITINGS SHAKESPEARE’S WRITINGS

The Spanish have a proverb, To-morrow, tomorrow; and when to-morrow comes, to-morrow. (Religious Meditations)

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of record time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more; it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. (Macbeth)

...and if her Majesty will not take me, it may be selling by parcels will be more gainful. For to be, as I have told you, a child following a bird, which when he is nearest flieth away and lighteth a little before, and then the child after it again, and so on ad infinitum... (Letter to Fulke Greville)

I saw him run after a gilden butterfly; and when he caught it he let it go again, and after it again, and over and over he comes, and up again, catch’d it again...(Coriolanus)

The winds in the upper region (which move the clouds about what we call the rack, and are not perceived below; pass without noise. (Sylva Sylvarum)

A silence in the heavens, the rack stood still, The bold winds speechless and the orb below As hush as death; anon the dreadful thunder Doth rend the region. (Hamlet)

Whatever a want a man hath, he must see that he pretend the virtue that shadoweth it. (Advancement of Learning)

Assume a virtue if you have it not. (Hamlet)

Tables of the mind differ from the common tables...you will scarcely wipe out the former records unless you shall have inscribed the new. (Redargutio Phil.)

From the tables of my memory I’ll wipe away all saws of books. (Hamlet)

They were only taking pains to show a kind of method and discretion in their madness. (Novum Organum)

Though this be madness, yet there is method in it. (Hamlet)

Here, then, is the first distemper of learning, when men study words and not matter. (Advancement of Learning)

Polonius: What do you read, my lord? Hamlet: Words, words, words. Polonius: What is the matter, my lord? (Hamlet)

God hath implanted such a majesty in the face of a prince that no private man dare approach the person of his sovereign with a traitorous intent. (Speech at trial of Essex)

There’s such divinity doth hedge a king that treason dares not look on. (Hamlet)

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The world is a prison. (Letter to Buckingham)

Hamlet: Denmark’s a prison. Rosencrantz: Then is the world one. (Hamlet)

There is no prison to the prison of the thoughts. (Essex Device, 1595)

Why then ‘Tis none to you; for there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so; to me it is a prison. (Hamlet)

Whereby the cold becomes more eager. (Natural History)

It is very cold, it is a nipping, and an eager air. (Hamlet)

The cause of dimness of sight is the expense of spirits. (Natural History)

The expense of spirit in a waste of shame. (Sonnets)

The Stairs to honores are steep, the standing slippery, the regresse a downfall. (Advancement of Learning)

The Art o’ the Court, As hard to heave as keepe; whose top to climbe Is certain falling, or so slipp’ry, that The feere’s as bad as falling. (Cymbeline)

Feare causeth paleness, trembling, the standing of the hair upright; starting. (Sylva Sylvarum)

Thy knotty and combined locks to part, And each particular haire to stand on end, Like Quilles upon the fretfull Porcupine. (Hamlet)

In third place I set down reputation because of the peremptory tides and currents it hath, which if they be not taken in their due time are seldom recovered. (De Augmentis)

There is a Tide in the affayres of men Which taken at the Flood leades on to Fortune. (Julius Caesar)

Men have their time, and die many times, in desire of some things which they principally take to heart. (Essay Of Friendship)

Cowards die many times before their deaths. (Julius Caesar)

Be so true to thyself as thou be not false to others. (Essay Of Wisdom)

To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man. (Hamlet)

Shade to some plants conduceth to make them large and prosperous more than the Sun. Accordingly, if you sow borage among strawberries: You shall find the strawberries under those leaves far more than their fellows. (Sylva Sylvarum)

The strawberry grows underneath the nettle And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best Neighbour’d by fruit of baser quality. (Henry V)

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In a folio of The Tempest published in 1623, Annette Covington discovered the name Francis Bacon

hidden in the intricate scroll work around the letter “B” on the first page

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THE KING JAMES BIBLE21

“There is no better English written this side of Shakespeare than that in the King James Translation.” -- Charlton Heston (1992)

In January, 1603, there was a meeting at Hampton Court Palace between King James, the Episcopalians and Puritans. John Rainoldes (or Reynolds), the leader of the Puritans, argued the necessity to provide the people with a uniform translation of the Bible. According to Dr. Hall, Bishop of Norwich, Rainoldes “was a well furnished library, full of all faculties, of all studies, of all learning– the memory and reading of that man were near a miracle.” The King agreed, and approved a committee of 54 (only 50 names were recorded) of the most learned men and scholars in Great Britain. The translators were split up into 6 groups (called “companies,” headed by a “director”) of 9 each, and the translation work was divided among them. Three groups worked on the Old Testament, and three worked on the New Testament.22

James rose to the throne in England in 1603, and was very unpopular because of “his disgusting personal habits and his unsavoury character.” While he pretended to be adept in theology and philosophy, he was considered immoral, intellectually shallow and superficial.

Richard Bancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury and chief organizer, handed out a list of instructions (16 in all, on 2 sheets of paper, now in the University Library at Cambridge), believed to have

21 Information compiled from the following online sources:

Sir Francis Bacon’s New Advancement of Learning <http://www.sirbacon.org> An Authorship Analysis: Francis Bacon as Shake-speare <http://fly.hiwaay.net/~paul/outline.html> The Francis Bacon Research Trust <http://www.fbrt.org.uk/frameset.html> Bacon Is Shakespeare <http://home.att.net/~tleary/> 22 Nicolson, Adam. God’s Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 2003, pg. 71.

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been mandated by the King– that were given to all the translators.23 Each translator was to work on the entire portion allocated to their group, and upon completion, were to compare their translations together. When each group finished, they were to give their work to the other groups. If a member of another group had an objection, it was noted, and an arbitration committee, consisting of a member from each committee, met weekly to rule on the dispute. If the dispute could not be settled, scholars outside the committee were asked to weigh in on the matter. Work began in 1604. They were to use the original-language manuscripts as much as possible, and if there was any confusion, they were to refer to the Bishops’ Bible as closely as possible, and after that, other versions which were in agreement with the original texts such as Tyndale, Matthews, Coverdale, Whitchurch, and Geneva.

The Bishop’s Bible was based on the Great Bible (so named because of its huge size 16½" X 11"; published by Edward Whitchurch in 1538), which was a revision of Matthew’s Bible (believed to have been published by Thomas Matthew, but now attributed to John Rogers, who used the pseudonym of Matthew because he was an associate of Tyndale; first published in 1537), and was based on the translation work of Tyndale and Coverdale, but did not include the controversial marginal notes. It has been determined that 4% of the King James Version was attributed to the Wycliffe Bible (John Wycliffe,1330-1384; published 1382), 18% to William Tyndale’s (1494-1536) translation of the New Testament (1526), 13% to the Myles Coverdale Bible (based on the Latin Vulgate, Tyndale’s work, Martin Luther’s German Bible and Swiss Zurich Bible; published in 1535), 19% to the Geneva Bible (put together in the late 1550s by a group of English Calvinists; printed in 1560), 4% to the Bishops’ Bible (printed in 1568), and 3% to other previous translations.

Each man on the committee received 30 shillings a week in compensation for their time and expertise on the project. When they completed their work, one complete copy was made at Oxford, one at Cambridge, and one at Westminster. They were later sent to London. Two members were chosen from each group to review the entire work. They met daily at Stationers’ Hall for nine months, and upon completion, the final revision was given to Dr. Thomas Bilson, Bishop of Winchester and Dr. Miles Smith, Bishop of Gloucester, who in 1609 completed their work and gave it to the King.

Many of the translators have left us with examples of their writings in theological treatises, sermons, books and essays, and researchers who have availed themselves to these have come away with the opinion that their writing style could in no way be compared to what became the Authorized Version, and one of the greatest literary examples of the English language. Most of the attention centered on to Bilson (9 or 10 theological works) and Smith (2 sermons), to whom the final revision had been given. An analysis seems to indicate that they could not have crafted what has become known as the finest example of English literature.

“Bacon edited the Authorised Version of the Bible printed in 1611. Dr. Lancelot Andrewes, Bishop of Winchester, one of the chief translators, was Bacon’s close friend. The MSS (manuscripts) are missing. That Bacon revised the manuscripts before publication is certain. Neither Bilson nor Miles, to whom the MSS were entrusted for final revision, could have given the world such a literary masterpiece. We have their writings. They are

23 Nicolson, Adam. God’s Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 2003, pg. 71.

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mediocre, barren of style, lacking the creative touch.” -- Alfred Dodd (Francis Bacon’s Life-Story, 1986)

It can be clearly seen that the flow and cadence of Bacon’s writings are very reminiscent of the language of the King James Bible. Here is a Bacon-authored piece titled simply “A Prayer”:

“O eternal God, and most merciful Father in Jesus Christ: Let the words of our mouths, and the meditations of our hearts be now and ever gracious in thy sight, and acceptable unto thee, O Lord, our God, our strength, and our Redeemer.

O eternal God, and most merciful Father in Jesus Christ, in whom thou hast made a covenant of grace and mercy with all those that come unto thee in him; in his name and mediation we humbly prostrate ourselves before the throne of thy mercies’ seat, acknowledging that, by the breach of all thy holy laws and commandments, we are become wild olive branches, strangers to thy covenant of grace; we have defaced in ourselves thy sacred image imprinted in us by creation; we have sinned against heaven and before thee, and are no more worthy to be called thy children. O admit us into the place even of hired servants. Lord, thou hast formed us in our mothers’ wombs, thy providence hath hitherto watched over us, and preserved us unto this period of time: O stay not the course of thy mercies and loving-kindness towards us: have mercy upon us, O Lord, for thy dear Son Christ Jesus’ sake, who is the way, the truth, and the life. In him, O Lord, we appeal from thy justice to thy mercy, beseeching thee in his name, and for his sake only, thou wilt be graciously pleased freely to pardon and forgive us all our sins and disobedience, whether in thought, word, or deed, committed against thy divine majesty; and in his precious blood-shedding, death, and perfect obedience, free us from the guilt, the stain, the punishment, and dominion of all our sins, and clothe us with his perfect righteousness. There is mercy with thee, O Lord, that thou mayest be feared; yea, thy mercies swallow up the greatest of our sins: speak peace to our souls and consciences; make us happy in the free remission of all our sins, and be reconciled to thy poor servants in Jesus Christ, in whom thou art well pleased: suffer not the works of thine own hands to perish; thou art not delighted in the death of sinners, but in their conversion. Turn our hearts, and we shall be turned; convert us, and we shall be converted; illuminate the eyes of our minds and understanding with the bright beams of thy Holy Spirit, that we may daily grow in the saving knowledge of the heavenly mystery of our redemption, wrought by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; sanctify our wills and affection by the same Spirit, the most sacred fountain of all grace and goodness; reduce them to the obedience of thy most holy will in the practice of all piety toward thee, and charity towards all men. Inflame our hearts with thy love, cast forth of them what displeaseth thee, all infidelity, hardness of heart, profaneness, hypocrisy, contempt of thy holy word and ordinances, all uncleanness, and whatsoever advanceth itself in opposition to thy holy will. And grant that henceforth, through thy grace, we may be enabled to lead a godly, holy, sober, and Christian life, in true sincerity and uprightness of heart before thee. To this end, plant thy holy fear in our hearts, grant that it may never depart from before our eyes, but continually guide our feet in the paths of thy righteousness, and in the ways of thy commandments: increase our weak faith, grant it may daily bring forth the true fruits of unfeigned repentance, that by the power of the death of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ we may daily die unto sin, and by the power of his resurrection we may be quickened, and raised up to the newness of life, may be truly born anew, and may be effectually made partakers of the first resurrection, that then the second death may never have dominion over us. Teach us, O Lord, so to

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number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom; make us ever mindful of our last end, and continually to exercise the knowledge of grace in our hearts, that in the said divorce of soul and body, we may be translated here to that kingdom of glory prepared for all those that love thee, and shall trust in thee; even then and ever, O Lord, let thy holy angels pitch their tents round about us, to guard and defend us from all the malice of Satan, and from all perils both of soul and body. Pardon all our unthankfulness, make us daily more and more thankful for all thy mercies and benefits daily poured down upon us. Let these our humble prayers ascend to the throne of grace, and be granted not only for these mercies, but for whatsoever else thy wisdom knows needful for us; and for all those that are in need, misery, and distress, whom, Lord, thou hast afflicted either in soul or body; grant them patience and perseverance in the end, and to the end: And that, O Lord, not for any merits of ours, but only for the merits of thy Son, and our alone Saviour Christ Jesus; to whom with thee and the Holy Spirit be ascribed all glory, &c. Amen.”24

After the translators’ work was given to the King in 1609, he returned it to them in 1610– complete. You can be sure that King James did not lend his literary hand to it. So, who did he give it to? Remember, at that time, Francis Bacon was an officer of the court.

“The 1611 King James Bible is ornamented with Bacon’s symbols (with a talent for intricate design work, it is believed he illustrated the title page) and in my own special copy of the record edition, also dated 1611, these symbols are Rosicrucianly marked to call the attention of the initiated to them and to tell them that the 1611 Bible is without possibility of doubt, one of Bacon’s books...When Bacon was born, English as a literary language did not exist, but once he died he had succeeded in making the English language the noblest vehicle of thought ever possessed by mankind. This he accomplished merely by his Bible and his Shakespeare.” -- Edwin D. Lawrence (author of Bacon is Shakespeare and The Shakespeare Myth, from a lecture on October 9, 1912)

“...The Bible which all of us read and admire from a literary point of view because of its peculiar and beautiful English was written in that form by Bacon who invented and perfected that style of English expression. The first editions of this Bible were printed under the same guidance and in the same manner as were the Shakespeare plays, and the ornaments for the various pages were drawn in pen and ink and on wood by artists engaged by Bacon who worked under his supervision. Every one of the ornaments concealed some Rosicrucian emblem and occasionally a Masonic emblem or some initials that would reveal Bacon’s name or the name of the Rosicrucians. Such ornaments were put not only in the Christian Bible that Bacon had rewritten but in the Shakespeare plays, and in some of Bacon’s own books, and a few other books that were typically Rosicrucian in spirit.” -- Dr. H. Spencer Lewis (Imperator of the Rosicrucian Order during the 1920-30s, from the Rosicrucian Digest, April 1930)

24 Bacon, Francis. The Works of Francis Bacon, Lord Chancellor of England (Volume 2). Philadelphia, PA: Corey and Hart, 1842, pgs. 405-406.

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“It will eventually be proved that the whole scheme of the Authorized Version of the Bible was Francis Bacon’s.” -- William T. Smedley (author of the 1912 book The Mystery of Francis Bacon) 25

Some scholars now think that the entire concept of the 1611 Authorized Version was Bacon’s. Not only was he a student of the Bible, but he was also well versed in the early manuscripts, as well as St. Augustine, St. Jerome, and other writers of theological works. His annotations have been found in copies of the Bible as well as other theological books. It is obvious that his work on the Bible was of utmost importance, and he was involved in every aspect of the project. When it came down to the final stage, it was clear that only one writer would be able to parlay all of the effort of the translators into a literary work that would be unmatched. That writer was the man, who, it is now believed, wrote the plays attributed to William Shakespeare. The final manuscript of the Bible remained in Bacon’s possession for nearly a year, and it was during that time that he stylized the writings of the translators into a literary work of unity, rhythm and prose reminiscent of the works of Shakespeare. It is also believed that he encoded secret information into both the Old and New Testaments.

Evidence of this can be seen in the 46th chapter of Psalms. The 46th word from the beginning is “shake,” while the 46th word from the end is “speare,” if you don’t count the “Selah.” The word “Selah” was thought to be a musical or liturgical notation, and appears when a significant statement takes place. The theory is, that is the place where the singers were quiet, and the instruments played, giving a chance for reflecting upon the passage. In the earlier Breeches version, “shake” is 47 words from the beginning, and “spear” is 44 words from the end. So, clearly the manner of its occurrence in the Authorized Version is not a coincidence.

Another piece of circumstantial evidence is the fact that in 1611, when the first folio edition was published, the design with arches, dogs and rabbits which is found over the words “To the Christian Reader” which introduces the genealogies, is also found in the folio edition of Shakespeare over the dedication to the “most noble and Incomparable paire of Brethren,” over the Catalogue and elsewhere. The only difference is that the mark of query which is on the head of the right hand pillar in the design in the Bible is missing in the Shakespeare folio; and the arrow which the archer on the right hand side is shooting contains a message in the design used in the Bible and is without one in the Shakespeare folio.

On the title page of the Genealogies in the 1612 quarto edition of the Authorized Version are two designs; that at the head of the page which is printed from the identical block which was used on the title-page of the first edition of Venus and Adonis, in 1593; and in 1594 with the first edition of Lucrece. At the bottom is the design with the light A and dark A, which is over the dedication to Sir William Cecil in the Arte of English Poesie in 1589. An octavo edition, which is now very rare, was also published in 1612. On the title-page of the Genealogies you will also find that the design with the light A and dark A which is used on several of the Shakespeare quartos and elsewhere.

The purpose of these similarities was to draw attention to the connection these literary works had with each other. They had the same author.

25 Boren, Kerry Ross; Lisa Lee Boren. Following the Ark of the Covenant. Springville, UT: Cedar Fort Publishing/Bonneville Books, 2000, pg. 164.

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Today, there is very little documentation preserved in regard to the proceedings of the translator’s work.

“1they have left few clues. Surviving in one or two English libraries and archives are the instructions produced at the beginning of the work, a couple of drafts of short sections sketched out in the course of it, some fragments of correspondence between one or two of them and a few pages of notes taken at a meeting near the end. Otherwise nothing.”26

While the British Museum has original parliamentary, judicial and municipal documents and records, there was nothing left by the translating committee in regard to the work done on the Authorized Version. For something considered so important, you would think that there would be many notes and reports. Scholars especially know the importance of documentation. Yet none have been found. Where are they?

There has been research to suggest that there were documents in the Records Office of the British Museum, still in existence, which revealed Bacon’s involvement with the editing of both the Old and New Testaments, and the fact that he personally selected and paid the translators of the New Testament who completed their task under the instructions of Bacon’s long-time friend, Dr. Andrews.

Protestant versions of the Bible are thinner by seven books than the Catholic version, and for all their work, the various churches still never agreed on a uniform Bible. In their translation of 1 Peter 2:13 the translators changed the phrase “the emperor, as supreme” to “the king, as supreme,” because some would say that the King James’ Bible was written to support the authority of a king. It was later presented as being the version that was officially “authorized,” which ultimately found its way onto the title page, and then the cover, which gave it, what some people claim, is its false sense of authenticity. Some students of the Bible today still consider the King James Version to be a government-issued publication, and lean towards the Geneva Bible, the People’s Bible, as being the most accurate rendering of the Holy Scriptures.

To those who are familiar with my research, it is a well-known fact that I adhere to the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible as the Word of God. With the direction of this particular research, I’m not personally saying that I believe Bacon was the final editor of the Holy Scriptures. Maybe he was, maybe he wasn’t– I don’t know. His intellect was unsurpassed, so it wouldn’t surprise me to find out that he played a huge role in it; however, my gut feeling is that he didn’t, mostly because of his connection to the various esoteric organizations such as the Freemasons. I personally believe that this is nothing more than an attempt to ascribe more to Bacon than he actually accomplished.

Nevertheless, there are some interesting coincidences that factor into the stature that Francis Bacon had developed, and how much influence he was able to exert as far as the colonization of America. Actually, this is part of the mystique in regard to the Bruton Vault, to find out how much of Bacon’s vision was adapted to the system of government that was established here, and what other aspects of his grand plan was imprinted upon colonial society.

26 Nicolson, Adam. God’s Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible. New York, NY: HarperCollins

Publishers, 2003, pg. xi.

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The cover of New Atlantis William Rawley’s introduction to New Atlantis

NEW ATLANTIS

Bacon’s incomplete novel, New Atlantis, started in 1624, was published in 1627, a year after his death, by his secretary, friend and chaplain William Rawley, who had been entrusted with most of Bacon’s papers. The tagline was: “In time the hidden truth shall be revealed.” The book represented Bacon’s vision for a new “Golden Age,” and “revealed the entire pattern of the secret societies which had been working for thousands of years to achieve the ideal commonwealth in the political world.”27 It was about a crew of shipwrecked sailors who arrived on the shores of a mysterious, unknown land known as Bensalem, whose people had an incredibly advanced culture and had developed a technology equivalent to what we possess today. He wrote about buildings a half-mile high, flying machines, underwater vehicles, and a government of philosopher-scientists working on behalf of a pious, enlightened group of people who were seriously committed to learning, and a higher level of achievement.28 These prophetic insights certainly align him with the likes of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells as a man ahead of his time.

27 Hall, Manly Palmer. The Secret Destiny of America. Los Angeles, CA: Philosophical Research Society, 1944, pg. 107. 28 Bacon, Francis. “Of Simulation and Dissimulation.” The Harvard Classics. New York, NY: P. F. Collier & Son

Corp., 1937, pgs. 143-181.

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Manley Palmer Hall and his book The Secret Destiny of America

Manly Palmer Hall (1901-1990), founder of the Philosophical Research Society in 1934, and one of the foremost experts in the realm of the metaphysical and the occult, authored over 200 books, and in six decades delivered more than 8,000 lectures. In his 1944 book The Secret Destiny of America, he revealed that even though the New Atlantis had been published, it was Bacon’s intention to publish a second part that would “contain the laws of the Ideal State, or commonwealth of the wise.”29 Though it is believed that Rawley had the notes for this “sequel,” it was accepted that he wasn’t going to publish them until they were in a completed form. Hall maintained that it was “well known among the secret societies of Europe that the second part of the New Atlantis exists.” It supposedly wasn’t published because society at the time would not have been able to handle it.30 Bacon believed that his “Great Plan” would restore mankind to the original state that was intended to reflect the inner philosophical tradition of Freemasonry. In her book Francis Bacon: The Temper of a Man, author Catherine Drinker Bowen writes: “In October of 1620, Bacon’s Novum Organum (New Instrument) appeared in print. Actually the book contains, in substance, the entire plan of the New Atlantis, but set out theoretically, schematically, and in Latin.” Rawley had seen at least 12 different copies, and it was a work that was constantly being revised. Bowen continued: “Bacon intended, of course, a much longer work, and wrote out his scheme for the whole.”31 It was poorly received at that time, but today, with the understanding of his mindset and intentions, it stands as further evidence of the ideas he sought to disseminate and put forth. Because of his incomplete writings, and those writings which remain hidden, we may never know the influence that Bacon had on our forefathers, and the full impact he had on the establishment of this nation. It is hard to imagine that a man of Bacon’s intellect and connections would not have made some sort of provision for the survival of

29 Hall, Manly Palmer. The Secret Destiny of America. Los Angeles, CA: Philosophical Research Society, 1944, pg.

111. 30

Hall, Manly Palmer. The Secret Destiny of America. Los Angeles, CA: Philosophical Research Society, 1944, pg. 112. 31 Bowen, Catherine Drinker. Francis Bacon: The Temper of a Man. Boston, MA: Atlantic Monthly Press; Little,

Brown and Company, 1963, pg. 171.

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his ideas. It is that belief that motivates the proponents of the Bruton Vault. In Bacon’s New Atlantis, it is plainly stated that Atlantis is America.32 Marie Bauer (who later married Manly Palmer Hall) wrote: “The Constitution of the United States, and the main course of its history, were predetermined and carried out in accordance with Sir Francis Bacon’s plan of New Age Empire-building. The Declaration of Independence was conceived long before it was brought to life.”33 Baconian researchers believe that New Atlantis was completed, and the full-length version, as well as details and timetables of how his Great Plan was to be accomplished, was, according to Bauer in Foundations Unearthed, taken to Jamestown in 1653 “by a true descendant of Sir Francis Bacon, known as Henry Blount (4th Earl of Newport), who upon his arrival in America adopted the name of Nathaniel Bacon (and became known historically as Nathaniel Bacon the Elder),”34 where it was buried under the altar of the old brick church. However, in her later book Quest for Bruton Vault, she said that this was done in 1635.35 Also in that book, she says the documents were “buried under the tower of the Jamestown Church.”36 In addition to Bacon’s vision, the “originals used in the apostolic documenting of Christianity,” were also buried at Jamestown.37 This is believed to be an original copy of the 1611 Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible, which Bacon is believed to have edited; and perhaps even all the original source material, records, and notes of the Committee commissioned to produce it. The 1635 timeline is the correct date, because Nathaniel Bacon died on March 16, 1692 at the age of 73, which means he was born in 1619, and would have been 16 years old when he brought the material with him. This would probably be a good time to introduce you to anagrams, since they will play an important role in the discovery of major clues. According to Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, an anagram is when “words are formed by rearranging the letters of other words1in order to discover a hidden message.” The graphic that follows is an advertisement for Bacon’s book, and the following anagrams can be deciphered: (A) “Tudor Court Records,” (B) “Masonry Papers,” (C) “American Justice,” (D)

32 Bacon, Francis. “The New Atlantis.” The Harvard Classics. New York, NY: P. F. Collier & Son Corp., 1937, pg.

157. 33 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat

Foundation, 1984, pg. 154. 34 Bauer, Maria. Foundations Unearthed. Glendale, CA: Veritas Press, 1948, pg. 23.

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Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat Foundation, 1984, pg. 155. 36 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat Foundation, 1984, pg. 286. 37 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat Foundation, 1984, pg. 159.

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“Williamsburg, Virginia,” as well as “Bacon,” and “Bruton.” Perhaps references to the contents of the Vault.

The title page itself yields the following anagram: “In America the standing tower of present Bruton is to effect in most things an imitation of the former Bruton tower.”38 So, you can see why this is a very interesting story. However, the only way to truly appreciate its intricacies is to isolate each aspect, and look at all the angles of it, to get an understanding of what it means– which makes it possible to look at the entire picture with a realization of what is actually going on. This methodical way is very similar to the evidentiary procedures used by lawyers in the presentation of a legal case; which, in a sense, is what I’m doing here– preparing a case to test the validity for the existence of the Bruton Vault.

38 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat

Foundation, 1984, pg. 364.

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JAMESTOWN In June, 1606, King James I granted a Charter to a group of London entrepreneurs known as the Virginia Company, and in December, 1606, 108 passengers sailed for Virginia, landing at Jamestown Island on May 13, 1607 to establish a colony on the banks of the James River, 60 miles from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Captain John Smith recorded that the first church services in Jamestown were held outdoors, under a ship’s sail, which had been fastened to 3 or 4 trees. Shortly after, the settlers built the first church inside the fort, about 40' southwest of the existing Church, which Captain John Smith described as “a homely thing like a barne, set upon Cratchets,” covered by “rushes, boards, and earth.”39 The wooden structure burned down in January, 1608, and was replaced with another wooden structure, which was referred to by the colony’s secretary William Strachey: “In the middest [of the fort] is a1pretty chapel1It is in length threescore [60] foot, in breadth twenty-four, and shall have a chancel in it of cedar1” This is where the 1614 marriage between the Indian princess Pocahontas and John Rolfe took place.40 Around 1617, Gov. Samuel Argall directed the residents of Jamestown to build the third church, a 50' X 20' wooden structure. The first representative assembly in the New World met in the

39 Forman, Henry Chandlee. Virginia Architecture in the Seventeenth Century (Jamestown 350th Anniversary Historical Booklet, Number 11). Williamsburg, VA: Virginia 350

th Anniversary Celebration Corporation, 1957, pg. 50.

40 Forman, Henry Chandlee. Virginia Architecture in the Seventeenth Century (Jamestown 350th Anniversary

Historical Booklet, Number 11). Williamsburg, VA: Virginia 350th Anniversary Celebration Corporation, 1957, pg. 51.

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Jamestown Church on July 30, 1619 “to establish one equal and uniform government over all Virginia.” Because of mismanagement, the Virginia Company Charter was revoked, and it became a colony of the crown in 1624.

The original foundations which can be seen under glass along the walls of the Church

In January, 1636, Gov. John Harvey, the church council, and the membership erected a slightly larger wood church around the third church, on cobblestone footings topped with a wall 1 brick thick, which can still be seen under the glass around the walls, on the floor of the present church. The brick church was started in 1647, and completed in 1648. This is when the bell tower was built, which is the only piece of 17th century construction still standing in Jamestown; and is one of the oldest English-built structures in America (although it is now about 10 feet shorter). The tower was about 18 feet square, with walls 3 feet thick at its base, and was originally 46 feet high– crowned with a wooden roof and belfry. It had 2 upper floors, while 6 small openings allowed light to come in, and for the sound of the bell to carry across the town and river. The church was burned down during the Bacon Rebellion on September 19, 1676, and a fifth church was built with the foundations and walls of the previous church. The tower had been undamaged. Jamestown was the capital of Virginia until its statehouse burned down in 1698, and then governmental authority was transferred to Williamsburg because of the “prevalence of malaria and mosquitoes,” and because the “air was serene and temperate” at Williamsburg.41 This church was used until the 1750s when it was abandoned and fell into ruin. A communion service, consisting of a chalice, paten (server), and alms basin from the church was given to the Bruton Parish church in 1758, as well as the Baptismal Font, which is still used on a regular

41 Goodwin, Rev. William Archer Rutherford. Historical Sketch of Bruton Church. Petersburg, VA: The Franklin

Press Company, 1903, pg. 20.

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basis. Jamestown as an entity had also deteriorated, and became an area that was heavily farmed by the Travis and Ambler families. In 1893 it was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Edward Barney, who gave 22½ acres, including the 1639 church tower to the APVA (Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, now known as Preservation Virginia or PV). Erosion ate away at the island’s western shore, which had swallowed up one of the fort’s bulwarks; and with federal assistance, a sea wall was erected in 1900. The remaining land was acquired by the National Park Service (NPS) in 1934 and is now jointly owned by both the PV and NPS. In the 1790s the bricks from the church were salvaged and used to build the present graveyard wall. The tower remained intact, and in the 1890s it was shored up by the PV so it could be preserved. The current church was built in 1907 for the Tercentenary Celebration by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America, just outside the foundations of the earlier structures; and was modeled after St. Luke’s Church in Isle of Wight County in Virginia, which had been built in 1675.

An image of the Bell Tower as it appeared in 1854, and a photograph from the 1890s

The Bell Tower as it appeared in 1902

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As mentioned in the last chapter, one scenario had this collection of documents “buried under the tower of the Jamestown Church,” while the other scenario had it being buried under the altar, which was on the other side of the building. The 1907 reconstruction placed the Altar on the east end of the Church, opposite the Bell Tower, which no doubt is where it was originally located, as graves were found on the east end of the site of the original Church a short distance away. Unfortunately, PV doesn’t have the resources that Colonial Williamsburg does, and they don’t have Archaeological Reports available on their website for any possible excavations done under the bell tower or the altar. In 2014, the Tower was actually surrounded with scaffolding as

39

maintenance was being done to replace bricks and mortar because of how fragile it has become due to its exposure to the elements. As such, because of its age, it’s hard to imagine that any excavation would be authorized because of the possibility of compromising its structural integrity. However, the altar is another story, and work may have been done there. The only thing is, if the altar back then was constructed in a similar manner as it is now, it would not have afforded the kind of space necessary to accommodate the amount of material that has been attributed to what is contained inside the Bruton Vault. PV never responded to my query about any excavations there.

The altar on the East side of the Church

The East side of the reconstructed Church

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If Nathaniel Bacon did bring the valuable cache with him in 1635, then it does fit within the confines of the timeline to have been deposited under the altar of the Church at Jamestown prior to construction in 1636. Though the Church is certainly the focal point of this book, more important is the fact, that in time for the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, Preservation Virginia was finally able to determine the actual location of the original Fort, as well as the various buildings and structures within it; and along the way has discovered thousands of artifacts.

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BACON’S REBELLION In July, 1675 the Doeg Indians raided the plantation of Thomas Mathews in the Northern Neck area of Virginia near the Potomac River and took some hogs, because Mathews had not paid for items he received from the tribe. Several Indians were killed.42 The colonists retaliated, but in error attacked the wrong tribe– the Susquehanaugs (Susquehannocks).43 This prompted large-scale Indian attacks. A meeting between the two groups resulted in the deaths of several tribal chiefs. While Governor William Berkeley, age 70, who believed the Native Americans, for the most part, not to be hostile, sought a diplomatic solution to the situation in order to preserve their friendship. Nathaniel Bacon, age 28, a wealthy young planter who was the proprietor of the Curles Neck Plantation in Henrico County disagreed with his handling of the matter, and disregarded his order for restraint by seizing some friendly Appomattox Indians for supposedly stealing corn. He was reprimanded by the Governor. Berkeley, a first-term governor, was a veteran of the English Civil Wars, a frontier Indian fighter (who led an attack against the Indians in 1644 when a large number of settlers were massacred), a playwright, and a scholar– and a favorite of the King. Nathaniel Bacon, Jr. was an intelligent, idealistic, and eloquent young man, a born leader, who, at home in England, was

42 Andrews, Charles M. Original Narratives of Early American History: Narratives of the Insurrections 1675-1690.

New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1915, pg. 105. 43

Andrews, Charles M. Original Narratives of Early American History: Narratives of the Insurrections 1675-1690. New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1915, pg. 17.

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prone to getting in trouble, and was sent to Virginia by his father to help him mature. Lady Berkeley (Frances Culpeper) was his cousin, and therefore he was actually related to Berkeley through marriage. He was also the nephew of the Nathaniel Bacon the Elder (who is said to have brought Bacon’s secret cache to this country). In A Brief & True Report Concerning Williamsburg in Virginia, Rutherford Goodwin called Bacon “a Gentleman of great Figure and Prominence in the Country, who, though he was a young Man, yet was born to lead other Men and to inspire their Spirit with his Words.”44

Governor William Berkeley Nathaniel Bacon, Jr.

Jamestown was already reeling because of bad weather, terrible living conditions, low prices for tobacco, rising prices for English-manufactured goods, increased competition from Maryland and the Carolinas, and a backlash because Berkeley was accused of having a stake in the fur trade with the Indians, and therefore was reluctant to act against them.45 The Governor had not held any elections for 14 years, and had stayed in office too long. Now the dissension began to come to a head because of the Governor’s inability to defend the colony from Indian attacks. Berkeley was forced to confiscate the powder and ammunition of the surrounding tribes. The Long Assembly in March, 1676 ended up with war being declared on hostile tribes, the establishment of a military chain of command and a defensive perimeter to defend the colony. This in turn forced higher taxes to pay for the military operations. A commission was created to monitor trading with the Indians, and to insure that they weren’t receiving rifles and ammunition. On the other hand, many who had been trading with the Indians for years were now denied that privilege in lieu of traders who were friends of the Governor. Berkeley was accused of corruption. Berkeley refused to make Bacon a leader of the militia, so he was appointed as “General” by a group of volunteer Indian fighters. Bacon pledged to pay the cost of his military excursions. He

44 Goodwin, Rutherford. A Brief & True Report Concerning Williamsburg in Virginia. Richmond, VA: August Dietz and his Son, 1940, pg. 7. 45 “Bacon’s Rebellion.” Family Encyclopedia of American History. Pleasantville, NY: Reader’s Digest Association,

1975, pg. 75.

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began by driving out the nearby Pamunkey Indians from their land. The Governor responded by riding to Bacon’s headquarters at Henrico with 300 “well-armed” gentlemen, which forced Bacon to flee into the woods with 200 of his men. Berkeley issued two proclamations which identified Bacon as a rebel, and proposed an agreement to pardon his men if they agreed to go home. Bacon was to be denied the seat he won on the Council, and he was to be put on trial for his actions. Bacon responded by attacking the friendly Occaneechee Indians on the Roanoke River (on the Virginia and North Carolina border), killing 100 of them, burning their village, and stealing their supply of beaver pelts. When Berkeley found out, he accused Bacon of “treason and rebellion,” had him captured and brought to Jamestown. Still, seeing that he had become popular, Berkeley tried to diffuse the situation by offering to pardon Bacon if he surrendered and allowed himself to be sent to England to be tried before King Charles II. However, the House of Burgesses would not accept this, and instead, insisted that Bacon admit his guilt and apologize to the Governor.46 Meanwhile, land owners who supported his strong stand against the Indians elected Bacon to the House of Burgesses, where at the Reforming Assembly (also referred to as the Bacon Assembly), held from June 5-25, 1676, he was mistakenly credited for the various reforms that resulted. Bacon was actually taken into custody when he arrived at the Assembly, and made to appear before Berkeley and the Council. Because he was forced to apologize, he overdramatically got down on one knee, and faked an impassioned plea of forgiveness to the Governor. He was pardoned and allowed to take his seat in the Assembly. In the middle of an argument about the Indian situation, Bacon left the Assembly and returned with a group of 100 men who surrounded the statehouse. Bacon demanded that Berkeley grant him a commission, which he rejected, and weary of the constant confrontations, said: “Here! Shoot me, fore God, fair mark, shoot.” Bacon wouldn’t do it and replied: “No. May it please your honor, we will not hurt a hair of your head, nor any other man’s. We are come for a Commission to save our lives from the Indians, which you have so often promised, and now we will have it before we go.”47 The Governor was willing to give him his previous volunteer commission, but Bacon refused, because he wanted to be the General over all the forces against the Indians. Berkeley wouldn’t do that, and walked away as Bacon screamed at him. Bacon ordered his men to aim their rifles at the statehouse windows, while a few men surrounding the building threatened to shoot several Burgesses if the Governor did not comply. The Governor relented, enabling Bacon to continue his military actions against the Indians. Berkeley, realizing that his authority had been compromised, retired to his home at Green Springs, and from July to September 1676, Bacon was in control of the government. He immediately began attacking the Indians. The Governor renounced his commission, and called Bacon a traitor. He managed to put

46 Taylor Jr., L.B. The Ghosts of Williamsburg (Volume 2). Progress Printing Co., 1999, pg. 82. 47 Andrews, Charles M. Original Narratives of Early American History: Narratives of the Insurrections 1675-1690. New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1915, pg. 29.

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together a force of 1,200 to attempt a coup, but Bacon, with an army of 1,000 men, proved too formidable and fearing for his life, Berkeley wouldn’t even return to his home at Green Spring. Instead, he was forced to retreat to Accomack County, across the Chesapeake Bay on the Eastern Shore.48 On July 30, 1676, Bacon issued his Declaration of the People which opposed the Governor’s corruption and ineffectiveness, and made him a hero because he represented the interests of small farmers and the common people. Eventually the tide began to turn when Berkeley’s men were able to infiltrate Bacon’s group. He returned with a large contingent of men, proclaiming Bacon and his men to be rebels and traitors, and was able to take back the town. This happened while Bacon was engaged against the Pamunkey Indians in the Dragon Swamp, ultimately defeating them at the Battle of Bloody Run. When Bacon returned, despite the fact that the town was heavily fortified, he made a number of attempts to retake control. He even kidnapped the wives of several of Berkeley’s major supporters, including Mrs. Nathaniel Bacon, Sr. He positioned them on the ramparts of his siege fortifications while they established their position. After a brief skirmish, the Governor’s soldiers retreated, and Bacon regained control. Unsure he could hold it, Bacon decided to set fire to the town in September, according to him, so that “the Rogues should harbor no more there.”49 Fortunately he had the presence of mind to remove the files and records from the statehouse. Berkeley fled again to the Eastern Shore. After this, Bacon clearly lost not only the support of the people, but also his own men, and because of the lack of support, couldn’t even muster enough men to pursue Berkeley to take him into custody. After Bacon suddenly died of dysentery, according to historian Virginius Dabney, or possibly fever from “bloodie flux” and “lousey” disease (body lice), on October 26, 1676, at the home of Major Thomas Pate on Portopotank Creek in Gloucester County, near West Point, the rebellion fell apart. His body was never found, and some believe that his soldiers burned the body, while others believe his coffin was sunk in the York River. In his 1929 book The Virginia Plutarch, Philip Alexander Bruce wrote: “His corpse was committed at night to the waters of one of the inlets and to this day the exact spot where his bones repose is unknown.”50 Berkeley returned to regain power, hanging 23 of the rebellion’s major leaders, and confiscating their estates. A subsequent investigation by a committee in England resulted in King Charles II relieving Berkeley of the Governorship. He returned to England where he died in July, 1677. Although Bacon’s Rebellion is considered by some historians to be the stirrings of the American Revolution– the opening salvo of America’s spirit of independence; some scholars believe it to have been nothing more than a power struggle between two self-centered leaders.

48

Taylor Jr., L.B. The Ghosts of Williamsburg (Volume 2). Progress Printing Co., 1999, pg. 82. 49 Goodwin, Rutherford. A Brief & True Report Concerning Williamsburg in Virginia. Richmond, VA: August Dietz

and his Son, 1940, pg. 9. 50 Taylor Jr., L.B. The Ghosts of Williamsburg (Volume 2). Progress Printing Co., 1999, pg. 84.

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Gov. William Berkeley Nathaniel Bacon, Jr.

In 1676, because of the threat of flooding from the James River, and “before the Bacon Rebellion and in connection with the planned removal of the Virginia Capital to Williamsburg, the secret records were brought to their final resting place in a great vault beneath the tower-center of the first brick church in Bruton Parish. It is said that some historical documents were buried at Bacon Castle in Surry County. Copies and duplicates of all the records were buried elsewhere.”51 Most Vault proponents believe that the Rebellion itself was used as a cover to be able to move the contents out of Jamestown. However, another source says that the “documents were removed from Jamestown in 1674 and brought to Middle Plantation and put into a vault below the foundation of the church, after which the church was completed.”52 Manly Palmer Hall wrote in The Secret Destiny of America that the “program that Bacon had outlined was working out according to schedule. Quietly and industriously, America was being conditioned for its destiny– leadership in a free world.”53

51 Bauer, Maria. Foundations Unearthed. Glendale, CA: Veritas Press, 1948, pg. 23. 52

“Foundations of First Church Uncovered in Bruton Churchyard.” Virginia Gazette, 1938. 53 Hall, Manly Palmer. The Secret Destiny of America. Los Angeles, CA: Philosophical Research Society, 1944, pg. 132.

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BACON’S CASTLE It is believed by some Baconian researchers that Sir Francis Bacon faked his death (actually dying on May 1, 1684), came to the New World, and either lived in, or visited, what is now known as Bacon’s Castle. On March 14, 1650, Arthur Allen received 200 acres for the transportation of three servants. Alice Tucker, was, or shortly thereafter, became his wife. There is no information about where he came from, when and why he came to Virginia, and how he got his money. He was appointed one of the Justices of the Peace when Surry County was established in 1652. He would become a wealthy planter, and was probably the wealthiest man in the area. In a 1656 deed, he was referred to as a “merchant.” On October 3, 1661, he purchased 500 acres of land from John and Peleg Dunstan (the sons and heirs of John Dunstan) between Lower Chippokes and Lawn’s Creek, which adjoined his property. His mansion (located on the west side of Surry County Route 617, just north of the junction with Route 10, at 465 Bacon’s Castle Trail, between Hopewell and Smithfield), the last remaining example of High Jacobean architecture in America, was built in 1665 when he was 57 years old. Part of its longevity is due to its 18" thick walls (24" thick in the basement, 12" thick in the attic), imported sandstone shingles, hand-carved ceiling beams, and effective dovetail joints. There were five fireplaces in the house. It is not known who actually designed or built the house. He died in 1669, and the home, with its 2,000 acres of land, was passed down to his son, Arthur Allen II (1651-1709).

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In 1675, at the age of 24, Gov. Berkeley appointed Allen as a Justice of the Peace for the County. He was a member of the House of Burgesses, and politically, he supported the colonial governor. On August 10, 1676, when the Surry County Justices voted to send supplies to rebel leader Nathaniel Bacon, Allen opposed the decision. He went home, and had time to hide his silver before he was forced out of his home on September 18 1676 when 70 supporters of Bacon, led by Commander William Rookings, Capt. Arthur Long (Allen’s brother-in-law), Robert Burgess, Lt. Joseph Rogers and William Simmons took over the building to use as a garrison for the rebel forces in a revolt which is remembered in history as Bacon’s Rebellion. It was the first insurrection against English authority in the American colonies. The rebels not only plundered the house by stealing many things, they shot and ate some of his cattle, ground his wheat into meal, then destroyed his crops of tobacco and grain. They never found the silver. They left the house on December 27th when British marines from the naval ship Young Prince moved up the James River from Isle of Wight County. Allen later sued the rebels in Surry and Charles City County Courts for around 25,000 pounds of tobacco as compensation for damages and what was taken. He settled for a payment of 250 pounds from each man, but demanded full payment from the rebel leaders. There is no evidence that Nathaniel Bacon ever went to the house, or even had anything to do with its military occupation; and there is no documentation that Francis Bacon had ever been to the home. After a series of three articles that appeared in the Virginia Gazette in 1769 about the rebellion, the name “Bacon’s Castle” stuck, and by 1802, it was known as such in official records. When the APVA purchased it, although it was originally known as “Arthur Allen’s Brick House,” they decided to retain the name to avoid confusion. Allen was present at Jamestown and witnessed the attack which culminated with the town being burned. He became one of Berkeley’s most trusted officers. By late November, 1676, he was commissioned as a Captain, and led attacks on the rebel army from one of the ships in the York River near West Point. Elizabeth Bray, the wife of Arthur Allen III, over a period of 63 years, made the renovations which exist today, such as the addition of a central corridor on the first floor, dividing the dining room, and relocating windows to fit a symmetrical Georgian style (as opposed to the asymmetrical Jacobean cruciform plan of two rooms, a hall and chamber per floor). In 1844 the house was purchased by John Henry Hankins who built a two-story Greek Revival-style wing. During the Civil War, Union Troops took over the house. In 1880, Charles Warren bought the house, and his grandson, Walker Pegram Warren lived in the house till his death in 1972. Marie Bauer Hall discovered that the Warrens were able to trace their genealogy to the Blount family in England. It was Henry Blount who carried the contents of the Vault to America, then changed his name to Nathaniel Bacon the Elder.54 The APVA bought the house, restored it and opened it to the public in 1983. It is the oldest house in Virginia.

54 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat

Foundation, 1984, pg. 507.

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THE BRUTON PARISH CHURCH

Because court records had been destroyed, much of Williamsburg’s early history has been lost. However, it is believed that the original structure, the first Anglican church, which was built in 1660, was probably made of wood, and located near the current church in what was then called Middle Plantation. Middle Plantation had been laid out in 1633, between the York and James Rivers. In 1644, Harrop Parish in James City County was established, and was consolidated with Middle Plantation Parish in 1648 to create Middletown Parish. In 1674, Marston Parish (founded in 1654) in York County merged with Middletown Parish to form Bruton Parish (named after Bruton County in Somerset, England) and was about 10 miles square. Bruton Parish was incorporated as Williamsburg in 1699. An entry in the Vestry book of Middlesex Parish in 1665 relates that a church was to be built

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there, using the church in Williamsburg as a model.55 It is possible that there were three wooden churches in the area, or one for each parish: Marston (“in the direction of the present Biglow’s in the Indian fields near Queen’s Creek”), Harrop, and Middle Plantation (mentioned in the deed for the plantation of Ralph Simkins, who donated two acres for the church).56 Marie Bauer claimed that the Bruton Vault was built in 1676, “in conjunction with the Bacon Rebellion,”57 yet, history tells us that in November, 1677, the Vestry decided “not to repair the upper or the lower churches in the parish, but build a new Church with brick at Middle Plantation.” Therefore, we’re looking at two scenarios. The first is that the Vault had already been constructed; and second, the contents to be put in the Vault were stored in a temporary place until the foundations of the church were laid. On November 14, 1678 the church Vestry called for a small buttressed brick church in the Jacobian style to be built on land (144' X 180') donated by Col. John Page. He also donated £200. On January 23, 1681, a contract was signed by Captain Francis Page to build the Church.58 The building (66' X 29', along with 60' in each direction for a Churchyard), was completed on November 29, 1683, and was a short distance northwest of the 1715 church. Rev. Rowland Jones (Rector, 1674-1688) dedicated it on January 6, 1684. It stood in what appeared to be the center of Williamsburg’s original survey, which was drawn 15 years later, when it had fallen into disrepair. It became so rundown, that on November 21, 1710, the Vestry condemned the structure and proposed the construction of a third church. Because of the establishment of the College of William & Mary in 1693, and the 1699 transfer of governmental authority from Jamestown, a larger building was needed. On December 5, 1710, the Virginia General Assembly approved a £200 grant (to provide pews for the governor, council and burgesses), which would be financed with taxes on liquor and slaves. Rev. James Blair, (President of the College of William & Mary, Virginia’s most respected clergyman), the new Rector (serving 1710-1743) approved the construction on March 1, 1711. Gov. Alexander Spotswood (a noted architect) submitted a cruciform (cross-shaped) design 75' long and 28' wide, with two transepts (wings) that were 22' X 19'. He even offered to finance 22 feet, as well as provide some or all the bricks, if the Vestry would finance 53 feet, and paid for the wings. His proposal was accepted. The contract went to James Morris on November 17, 1711, while the wings were built by John Tyler. Work began in 1712, and was completed on December 2, 1715.

55 Goodwin, Rev. William Archer Rutherford. Historical Sketch of Bruton Church. Petersburg, VA: The Franklin

Press Company, 1903, pg. 12. 56 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat

Foundation, 1984, pg. 288. 57 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat

Foundation, 1984, pg. 159. 58 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat

Foundation, 1984, pg. 289.

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The cruciform design of the Church

The second church was torn down the same year, and on November 16, 1716, the Vestry ordered the disposal of all the material from the old church– except the brick.59 Though well documented that the original brick church was in a different place, the site of its location would become lost, and later, the research staff of the Rockefeller Restoration would deny any knowledge of a different location for the original church– insisting that the current Church was built on the original foundations.60 Whether it was because of their colonial kinship, or something else, there seemed to be a distinct connection between the Bruton Church and the William & Mary College. Between 1710 and 1859, 9 of the 14 Rectors were either a President or a professor at the college– a period of about 110 years. There were high-boxed pews with doors to protect parishioners from drafts of wind in the unheated church. Men sat on the north or right side, while women sat on the left. Various galleries were built for particular groups. On July 10, 1718, William & Mary students were assigned to the West Gallery, that still exists. Lord Dunmore, the last British governor to serve in Virginia, also occupied this gallery for services before he was forced to flee Williamsburg in June, 1775. In 1744 the building was enlarged, and in 1752 they voted to make the east end as long as the west end, extending the chancel (the part of the Church containing the altar and seats for the clergy and choir) 22 feet to the east. The churchyard wall dates back to 1754. Construction was completed in 1755. Patriots such as Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, George Wythe, and George Mason attended services there. Future Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, John Tyler, and Benjamin Harrison attended services there for an extended period of time, as well as Chief Justice John Marshall. The Church still has in its possession the lectern-size Book of Common Prayers (1751), in which most people believe that it was Rev. John Bracken (Rector from 1773-1818; President of William & Mary College, 1812-14) who crossed out the prayer for the king, and substituted a prayer for the President of the country. It is kept at the Special Collections Division of the College of William & Mary. They also have the Bible (1753), a set of communion service from the church at Jamestown (1661), and a set from King George III (1769), which is on display at

59 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat

Foundation, 1984, pg. 291. 60 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat Foundation, 1984, pg. 291.

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the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Gallery. In 1761, merchant James Tarpley donated a 450 pound bronze bell to the Church, and on January 1, 1769, the Church began to take bids for the construction of a steeple to house it. On September 14, 1769, the Vestry awarded a £410 contract for a brick tower, which was topped by a wooden octagon, as well as other miscellaneous repairs, to Benjamin Powell. This addition is noticeable from the outside because the bricks that were used are darker than the salmon-colored bricks used on the main part of the structure. The Tarpley bell was cast at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in London, the same firm who cast Philadelphia’s Liberty Bell.61 It is known as Virginia’s “Liberty Bell” and continues to ring today, calling people to worship at the oldest Church in America still in continuous use. In 1776, the Virginia House of Burgesses ended their financial support of the Anglican Church with tax dollars, and four years later named Richmond as the state capital, which decreased the size of its membership. In 1804, the Court ordered the sale of their farmland, which took place in 1813. In 1781, the church was used as either a storehouse, or hospital, maybe even both, during the Battle of Yorktown at the time of the American Revolutionary War. A visitor in 1799 noticed that the church was “much out of repair.” In 1828, a modernization plan was decided on. The exterior stairs to the galleries were removed, and in 1838, the Vestry voted to undergo major remodeling, which commenced in 1839, and was finished in 1840. The high-backed pews were shortened and painted, then later removed. The high-corner pulpit, and marble flagstone flooring were sold, and a wooden floor laid. A coal bin was put into the lower tower, the west end was walled off for a Sunday School, and the pulpit was relocated against that wall. A door was opened to the east end. A town clock was put into the steeple on June 1, 1840. By that time, the church had completely changed its appearance. When Daniel Walker Lord of Kennebunkport, Maine, visited Williamsburg in 1824, he said that “some of the tombs are marked as early as 1693,” and that most of the tombstones had fallen down. After the Battle of Williamsburg, during the Civil War, when the church was used to treat wounded soldiers from both sides, most of the wounded were laid in the graveyard, and their blood stained many of the tablet stones. Some of those who died were buried in graves near the north wall; however, few names are recorded on the markers.

For a week after the Battle of Williamsburg during the Civil War, on May 5, 1862, the church was used as a hospital for Confederate soldiers. Rev. Thomas M. Ambler (who served as the Rector from 1860-1872) tried to substitute a prayer for the governor, instead of the one for the president, but occupying Union troops prevented him from doing that. Ambler then began conducting services out of his home until he joined the Confederate Army as a chaplain. In 1884, Cynthia Beverley Tucker Coleman organized a group of children into the Catherine Memorial Society (named after her daughter who died at the age of 12), and on April 7, 1887, the Society requested permission to repair the monuments and maintain the grounds.

61

DeSamper, Hugh. Bruton Parish Church: Its Spiritual and Historical Legacy. (Williamsburg, VA: Bruton Parish Church, 1997, pg. 26.

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There were extensive renovations and alterations done in 1886 and 1896. Some of the marble slabs were recovered and replaced in a restoration that was begun by Rev. William T. Roberts (Rector from 1894-1902). What slabs couldn’t be found were replaced with new. He repaired the exterior walls and restored the “sadly mutilated and defaced interior.” However, it wasn’t until Rev. William Archer Rutherford Goodwin took over in 1903 (serving until 1909), did the bulk of the restoration work take place. He began raising the funds to continue restoring the church back to its original condition, and contracted the services of New York architect J. Stewart Barney. The partition was removed, and the altar returned to the east end. A high pulpit with a sounding board was installed, as well as a silk canopy over the governor’s pew. The work was completed in 1907 at a cost of $27,000. In 1907, to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the founding of the first permanent extension of the English Church at the Jamestown settlement, King Edward VII gave the Bruton Church a large Bible, and President Theodore Roosevelt donated a bronze lectern to hold it. They are still being used today, located near the crossing of the church, and the gravestones of British Governor Francis Fauquier (who died in 1768, site #157 on the Bruton Parish Churchyard Guide) and the patriot Edmund Pendleton (site #156) who are buried beneath the marble flagstones. Rev. Rowland Jones (1st Rector who served from 1674-1688, site #162) is also buried inside. During the 1905-1907 restoration, there were 42 graves identified within the confines of the interior church walls– the more notable personages are indicated by stones in the floor. Another restoration was begun in 1937 when it was discovered that the walls of the church were in danger of collapsing. Goodwin returned as the Rector from 1926-1938, and petitioned John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (1874-1960) to finance the restoration of Williamsburg back to its colonial appearance.

John D. Rockefeller, Sr. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

The Rockefeller Foundation, one of the largest philanthropic organizations in the world, had been established to disseminate the wealth of John Davison Rockefeller (1839-1937), who had owned Standard Oil, the largest oil refining company in the world. An independent organization, called the “Rockefeller Restoration” was set up, and in 1926 under the name “Colonial

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Williamsburg,” they began to reconstruct the colonial town of Williamsburg, Virginia. They spent $52.6 million to restore 81 colonial buildings, and rebuild 404 from original plans, on their original foundations. Over 700 modern homes were torn down in an 83-acre area to bring the 18th century town back to life. They also built 45 other buildings, including three hotels to serve the public, and planted gardens. When a property could not be acquired outright, it was purchased with the stipulation of a life-right occupancy, which meant that a complete transfer of the property took place when the former owner died. One of the few properties that have not acquired is the Bruton Parish Church, which is located on the corner of Duke of Gloucester Street and Palace Green. After Goodwin’s health failed, from 1939-1940, Colonial Williamsburg completed the restoration work.

When John Page donated the parcel of land for the second church, it included the land 60 feet around it in every direction, which was to be used as a graveyard. Because many of the graves were not marked, nobody knows how many people are actually buried there. There are even people buried atop one another. Archaeological excavations done in 1992 indicated that there was no standard depth or directional orientation for the placement of the plots. By 1836, the Vestry mandated that all new graves had to be at least 4½ feet deep. Among some of the notable people buried outside are Gov. Edward Nott (site #36), Thomas Ludwell (site #78),

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merchant John Greenhow (site #111), David Bray and his wife (site #38), Edward Barradell (site #123) and the two infant children of Martha Custis Washington (from her first husband, site #76). Because early gravestones had to be imported from England, many of the graves which fill the entire churchyard are unmarked. A few, like the grave of John Page (who died 1692), who donated the ground on which the church is built, was moved into the Tower (site #152) for preservation purposes. Nathaniel Bacon, who supposedly brought the contents of the Bruton Vault with him from England, is buried on the north side of the bell tower (site #153). It is within the grounds of the graveyard of the current church (under the site of the previous church), known as the Bruton Parish Episcopal Church (which was declared a National Historic Landmark), where the legendary Bruton Vault is believed to be located. It has been purported that Sir Francis Bacon had the Vault constructed with the help of his Wild Goose Club, as well as the Freemasons. It is said to be a 10' X 10' vaulted brick chamber, which may have possibly been part of an underground Freemasonry Lodge that was buried 20 feet deep, and marked by certain strategically placed encoded memorials in the cemetery above. Researchers have long felt that one of the reasons the Rockefellers made the investment to restore the town of Colonial Williamsburg was the prospect of locating the fabled vault, and recovering the material inside of it. As architects for the international leanings which have given birth to the movement toward one-world government, it is believed that they wanted to make sure source documents from Bacon remained undiscovered because they would reveal how much influence his agenda had on the way our government was established.

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The 1928 pre-reconstruction appearance of the Maupin House

CUSTIS-MAUPIN HOUSE

There is a tradition among those that believe in the existence of the Vault, that there are access tunnels from various locations in Williamsburg that lead to the Vault in the churchyard. Fletcher Richman, the leader of a group of Baconian researchers who had been incessantly lobbying the church to allow an excavation of the churchyard, said that among the writings of Martha Dandridge Custis Washington, was the comment that, as a child, she had been in one of the Williamsburg tunnels. This tradition no doubts stems from the fact that the Custis-Maupin house had formerly been identified as the “Martha Custis House” by Colonial Williamsburg, because it is believed that she lived there.62 In my effort to locate this reference about Martha mentioning this tunnel, I found a book, entitled Worthy Partner: The Papers of Martha Washington, and the gentleman who compiled its documents wrote: “This edition has attempted to compile all the known Martha Washington papers from every possible source.”63 Within its pages, I found no letter which made such a statement. Looking back, we find that Martha Dandridge (1731-1802) was the oldest daughter of John and Frances Dandridge, and grew up on a plantation near Williamsburg. John (1700 or 1701-1756) immigrated to Virginia from England when he was 13 or 14, and settled in New Kent County where he worked as a County clerk in 1730, and he married Frances Jones (1710-1785) of York

62 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat

Foundation, 1984, pg. 296. 63 Fields, Joseph E. Worthy Partner: The Papers of Martha Washington (Contributions in American History Series, No. 155). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994, pg. xxviii.

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County. Frances’ father was Orlando Jones, who studied at the College of William & Mary, and had a farm near Williamsburg on Queen’s Creek, a navigable stream which led to the York River. He also had a house and office on Duke of Gloucester Street. Since there is no probable way to connect her to anyone living at the Custis house, could such a reference indicate an access to the tunnel from the Orlando Jones House, as Martha would have certainly visited this house? This is unlikely, since it wasn’t one of the known access points, and also, because it was located on the corner of Colonial Street, it seemed a little far away for a dedicated tunnel. In Marie Bauer Hall’s book, Quest for Bruton Vault, I found this excerpt that elaborated about the tunnels beneath Williamsburg:

“Relating the events of the day to the Maupin sisters that evening, we made a curious discovery: Mentioning my cynical remark about a tunnel, one of the sisters remarked: ‘How did you know about the tunnel?’ Upon my reply that in reality there was no tunnel, she emphatically stated, ‘Of course there is a tunnel. But since the Rockefellers came to Williamsburg it has become a big secret, but when we were small children, we used to play hide-and-seek in that tunnel. There is an entrance to it now where the Geddes House stands (Rockefeller lawyer). The tunnel goes through the Bruton churchyard, and there is another entrance to it at the Chapel at William & Mary College.’”64

The Rockefeller lawyer she referred to in the book as Mr. Geddes would be Vernon M. Geddy, Sr. who was the lawyer retained by Bruton Rector Rev. W.A.R. Goodwin in 1927 to examine titles and prepare deeds as he bought up property in Williamsburg’s Historic Area for John D. Rockefeller, Jr. He became the Vice President, General Counsel and spokesman for the Restoration, as well as the Vestry. In 1955 Rockefeller donated an Aeolian-Skinner Organ to the Church, which is known as the Vernon M. Geddy Memorial Organ. The description of the Geddy House, as containing an opening to the tunnel now becomes a little ambiguous, because it could either be referring to the Wythe House, where the Restoration had an office; or it could be referring to the James Geddy House, on the corner of Palace Green and Duke of Gloucester Street, across from the Church, that was owned by an ancestor of the Rockefeller lawyer. Orlando’s father, Rev. Rowland Jones, emigrated from England in the 1660s and was one of the founders, and the first Rector of Bruton Parish (serving from 1674 till he died in 1688).65 Remember, Rowland (Martha’s great-grandfather) dedicated the second church in 1684, which was torn down in 1715 and Martha was born in 1731. So, since Rowland was dead, and the original church torn down, there was not an opportunity to access the tunnel from the church end, unless there is an access point from the current church, which is highly unlikely. The Custis-Maupin house (Block 13-1, Building 26A), located on the south side of Duke of Gloucester Street at the intersection of Palace Green, across from the Bruton Parish Church, was originally owned by Col. John Custis IV (1678-1749) as a rental property. A prominent botanist, educated in England, he lived in the brick home known as Custis Square (or “Six

64 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat

Foundation, 1984, pg. 466. 65 Brady, Patricia. Martha Washington: An American Life. New York, NY: Viking Penguin, 2005, pg. 17.

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Chimneys”). In 1720, he was elected by the faculty of the College of William & Mary to be its representative in the House of Burgesses, and he became a respected member of that body. When Williamsburg was incorporated in 1722, he was one of the first aldermen. He was a member of the Governor’s Council from 1727 to his death.

A deed on August 6, 1714 gave him ownership of Lots #353, #354, and #355. A letter, dated April 18, 1717 (in the Ludwell Papers, Vol. 2, quoted in the Governor’s Place, pg. 80), seems to indicate the building of a house on Lot# 355 (identified by Colonial Williamsburg as the “John Custis Tenement”); which his lease (May 24, 1746) to John Wheatley describes as “the corner lot facing the governor’s house.” Wheatley probably had a boarding house there. Marie Bauer related that according to the Maupin sisters, the house had been built in 1699, when the original church was still in place, but the historical documentation does not bear that out.66 From 1784-1786, Humphrey Harwood, a builder in town, made extensive repairs to the house. Ownership passed to his son Col. Daniel Parke Custis, who married Martha Dandridge in 1750, and they lived in his Pumunkey River mansion that was known as “White House.” After his death in 1757, presumably ownership passed to Martha Custis, whom Wheatley continued to rent off of. In 1778, Martha Custis Washington (she had later married Gen. George Washington) sold the lot (as well as other properties) to her son John Parke Custis. As you can see, although she owned the property for a time, there is no indication that she lived there, as she already had a primary residence. In an October 29, 1930 Colonial Williamsburg report by Harold R. Shurtleff (Director, Dept. of Research & Records), the old street line of King Street had to be established before any

66 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat

Foundation, 1984, pg. 393.

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restoration work could be done. They took their point of reference from what is known as the “Frenchman’s Map,” which had been drawn in 1782, and included every building that stood in Williamsburg at that time. It was discovered in the Library of the College of William & Mary in 1927, and proved invaluable to the reconstruction efforts. King Street began at a point 32 feet east of the eastern wall of the current Maupin House, which is now the location of the Saunders House. According to the map, the building on the corner of King Street, which sat on property extending back to Francis Street, was 40' X 27' and adjacent to a small building (20' X 18') to the west, whose foundations extended under the Maupin foundation. The 1931 archaeological study of the property uncovered the foundations of a colonial house (six feet from the street, with outside chimneys at the east and west), as well as the 19th century addition. On the 1791 College Map and 1803 Bucktrout Map, this lot is identified as belonging to Dixon (also referred to as Dickson), which probably refers to Beverly Dickson, and not John Dixon, the printer of the Virginia Gazette and postmaster, or Rev. John Dixon. The Williamsburg tax records of 1801 indicated that the two lots representing the western boundary of the property of Robert Greenhow (lots 159 and 160) as belonging to Beverly Dickson, as does Mutual Assurance Policy #493. There is an insurance Policy (#585) underwritten for John Crump and Easter Whitefield and issued in February of 1802, which placed a value of $1,000 on a one-story wood house (40' X 27') that was located between the lots of John Greenhow and J. W. Dixon (who died in 1797). This has caused some speculation as to which Dixon owned the lot. Williamsburg researchers insist that the owner was Beverly Dickson, who had the lots until his death in 1787, when ownership passed to his wife Mary, who owned the property until 1805. In the 1806 Mutual Policy (#644) of Robert Greenhow, the western boundary owner is identified as Peter Robert Deneufville (also known as R. Peter Deneufville). In 1810, title passed to Augustine Deneufville. In 1820, title passed to John Augustine Deneufville. In 1835, title passed to Robert J. Deneufville, who sold it to Wade Mountfortt in 1837. It was sold to John M. Maupin on July 17, 1838. According to a letter written by B.T. in Williamsburg, to Elizabeth Bryan, in Hickory Fork, Virginia on April 4, 1840: “Mr. Maupin has built a handsome house on the site of an old ruinous building opposite the lower corner of the Churchyard1” From this, it appears that the original house was razed, or seriously renovated. In 1846, Maupin contracted David Cowles, a Williamsburg builder, to add a 2-story wing to the west side of the house, then later, another addition behind that. When Maupin died, ownership passed to his widow, Catherine M. Maupin, and when she died, it passed to their son Jessie C. Maupin. It subsequently was left to the grandchildren: Florence Maupin, Lucile Maupin, Jennie Maupin (Burrows), Ruby Maupin (Saunders), Kate Maupin (Whitley), and Pearl Maupin (Young)– the Maupin sisters. In his Recollections of Williamsburg, John S. Charles wrote: “The Maupin house1had, up to a few years ago, a neat picket fence enclosing an attractive flower garden. King Street was, as now, the eastern boundary of this big lot which extended back to Francis Street. In the back

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yard were two frame 1½ story buildings facing to the north. The one near King Street was used as a servants’ quarters and the other as a dormitory for students. There was also on the lot, as there was on nearly every lot in the city, a smoke house, which served as a place for the storing of heavy groceries, as well as for the smoking of meat, which in those days was done by nearly every housekeeper.” On March 2, 1928, the heirs sold the lot to W.A.R. Goodwin, John D. Rockefeller’s personal representative (with each sister retaining a life interest), who on June 14, 1929 conveyed the title to the Williamsburg Holding Corporation, and in April of 1939 the title was passed to Colonial Williamsburg, Inc. Because the lot is in James City County, there are no pre-Civil War records in existence, however, there was a Maupin burial lot in the rear of the property, but there are no tombstones there dated earlier than the 1850s.67

Photographs of the Maupin burial area behind the Maupin House

The original Maupin House was one of the first projects of the Restoration. It was torn down in order to reconstruct it as an early 18th century home on the original foundations.68 In the Archaeological Report for the excavation of the President’s House at the College of

67 Stephenson, Mary A. Custis Tenement Historical Report (Block 13-1, Building 26A, Lot 355) (Colonial

Williamsburg Foundation Library Research Report Series #1266). Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1990, pgs. 1-17. 68 Colonial Williamsburg. Official Guidebook & Map. Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg, 1968, pg. 45.

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William & Mary, is a lot of information about brick drains and a vaulted brick tunnel nearly two feet high, for the removal of excessive water in the basement.

Evidence of drain tunnels in the basement of the President’s House at the College of William & Mary

In this same Report is the following quote:

“Unlike the tunnel found at the Custis House which had been built so that it abutted against the exterior of the cellar wall, the President's House tunnel passed right through the wall, the ends of the arch bricks terminating at the interior face of the cellar's east wall1it is worth noting that the opening's placement close to a corner of the basement (4' 5½" from the NE corner) is paralleled by the locations of the drainage tunnels at the Custis House in 1which [is] thought to have been installed” when the house was first built.”69

A footnote goes on to say: “1no information was forthcoming to show how, or if, the opening continued into the Custis House basement.” However, when you read the Archaeological Report for the Custis-Maupin House by Colonial Williamsburg, it doesn’t mention the existence of a drain tunnel. Which means that the tunnel alluded to was solely external. There are no photographs, drawings or diagrams of any type of drainage system in the basement of the house.

Drain pipe outside of the Custis-Maupin House which may connect to a Colonial drain

69 Noel-Hume, Ivor. Excavations at the President’s House College of William and Mary Archaeological Report (Block 16, Building 2) (Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library Research Report Series #0075). Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1990, pgs. 15-16, 19.

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Because we do know, that when the Colonial-era drain tunnels are discovered, and intact, they are sometimes incorporated into the modern water drainage system of the town. Which means that the brick tunnel archaeologists found in front of the house may still be used today to remove water. From the picture below of the house’s foundation, there is certainly no trace of a drain tunnel on the basement floor, like you find in the basement of the President’s House at the College. And indeed, when I talked to someone (who would like to remain anonymous) who has been in the basement many times, they confirm that there is no evidence of any style of brick drain that is common in some of the other properties.

The foundation of the Custis-Maupin House

This is where we have to start looking at what the evidence really says. The context of Marie Bauer Hall’s book seems to indicate that because the unnamed Maupin sister said they played in the tunnel as children, there was an access to it from the basement of their house. But she never really said that. Theoretically, had there been a tunnel there, it was conceivable that they would have shown it to Hall. Researchers of the Vault may have misconstrued the words of the Maupin sister, and the Custis-Maupin House traditionally became known as one of the tunnel’s access points. It is not. That part of the legend is not true, and as we shall soon see, the lies don’t end there. The Custis-Maupin House is currently owned by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and leased to the Bruton Parish Church on a long-term basis. It is not open for public tours. According to the Church’s website, the property has been repurposed:

“To convert the building to our use, a mechanical lift for accessibility will be added; the kitchen will be modified and the first-floor bathroom enlarged; and a fire detection and alarm system will be installed. Much of the existing architectural detail will be retained1The Custis Tenement has two large rooms on the first floor and three rooms on the second floor. It will offer a gathering place for families taking part in weddings, baptisms, and funerals; accessible restroom facilities for church members on Sundays and at other church events; opportunities for after-church socializing and small group meetings; and easy access from the church. The vestry’s property committee is developing

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guidelines for the building’s use.”70

Front of the Custis-Maupin House as it appears today

Rear of the Custis-Maupin House as it appears today

70 Bruton Parish Episcopal Church website <http://www.brutonparish.org/article326900.htm>

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SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN BUILDING

The College of William (King William III) & Mary (Queen Mary II) stands at the western end of Duke of Gloucester Street, facing east. It is the second oldest educational institution in the country (after Harvard, which had been established in 1636), with the Wren Building being the oldest academic structure still in use in America. It is the oldest of the restored public buildings in Williamsburg. It was established by Royal Charter in 1693 as an Anglican college “that the Church of Virginia may be furnished with a Seminary of Ministers of the Gospel1and that the Christian Faith may be propagated amongst the Western Indians, to the Glory of Almighty God.” Thus “Governors and ‘visitors’ were required to be members of the Church of England, professors had to subscribe to the thirty-nine articles, and students [had] to know the catechism.”71 Four of the first ten presidents of the United States were associated in some way with the College. George Washington was Chancellor of the College for eleven years (1788-99), while Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe and John Tyler (who also served as Chancellor, 1859-62) were educated there. Though its enrollment was less than 100, the institution had a profound influence on this country in regard to the caliber of alumni it produced. “The site for the College buildings was chosen near the eastern extremity of the College lands, about 1,716 feet (104 poles) from the Church.”72 The foundation laying ceremony took place August 8, 1695. Though, partially in use in 1699, the building wasn’t completed until 1700. Workmen were brought in from England for its construction, as well as some of the building material. The bricks were baked onsite in kilns, the remnants of which were discovered during the 1928-29 archaeological excavations. Fire swept through the building on October 29, 1705, destroying everything except the exterior and some interior brick walls, which were 3½ feet thick at their base. The second form, with some modifications by Gov. Alexander Spotswood, began construction in 1709, and was completed between 1716 and 1718. The building consisted of a main block facing east and a

71 Webster, Homer J. “Schools and Colleges in Colonial Times.” The New England Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly. Boston, MA: America Company Publishers, Volume 27 (September 1902-February 1903), pg. 374. 72 Schlesinger, Catherine Savedge. Summary Architectural Report of Interior Restoration: 1967-68, Wren Building of the College of William & Mary (Block 16, Building 3). Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1969, pg. 7.

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North Wing (which contained the Great Hall). Between 1728 and 1732, the South Wing was built (which contained the Chapel) to correspond with the North Wing– making it a U-shaped structure. The overseer was Henry Cary Jr. When fire destroyed the Capitol in 1747, the Virginia legislature met at the Wren Building until the Capitol was rebuilt in 1754.

The east elevation or front of the Wren Building

The west elevation or rear of the Wren Building (the Chapel is in the South Wing on the right)

The original concept for the school was for it to be a quadrangular (4-sided enclosure) shape, but the western block was never constructed. In 1771-72, Thomas Jefferson drafted a design for the fourth side. The foundation was laid, but constructed was interrupted by the American Revolutionary War, and never completed. These foundations were discovered in 1940, then further excavated in 1950. Classes were discontinued when the Revolution began, and in 1781, General Cornwallis used the President’s House on-campus as his military headquarters. That

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house and the Wren Building were used as hospitals by the French following the surrender at Yorktown.

In 1856, extensive interior renovations were done to the Wren Building. On February 8, 1859, a second fire gutted the building, and it was rebuilt a second time within the surviving exterior walls. It was completed within a year. In 1861, Confederate troops used the building as their barracks, and later a hospital. In 1862, the town fell to Union troops, and on September 9, 1862, the Wren Building was torched by Union soldiers. Some books and records had been relocated to the Eastern State Hospital for safekeeping. One report said that there had not been an order given to torch it– that it had been burned by some drunken soldiers. Another report said it was burned to prevent Confederate snipers from hiding there; and yet another report said it was burned in retaliation for a Confederate attack on the town. The repair and reconstruction of the interior took seven years, again utilizing the original brick walls. Work was completed between 1867 and 1869.

In 1906, the ownership of the college was transferred to the State of Virginia. Until 1928, this building was known as “The Main Building,” and after its restoration by Williamsburg Holding Corp. (the corporate entity that preceded Colonial Williamsburg) from 1928 to 1931, it became known as the Sir Christopher Wren Building (Block 16, Building 3), after the man who is believed to have originally designed it. It was the first major building to be restored,73 and was returned to the 1716-1859 second form of the building. While the Restoration always sought to be conscious of the fact that it was still an active educational institution, between 1967 and 1968 they restored six rooms to their 18th century appearance. The access to the Bruton Tunnel from the Chapel, as indicated by the Maupin sisters, should not be confused with the utility tunnels beneath a few buildings of the Campus that had provided the means for steam pipes, and possibly internet cables and phone lines to be directed to their respective buildings. Evidence of this could be seen during the winter months with steam rising from manholes throughout the area. In the past, the Students’ Code of Conduct even specifically mentioned them:

The Wren entrance to the steam tunnels

“For reasons of safety and security, all roofs (except those with specifically approved sun decks or work-study areas), balconies, porches, window ledges, mechanical equipment areas, and steam tunnels of College buildings are closed to all but authorized employees.”

This is not unusual, as UCLA has about six miles of such tunnels, and Stanford University even has arched tunnels made out of brick. The reality is that this was a mechanical environment, and the school didn’t want anyone being hurt; and they didn’t want anyone to damage the

73 Colonial Williamsburg. Official Guidebook & Map. Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg, 1968, pg. 54.

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equipment and controls. That is why there were directives prohibiting students from entering those areas.74 These tunnels have now been abandoned and sealed-up completely.

UCLA tunnels Stanford University tunnels

Because the Wren building was built in 1695, before Williamsburg was established as a town, Vault adherents believe that the construction of the Bruton tunnel began there. They have focused on the mysterious area in the basement known as the crypt, where a number of notable people are buried; and believe that the vandalism of the burial vaults beneath the Chapel in 1862 (looters looking for valuables), 1970 and 1979 (fraternity pranks), was actually the physical evidence of someone looking for the access point to the tunnel. Remember, in the movie National Treasure, access to the treasure room was through a vault. When I looked through Colonial Williamsburg’s Archaeological Report for the Wren Building, I didn’t see anything about a tunnel, so I thought it might be possible to find some subtle clues elsewhere in the Reports for other houses. First, let’s look at the crypt area and its known pictures in order to get our bearing and see what they might reveal about the layout of the basement area. The crypt below the Chapel in the Wren Building had become the final resting place for the following notables:75 A) Sir John Randolph (Speaker of the House of Burgesses)

Lady Susanna Beverley Randolph (wife) B) John Randolph (Attorney General, son of Sir John Randolph) C) Peyton Randolph (1st President of the Continental Congress, son of Sir John

74 Teshima, Isshin. “The Secrets of William and Mary Part 4: The Underground Tunnels.” William & Mary Blogs,

February 11, 2010 (http://blogs.wm.edu/2010/02/11/the-secrets-of-william-and-mary-part-4-the-underground-tunnel s/). 75 Buchanan, Paul; Catherine Savedge Schlesinger. Burial Vaults Under Chapel at the Wren Building – The College of William & Mary Architectural Report (Block 16, Building 3). Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1990, pg. 1.

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Randolph) & Betty Harrison Randolph (wife) Both transferred to Vault G D) Norborne Berkeley (Lord Botetourt, 4th Baron Botetourt; royal governor of Virginia, 1768-70) E) Rev. James Madison (ashes only, President of College, Professor of Mathematics & Philosophy) & Sarah Madison (wife) Transferred to Vault G F) Chancellor Robert Nelson G) See Vaults C & E H) President Thomas R. Dew ?) Judge Thomas Nelson (location unknown)

The floor plan of the Wren’s basement (crypt is on upper left)

The following graphic shows an enlarged isolated view of just the crypt’s floor plan so you can see the positioning of the burial areas there.

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These pictures were taken during the 1928-31 restoration.

Looking east at (from left to right) vaults A, B, and C.

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The same orientation from the outside, showing the Chapel’s main door on the right

The same orientation from the inside, showing the reredos, two doors, and altar area

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The backs of (from left to right) vaults C, B, and A

Looking west toward vaults D and E, and the grave (F)

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The west end completely excavated

Looking toward the west end and the main entrance to the Chapel

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It’s clear from these pictures that there is no photographic evidence of a tunnel, so, if there is a tunnel, it would have to be in another area of the basement. Let’s look through some of the other Archaeological Reports for any clues that could help us determine whether there is a tunnel under the Wren Building.

The Archaeological Report for the Robert Carter House indicated the presence of a brick vault “found beneath the remains of the passageway extending northward from the north-east corner of the house.” There is no photograph of the vault, perhaps because it was collapsed, but there is a diagram.

A drawing of the Carter House vault

The Report says: “The vault (believed to have been constructed in the late 1700s, after the house was built) was accessible from the basement and was probably used as a storage place for wines and farm produce. The brick vault measures 6'-7½" in inside width by 15'-4" in interior length. The ceiling height at crown of vault is 6'-0". The thickness of the vault shell is 9". Such underground vaults were of fairly frequent occurrence in the Virginia colony. They were intended primarily for food storage but are known to have served on occasions for the safe keeping of records.”76 Then, beneath this passage, it gave “examples of similar vaults1of the same period,” and there we see what appear to be some confusing terms that seem to mistakenly interchange the words “vault” and “tunnel.”

The Palace (4 vaults mentioned in the inventory), the King’s Arms Tavern (a basement having the appearance of “a single continuous vault”), the Waller (Morecock) House (where a “small vault is said to have joined the basement of the Morecock House with the basement of a kitchen” the entrance to which “had been bricked up”), and the Wren Building (“located under the front of the building and not to be confused with burial vaults”).

Now we have some evidence for an architectural feature under the front of the Wren Building in an area away from the crypt. The term “vault” usually references what would be considered a room or a storage area. However, when you look at the beginning of the Summary Architectural Report on the Wren Building you will find the following entry:

76

Kocher, A. Lawrence; Howard Dearstyne. Robert Carter House Archaeological Report (Block 30-2, Building 13, Lot 333-336), (Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library Research Report Series #1611). Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1990, pg. 23.

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PHOTOCOPY OF HANDWRITTEN NOTE - [no digital image available]

illegible

GRADE RAISE OF 3 FT. (P. 18)?

How, since whole plot is level?

From Archaeo. Report + docu records and evidence of drain tunnel77

Okay, now we have, from two sources, that there was a “vault” and a “drain tunnel” under the front of the Wren Building. What does that mean?

Governor’s Palace

By doing a little digging into the various Archaeological and Architectural Reports of Colonial Williamsburg, you can begin to get a sense of their use of terms. At the Governor’s Palace Laundry, work there revealed that the basement was divided into two parts, with each part containing a “floor drain to the main arched drain under the building running from the Palace building to the canal.”78 Then there was this observation: “An interesting drainage system occurs at this point which connects with the Palace itself. In the southeast corner of the basement of the Palace is a vaulted brick drain 3' high and 2' wide (now under a later brick staircase) which leads directly across the street to this area and out to a point about midway in the terraces. It seems unlikely that the basement of the Palace required a drain of this size and it may have had some purpose as an outlet for water. It could well have served as a passage for

77 Schlesinger, Catherine Savedge. Summary Architectural Report of Interior Restoration: 1967-68, Wren Building of the College of William & Mary (Block 16, Building 3), Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1969, unnumbered page before Table of Contents. 78 Moorehead, Singleton P. Governor’s Palace Laundry Architectural Report (Block 20, Building 3M), (Colonial

Williamsburg Foundation Library Research Report Series #1469). Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1990, pg. 25.

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escape.”79

As previously mentioned, there were also 4 “vaults” found at the basement of the Palace. Although we think of the word “vault” in terms of it being a secure room for storage, such as a bank vault, you’ll notice that the Palace vaults had a vaulted or arched roof, which is why they were referred to that way.

Reconstructed vaults in the basement of the Palace

At the Charlton House, there were four drains found,80 but most notable was this observation: “A brick drain, which, though not original is constructed of old brick, extends across the front of the house. Its width is 31", which is wider than such drains usually are.”81

Behind the Mary Stith Shop there was some repair work on a storm drain that was part of a “functional 18th century drainage network” that “appeared to retain their original integrity,” and was tied into “part of the current 20th century drainage system.”82 One of the vaulted brick drains which cut through the porch foundations, through the south foundation wall, ran slightly diagonal across the basement and came out from the north wall of the house about four feet from the east end of the building, was 2' 10" wide and about 3' high.83

79 Kocher, A. Lawrence. Architectural Report: Palace of the Governors of Virginia (Block 20 Building 3) (Colonial

Williamsburg Foundation Library Research Report Series #0133). Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1990, pg. 147. 80 Kirk, G. Charlton House Archaeological Report (Block 9, Building 30, Lot 22) (Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Library Research Report Series #1163). Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1990, pg. 38. 81 Kocher, A. Lawrence; Howard Dearstyne. Charlton House Architectural Report (Block 9, Building 30, Lot 22) (Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library Research Report Series #1164). Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1990, pg. 14. 82 Powers, Emma L. Mary Stith Shop, Mary Stith Tin Shop Historical Report (Block 10, Building 21 & 21A, Lot 17)

(Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library Research Report Series #1219). Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1990, pg. 1(45). 83 Kocher, A. Lawrence; Howard Dearstyne. Mary Stith Shop Architectural Report (Block 10, Building 21, Lot 17) (Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library Research Report Series #1220). Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1990, pg. 5.

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The Charlton House Mary Stith Shop The same thing is mentioned in the Architectural Report on the Benjamin Waller House (the L-shaped house at the junction of Waller and Francis Streets near the entrance of Bassett Hall), where you can find the following references: 1) “A vaulted and paved brick tunnel was found, attached to the basement of the house. This was believed to have served as a drain to a nearby hollow.”84

Benjamin Waller House

2) “A vaulted brick tunnel was attach (sic) to the basement of the house at floor level. This tunnel extended north and eastward in the direction of low ground, fulfilling its function as a drain, and possibly as exit from the house.”85

84 Kocher, A. Lawrence. Benjamin Waller House Architectural Report (Block 1, Building 16) (Colonial Williamsburg

Foundation Library Research Report Series #1002). Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1990, pg. 9. 85 Kocher, A. Lawrence. Benjamin Waller House Architectural Report (Block 1, Building 16) (Colonial Williamsburg

Foundation Library Research Report Series #1002). Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1990, pg. 17.

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3) “In the northeast corner of the basement there is a terminal end of an old brick tunnel, approximately 3' wide (later measurements showed it to be 3' high and 2' wide), which it is believed, was a drain or minor passage from the house basement to a ravine east of the house (pictured below). Care was taken by the restorers to preserve this construction relic and to indicate its position by a one inch break in brickwork matching the outline of the inside of the tunnel.”86

So, if you weren’t reading carefully, you wouldn’t know whether this tunnel was being categorized as a drain tunnel, or an escape tunnel. But when you look at the pictures, it was certainly too big to be considered as just a drain tunnel. It was the largest drain uncovered that they found leading from a private residence.

Public Armoury Tunnel Where the Armoury tunnel drains behind the Printing Office

86 Kocher, A. Lawrence. Benjamin Waller House Architectural Report (Block 1, Building 16) (Colonial Williamsburg

Foundation Library Research Report Series #1002). Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1990, pg. 7.

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There was no inside plumbing, no running water, and by their own accounts, it was not necessary to have a drain that big for water run-off, and the archaeologist wrote: “The question then remains, why construct such a large drain for water removal when clearly a much smaller drain would suffice.” In addition, its northeasterly course was followed past the Waller Office till it was broken and disconnected, but they never fully explored how far it went.87 Since they realized what it was, it wasn’t considered necessary. Because of the size of the larger tunnels, though it suggests they served a dual purpose, the simple fact is that most of the tunnels are too small to be used by people. Before you can understand all of this, you have to realize, that there was basically only a “winding horse path” following the line of a low ridge that ran between William & Mary College and Bruton Parish Church. The idea in 1699 was to build the Capitol at the end of that primary thoroughfare opposite the school as part of the three long east-west streets that would cross the town. The problem with that is that there were several deep ravines, gullies and creeks in their path that would have to be filled in; and water from springs that were located by the Capitol, the Gaol (Jail), Market Square, and the Palace that would have to be dealt with. That horse path became a rather hilly Duke of Gloucester Street. The House of Burgesses eventually appropriated funds “towards making Bridges and Causeways in the Main Street,” and in 1722, it was recorded by Rev. Hugh Jones that money “was expended in removing earth in some places, and building a bridge over a low channel; so that it is now a pleasant, long dry walk, broad, and almost level from the College to the Capitol.” In 2011, archaeologists working at the Revolutionary War-period Public Armoury site exposed a 13-foot length of arched brick drain that is still under Duke of Gloucester Street, and empties beside the Printing Office.88 Its size and construction was very similar to the tunnel that was found at the Waller House. This same tunnel is referenced in another source, and says that in the ravine behind the Printing Office “an extensive, enclosed brick culvert was also built to drain rainwater under the street.” Later archaeological excavations on the south side of the street indicated that the original grade of that ravine was 7½ feet below where the sidewalk is today (Mary Stith’s Shop), and the original grade in the ravine on the north side of the street was about 12 feet under where the sidewalk is now between the Printing Office and Hunter’s Store.89 While working on a still existing gully near Duke of Gloucester Street, Colonial Williamsburg archaeologist Andrew Edwards, said: “What we're finding is that they filled most of them pretty early on, putting in brick drains to carry away the water. And they were still trying to fill in the sides of this one in the mid-1700s with burned bricks from the fire that destroyed the first

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Richards, Lily. Waterproofing Excavations Around the Benjamin Waller House (Block 1, Building 16), Williamsburg, Virginia (Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library Research Report Series #1682). Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 2002, pg. 21. 88 Chappell, Edward A. “Complex Reconstruction: The James Anderson Armoury.” Colonial Williamsburg: The Journal of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Summer 2012 <http://174.143.19.147/foundation/journal/ Summer12_newformat/armoury.cfm#> 89 Colonial Williamsburg. “The Lay of the Land.” Colonial Williamsburg website <http://www.history.org/

history/cwland/resrch4.cfm>

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Capitol.” It is now known that there are about a half-dozen vaulted brick drains that were built under the street throughout the town to redirect storm water due to the layout of the town.90 There were many drains that had been uncovered in the archaeological work at Colonial Williamsburg that were utilized to drain the streets, basements and low-lying areas. Most common were the V-shaped brick French drains and bricked box drains from houses and outbuildings which fed into “larger underground brick arch drains,” as was the case at the Governor’s Palace, the Anderson property and the Public Hospital, as well as others. These large brick drains, up to 3-feet wide, were “the backbone of Williamsburg’s complex drainage system.”91

This system wasn’t like what we have today where there is a pipe coming out of every house that feeds into a larger pipe in the street, which feeds into another larger pipe that carries the water to a particular destination. In Colonial times, when it was necessary to use a drain tunnel, the water was basically routed to a low-lying area of the property. In fact, the same concept is still used there today, as you can see from this modern pipe that drains into a ravine behind the Sunken Garden at the College of William & Mary.

Now that we have a little more understanding, there is no reason why we can’t accept the description of a “drain tunnel” in the Wren Report for what it says it is. Where the confusion comes in, is with books and stories about the Bruton Vault, and when living historians at Colonial Williamsburg speak in hushed tones about a tunnel that led from the Courthouse to the Jail, and another that led from the Capitol to a nearby house of prostitution. You have to ask yourself if a tunnel like that is even possible; and if there are any examples that we can look at. There is quite a distance between the College and the Bruton Parish Church, so it would have been quite the undertaking to build such a tunnel, though constructing it as a drain tunnel would have certainly been the perfect cover for such an operation. Unfortunately there are very few photographic examples available of colonial-era tunnels to see what the difference would be between a “drain” tunnel and a tunnel intended for the movement of people. There is an incomplete 3½ feet high, 125-foot long Revolutionary War-era military mine tunnel that was found in Ninety Six, SC. It was dug in 1781 to plant explosives under the British-controlled Star Fort, so it is not a good example, because although much of it was constructed with brick and mortar, it was intended to be temporary, as it was going to be blown-up.

90 St. John Erickson, Mark. “Colonial Williamsburg archaeologists unearth lost landscape of America’s ‘most

historic avenue.” Daily Press (Hampton Roads, VA), April 20, 2014 <http://articles.dailypress.com/2014-04-20/features/dp-nws-colonial-williamsburg-dig-20140421_1_colonial-williamsburg-new-capitol-archaeologists> 91 Richards, Lily. Waterproofing Excavations Around the Benjamin Waller House (Block 1, Building 16),

Williamsburg, Virginia (Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library Research Report Series #1682). Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 2002, pg. 20.

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Military tunnel found under the Star Fort in Ninety Six, SC

Under the downtown historic district of Wilmington, North Carolina, there is a network of five brick tunnels that make their way to the Cape Fear River. Their age, and why they were built remains a mystery, though parts of it could pre-date the American Revolution. Many people believe that they were built for escape because of events that occurred during the French and Indian War (1754–1763), when many Indian tribes joined the French in their fight against the British. Wording in a 1749 deed suggests that work began at that time, but the general consensus is that a few of the eight small streams that flowed through the area at that time began to be bricked up in 1772 to control their flow. Charles B. Foard, a retired civil engineer and local historian, said in a 1972 interview that they were “just private sewers.” Robert F. Coleman Jr., the Public Works Director for the city, said that the tunnels were “beautifully done. The masonry was superb and of a quality you do not see anymore.”92 They are 2' wide and over 6' high, with a floor made of cypress, walls of brick and an arched brick roof. The main tunnel is known as Jacob’s Run and was named after Joseph Jacob, who was a prominent tanner around 1775. It starts at N. Sixth Street, south of the old New Hanover County Courthouse building, under the old Roudabush building located at 33 South Front Street, and then runs into the river south of the J.W. Brooks building at 18 S. Water Street. A section of Jacob’s Run was under the Cooperative Savings and Loan building (now known as First Bank) at 201 Market Street, but was filled in and diverted under Market Street in 1958 during the construction of the current building. A couple side tunnels go into Jacob’s Run, the most well-known being the one under the Burgwin-Wright House at 224 Market Street, which served as Lord Cornwallis’ headquarters when his troops occupied the city in 1781. One of only three colonial-era homes left, it was built in the 1770s on the foundation of the former city jail and still retains the original dungeon. The access to the tunnel is believed to either be in the garden area or through a trap door on the west side of the basement. There is a tunnel under the Rox nightclub at 208 Market Street (the former Manor Theater building), and also under St. James Episcopal Church at 25 S. Third Street. Another prominent tunnel, the Tanyard Branch, runs into the river near Chandler’s Wharf, between Orange and Ann Streets.93

92 Taylor, Susan. “The Wrights of Wilmington: The Burgwin-Wright House.” Susan747’s Blog <http://susan747. wordpress.com/2010/03/17/the-wrights-of-wilmington-the-burgwin-wright-house/> 93 Steelman, Ben. “Is it true that smugglers’ tunnels run all under downtown Wilmington?” My Reporter (StarNews)

site <http://www.myreporter.com/2011/04/is-it-true-that-smugglers-tunnels-run-all-under-downtown-wilmington/>

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Jacob’s Run Tunnel Vaulted brick tunnel under Terrace Hill

In 1884, when F. M. Hubbell purchased, and began to make repairs on the 15-year old Des Moines, Iowa mansion known as Terrace Hill, he decided to excavate a partially underground room, south of the Carriage House, on a remote area of the grounds to house the boiler. He then built a vaulted brick steam tunnel (3' wide and 4' tall, with a dirt floor) from this area to the mansion to install the steam pipes. Therefore the mess of the coal and cinders, and the problem of smoke, could be kept away from the house.

In 1924, when his son, Grover Hubbell was making renovations to modernize the mansion, he installed a new boiler in the original boiler room of the basement, so the tunnel was no longer needed. In the 1970s, when the mansion was being renovated for its new role as the Iowa Governor’s residence, the tunnel was again utilized as a means to carry the air conditioning lines from the compressors and other outdoor equipment which could be kept away from the mansion.94 These examples are all of a later construction, because anywhere there is a period tunnel, it is either kept hidden, or it has collapsed because of the ravages of time. Now, from what we are told in Marie Bauer Hall’s book, the Maupin sisters said they played in a tunnel that ran under the ground, along Duke of Gloucester Street, from the College past the Bruton Parish Church. Even though it wasn’t specifically said in the book, tradition has placed an opening to it at the Custis-Maupin House. As we have seen, there is no access to a tunnel there. The Architectural Report of the Wren Building clearly identifies the basement feature there as a drain tunnel. Knowing the mindset of the people that believe in the existence of the Bruton Vault, their reaction would be that the Report is just covering up the truth that there is an opening to the tunnel there. I knew that the only way to prove that it really was a drain tunnel was to see it in person. So, after I made some inquiries, I contacted Louise Lambert Kale (Executive Director of the Historic Campus), and explained that I was doing research for a book on the Bruton Vault.

94 Iowa's Historic Governor's Mansion website <http://www.terracehilliowa.org/>

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She not only graciously gave me a tour of the entire basement of the Wren Building, but also corrected some of the research that I had done. One thing I wondered, was why the basement was not part of any tour. The reason is because there are low ceilings, it’s cramped, at times there can be things stored there, and it is a very unremarkable place, compared to the magnificence of the rest of the building. Nevertheless, that is where the truth is. And the truth is– there IS only a drain tunnel underneath the front of the Wren Building. But more important, it doesn’t even go east toward Duke of Gloucester Street, it actually goes west toward the rear of the building, and can be seen from the sidewalk before it terminates at the Sunken Garden. When the landscaping was done to create the Garden, that portion of the tunnel was removed.

The mouth of the drain tunnel The tunnel as it goes toward the rear of the building

The tunnel runs under left side of the sidewalk Near the Garden is a grate where the tunnel is open

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The brickwork of the tunnel can be seen under grate The tunnel terminates behind these steps

As hard as it may be to accept, the story about a tunnel from the College to the Church is untrue. But who lied? Was it the Maupin sisters, or was it Marie Bauer Hall? If there was an access to the tunnel from the Custis-Maupin house, without a doubt Hall would have wanted to see it; and if there were access points from other locations, why wasn’t she just as aggressive in trying to gain access to the Vault through these tunnels, as she was in trying to find the original foundations of the Church to access the Vault directly? I believe that Hall was told about the drain tunnels and she later fabricated the story about tunnels going to the Vault to bolster her claim for its existence. The only source of information on the Vault is her 2 books. She never cited any documentation for what she was basing her research on, only that her husband claims he was told about it by Masons in Europe. After her initial efforts failed, her only hope for generating any publicity to force a professional excavation was to exaggerate the facts to draw more attention to it. Thus the legend of the Bruton Vault was born.

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JAMES GEDDY HOUSE

The James Geddy House (Block 19, Building 11, Lot 161) sits on the north side of Duke of Gloucester Street across Palace Green, and is the only original building at this site (about 85% of the structural framework is original). It is located diagonally from the Custis-Maupin House, which is on the south side of Duke of Gloucester Street– both right across from the Bruton Parish Church. It was identified as one of the access points to the Bruton tunnel by the Maupin sisters. The first owner, Samuel Cobbs received a deed for this property (lots 161 and 162) on February 6, 1716, and there may have been a frame house on this location as early as 1718. On July 18, 1719, it was sold to Samuel Boush, Jr. Sometime around 1737, it was purchased by James Geddy, as advertisements in the Virginia Gazette indicated Geddy lived in Williamsburg, did brassworks and had a gunsmith shop which was either part of the house or in an outbuilding. It is also believed that he knew enough about woodwork, and had the equipment to produce gun stocks. He died in July or August, 1744, leaving everything to his wife Anne. An August 8, 1751 ad in the Virginia Gazette indicated that his sons William and David Geddy continued to work the Gunsmith shop, had a Brass Foundry, and also did Cutler work (razors, lancets, shears, and swords). The Foundry built behind the house actually straddled both lots (161 and 162) and when lot 162, the east lot, was sold in 1750, the brothers had to vacate that side of the building and work out of the west side. Some accounts have indicated that the entrance to the access tunnel was located there. On August 18, 1760, Anne Geddy conveyed the property to her son James Geddy, Jr., who was a silversmith, goldsmith, and watchmaker, and had his shop there till about 1777. His brothers

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continued to run their separate business in another part of the property. Brother-in-law William Waddill, an engraver and silversmith, had a shop on the property till about 1782. Though it was believed that the brickwork of the foundation and cellar was laid around 1750, after the original structure was drastically altered with a major renovation or actually rebuilt, dendrochronological testing has revealed that this L-shaped two-story house was constructed in 1762. In September, 1760, James Geddy, Jr. relinquished the eastern part of the house to merchants Hugh Walker and John Goode, who had a 15-year lease. They sold items imported from England till about 1771 when Walker moved to Gloucester County. This store was then rented out to Mary Dickinson, a milliner (material and fabrics dealer) who also sold jewelry. She moved out by April 30, 1772. On May 2, 1777, the Geddy House was advertised for sale as “well improved and the whole built within these few years,” which correlates with archaeological evidence that indicated that he significantly enlarged and improved many aspects. Meanwhile, he continued to rent out part of the property, as a Mrs. Neill advertised guitar and reading lessons, and needlework, then later a commission store. After Geddy moved to Dinwiddie, his affairs were taken care of by William Page until the property was sold in December, 1778, to merchant Robert Jackson. In 1781, his daughter Nancy Jackson inherited it. In 1782, the property was sold to Robert Martin. In 1802, Wells (also known as Wills) Dunsford purchased it, then died about 1808, and his estate maintained possession of it until 1820 when it was sold to William Pearman, a watchmaker and silversmith who had been renting a shop there. In 1831, the property was purchased by Benjamin Bucktrout, and when he died, it passed to his wife Louisana T. Bucktrout, who later married James E. Joyner, whose name the house appeared in, in 1854. Then it passed to Mrs. S. T. Joyner, and when she died, to her husband Daniel Dugger, who sold it in 1879 to Mary E. Neal, who, because of a chancery suit (a common law issue in regards to equity) never acquired ownership until 1885. The property, as a result of her mother’s will and another chancery suit, passed to daughter Lucy Talbot Simpson and husband Lucias E. Simpson. In November, 1905 it was sold to Bathurst D. Peachy, which was then conveyed to his widow Mary D. Peachy on July 16, 1916. In December, 1927, she sold it to W.A.R. Goodwin who represented the Williamsburg Restoration. It was “one of the first buildings restored in Williamsburg.”95 In case you hadn’t noticed– it was “one of the first buildings restored in Williamsburg,” and the Custis House was also one of the first projects of the Restoration, and the Wren Building was the first major building to be restored. As the theory goes, if there were access tunnels at these locations, it would stand to reason that they would be the first to be restored, so they could be

95 Schlesinger, Catherine Savedge. James Geddy House Architectural Report (Block 19, Building 11, Lot 161)

(Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library Research Report Series #1450). Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1990, pg. 13.

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explored, and any trace of them could be erased. Plus, is it a coincidence that there was a frame house on the Geddy property as early as 1718, as well as on the Custis property, where there possibly could have been a house built about the same time. Both of them right next to the Church, and both of them later identified as access points to the Bruton tunnel. Archaeological work began on the Geddy House in 1930, followed by a restoration of the main house. Then in 1953 more archaeological work was done on the eastern part of the house which resulted in the reconstruction of the east wing which adjoined the main house and shop in 1954. The kitchen was reconstructed in 1965. A shallow cellar that was crudely constructed without underpinning the foundation (the north and east walls were resting directly on a sloping bank of clay) was found under the north wing of the main house. It was believed to have been dug out around 1750, but then filled in during the early 1800s. In 1930, a concrete floor was poured.96

Looking from the south end of the shallow cellar, the east/west wall in the foreground was originally the north wall of an earlier cellar, and the lower two brick courses on the wall at the right were inserted while the basement was in use

Although the Geddy House’s Archaeological Report references a couple smaller brick drains, there was no indication of a larger arched brick drain out to the street that would have provided an access to the main tunnel, similar to what has been found in some of the other houses. And if they provided the information for other houses, there would be no need to purposely withhold the information for the Geddy House. But, unfortunately, I’ve seen instances where a Report on a particular house would have information on a tunnel in another house, and the Report on that house would not mention anything about a tunnel. So it’s quite possible, because of the uneven

96 Frank Jr., R. Neil. James Geddy House Archaeological Report (Block 19, Building 11, Lot 161) (Colonial

Williamsburg Foundation Library Research Report Series #1446). Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1990, pg. 29.

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method of reporting and documentation, due mostly to so many different archaeologists carrying out work, that the existence of a drain tunnel at the Geddy House may not have been considered important enough to describe. The only other possibility is, because the eyewitness referred to a “Geddy” tunnel, as touched on before, maybe they were talking about the office of the Rockefeller’s lawyer which, at that time, was at the George Wythe House. There have also been reports of an access to the tunnel there.

The Geddy House from the side

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GEORGE WYTHE HOUSE The stately brick mansion (Block 21, Building 4) on the west side of Palace Green, between Duke of Gloucester Street and Prince George Street had been owned by George Wythe (1726-1806), one of the most prominent men of his time, and considered Colonial America’s most influential lawyer, legal scholar, and teacher.

Wythe was born in Elizabeth City County and was privately educated. He attended the College of William & Mary for a short period, then studied for a brief time, and was admitted to the Bar in 1746 at the age of 20. He entered into partnership with John Lewis, and practiced law in Spotsylvania. In 1746 he was appointed Clerk to the Committee which developed the rules of conduct and elections in Virginia’s House of Burgesses. In 1747 he married his partner’s sister Ann Lewis, who died within a year. He moved to Williamsburg, and in 1754 was elected to the House of Burgesses, and would serve from 1754-56,

and from 1758-69. He also served as their Clerk from 1760-75. In 1754 he was appointed acting Attorney General while Peyton Randolph was in England.97 In 1755 he married Elizabeth Taliaferro, the daughter of Col. Richard Taliaferro (surveyor, builder and planter), who is believed to have designed and built the Wythe House between 1752 and 1754.98 He had been labeled as Virginia’s “most skilled architect.” Taliaferro also built an addition onto the Governor’s Palace around the same time. His 1775 will (he died in 1779) gave

97 Colonial Williamsburg. Official Guidebook & Map. Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg, 1968, pg. 90.

98 Yetter, George Humphrey. Williamsburg Before and After: The Rebirth of Virginia’s Colonial Capital.

Williamsburg, VA: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1988, pg. 148.

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Wythe the right to the property for life. He lived in the house more than 30 years (1755-91). He was a close friend of Governors Fauquier and Botetourt, yet sided with the patriots when their dissension began. In 1764, he was the one who drafted a letter criticizing the Stamp Act proposed by the English Parliament. In 1768 he served as Williamsburg’s Mayor. In 1769 he became a member of the Vestry of Bruton Parish Church. In 1775 (1775-76) he was elected to the Continental Congress, and his signature was the first among the Virginia signers of the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson and his wife stayed in the house October 7 to December 21, 1776, while Wythe was in Philadelphia as Virginia’s delegate to the Continental Congress. When war struck in the fall of 1781, Wythe’s home served as Washington’s headquarters during the military campaign at Yorktown; and also for French General Rochambeau when Cornwallis surrendered. He became the Speaker of Virginia’s House of Delegates in 1777; and in 1778 (1778-88), one of the three judges to Virginia’s High Court of Chancery, serving with Thomas Jefferson and Edmund Pendleton to mold the laws of Virginia, as well as being an influence on the future President. In 1779 (1779-90), Wythe became the first professor of law in an American college, when he was appointed to the chair of Law at the College of William & Mary. He taught such men as Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe, who later became Presidents; and John Marshall, who later became the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1787, he was a member of the Convention that put together the U.S. Constitution. He resigned as professor and in 1789 he was appointed to serve as the sole Chancellor of the High Court of Chancery for the state of Virginia, which made it necessary for him to move to Richmond, where he established a private law school. When he moved, ownership of the property reverted to the Taliaferro family who advertised to sell it at public auction. Before he resigned as Chancellor in 1792, one of his last students was Henry Clay, the future Senator of Kentucky. An early abolitionist, he freed his own slaves, and even provided for them in his will until they were able to be self-sufficient. He died on June 8, 1806 after being poisoned, some say, by his grandnephew George Wythe Sweeney.99 He is buried in the Richmond churchyard of St. John’s Episcopal Church. In 1792, the house was purchased by James Madison. He resold the house in 1793 to Rev. John Dunbar. When he died, ownership was passed to his widow Elizabeth Hill Byrd Dunbar, who later married Col. Henry Skipwith and the property bore his name. In 1819, the house was willed by Mrs. Skipwith to her daughter Elizabeth Parke Farley Izard (her daughter via first marriage to James Farley). In 1837, Henry Toland purchased the house from James Izard (heir of Elizabeth). In 1841 Toland sold it to Professor John Millington of William & Mary College. He lived in Williamsburg till 1861, then moved to Norfolk, but rented the house out till 1866 when Mary King Sherwell bought it. In 1926, it was purchased by the Marshall Foundation (a corporation of Bruton Church that was created to allow the church to hold real estate in excess of that allowed by state law for trustees of a church) to be given to the Bruton Parish Church as a parsonage. The Colonial Dames of

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Colonial Williamsburg. Official Guidebook & Map. Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg, 1968, pg. 91.

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America agreed to pay the $15,000 purchase price. It was in poor condition, so some restoration work was done. It was completed by 1931. Rev. W.A.R. Goodwin moved his office on the second floor, and for six years it was used as a parish house. It also served as the headquarters for the Restoration. In 1938, when the home was acquired by Colonial Williamsburg, restoration work was done from 1939-40. Up to that time the Colonial Dames of America had paid $9,345.78 of the purchase price, but refused to make good on the rest because the house had been transferred to the Restoration. The remaining $5,654.22 was contributed to the Church by Mrs. John Rutherford. It opened for tours in March, 1940, and serves as one of the main Exhibition Buildings.100 Tradition holds that there was an access to the Bruton tunnel through the West Well in the rear of the house, which came to be known as the Kitchen Well or Wishing Well.

Looking from rear, with the well to the left The west well or Kitchen Well

The top of the Kitchen Well Looking into the Kitchen Well

Between August 3 and August 5, 1959, this well was excavated. After about two feet of water was removed, at a depth of 22 feet they found a two-foot deposit of silt, which consisted of organic matter such as leaves and twigs, as well as flash bulbs, pennies, a modern candle, and an unfinished T-shaped hinge. Below the 24-foot level, they discovered stone fragments, pieces of well brick, and other types of masonry down to the bottom. Many pennies were found in this stratum, dating mostly to the 1940s and 1950s, but none earlier than 1919. They also found two

100 Colonial Williamsburg. Official Guidebook & Map. Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg, 1968, pg. 92.

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nickels and a dime. At the bottom they found a bunch of beer, soda, and other types of bottles, two of which could be dated because they were marked with their patent dates. What this all means is that this fill could not have been inserted before 1920, which means it had to be cleaned shortly before that time.

This 3-foot in diameter mortarless brick shaft culminated in a rotting wood ring at a depth of 30' 8" that was held together with cut nails that could not have been manufactured prior to 1800, which indicates that the well could not be of colonial structure, and therefore could not be an access point to a tunnel leading to the Vault. It is believed that this well began to be used when use of the south well (at the front of the house) was discontinued and filled with Professor

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Millington’s trash.101 We now have three scenarios. First, the Archaeological Report is being purposely deceptive to hide what they actually found; second, the well was relined and reconstructed in the same shaft that was used in colonial times, for the purpose of preventing anyone from entering the access tunnel to the Vault; and three, there was no tunnel, because there was no Vault. Since it wasn’t of colonial construction, there wasn’t anything to hide; and if it had been relined and rebuilt, maybe that meant there wasn’t any need to get to the Vault, possibly indicating that there was either another way to get in; or its contents had been removed and relocated– which some researchers believe to be the case.

The George Wythe House

101 Noel-Hume, Ivor. George Wythe House Archaeological Report (Block 21, Building 4, West Well) (Colonial

Williamsburg Foundation Library Research Report Series #1488). Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1990, pg. 4.

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THE POWDER MAGAZINE

In Williamsburg’s Market Square, on a plot of land bordered to the north by Duke of Gloucester Street, to the south by Francis Street, to the east by the Market Square Tavern, and to the west by the Greenhow-Repiton property, is the octagonal-shaped Public Magazine. It is also known as the Powder Horn or Powder Magazine (Block 12, Building 9). This was also believed to be another access point to the Bruton tunnel.

On April 30, 1713, Governor Alexander Spotswood brought up the idea of a brick magazine to securely store arms, gunpowder, and ammunition which had been sent from London by Queen Anne to protect the colony. An Act authorizing its construction was passed on December 24, 1714. Funds were raised by taxes on liquor and the slave trade. It was designed by Spotswood,102 and constructed by John Tyler.

There were two rooms on the ground floor– an armory and gunsmith shop, and a powder room. Its exterior brick walls were 20"-23" thick. The second floor storage area and third floor attic were accessed by a spiral staircase. For more security, a wooden fence was built in 1722, and then a brick wall in 1755. An Act for building the brick guardhouse was issued in August, 1755.

The wall had been pulled down by builders, and ended up as building material for the foundations of a Greek Revival Baptist Church that was built in 1850, northeast of the Magazine.103 Williamsburg Holding Corp. bought the church in 1933, razing it, as well as the parsonage, in July, 1934. 102 Colonial Williamsburg. Official Guidebook & Map. Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg, 1968, pg. 34.

103 Yetter, George Humphrey. Williamsburg Before and After: The Rebirth of Virginia’s Colonial Capital.

Williamsburg, VA: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1988, pg. 115.

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Although it was used to store powder for the Confederates during the Civil War, through the years it has also been used for a market, a Baptist church, a dancing school, and a livery stable.

An 1888 picture of the collapsed wall The Powder Magazine in the 1890s

On February 6, 1888, one of the walls of the Magazine began to collapse, and it prompted Cynthia Beverley Tucker Coleman to help form the APVA (Association of the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities). In their first acquisition, they bought the building in 1889 for $400, stabilized it in 1890104 and transformed it into a museum. It was restored by Colonial Williamsburg from May 31, 1934 to October 12, 1935, in collaboration with the APVA, based on archaeological finds, period watercolor sketches, and a wood engraving by Benson J. Lossing.105 When the reconstruction of the wall was being planned in 1934, research was done to find out whether the brick in the church’s basement was from the original wall, and if there was enough to reconstruct the wall. It was determined that the brick was not usable, so new brick had to be produced. The Guardhouse was also totally reconstructed. The Powder Magazine was originally leased to Colonial Williamsburg in 1946, when further restoration work was done, and it reopened for exhibition on July 4, 1949. The APVA conveyed ownership to Williamsburg in 1986.106 Fletcher Richman believed that Nathanial Bacon, Jr. had a trap door built into the floor of the Powder Magazine which hid the access to that part of the tunnel. However, being constructed shortly after 1714, which fit closely to the time frame of the Custis-Maupin House, and the Geddy House, this would not be possible, because Nathaniel Bacon, Jr. died in 1676. And before you say anything, Nathaniel Bacon, the Elder, died in 1692. So, if a trap door had been installed to hide access from that point, it had to be done by someone else.

104 Colonial Williamsburg. Official Guidebook & Map. Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg, 1968, pg. 36.

105 Colonial Williamsburg. Official Guidebook & Map. Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg, 1968, pg. 35. 106 Yetter, George Humphrey. Williamsburg Before and After: The Rebirth of Virginia’s Colonial Capital.

Williamsburg, VA: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1988, pg. 115.

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The Powder Magazine foundations

In 1934, during the restoration work, workers broke up the concrete floor on the interior of the Magazine that the APVA had laid, in order to excavate the foundations. According to the Architectural Report, they went down about a foot, and uncovered the original brick floor. There was nothing recorded about any drain tunnel that would have been part of the original construction. They poured a new concrete slab floor and laid a new brick floor on top.107

The Powder Magazine

107 Campbell, George S.; A. Lawrence Kocher, Howard Dearstyne. Public Magazine Architectural Report (Block 12,

Building 9) (Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library Research Report Series #0145). Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1990, pg. 27.

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WHAT IS INSIDE THE BRUTON VAULT?

In The Secret Destiny of America, Manly Palmer Hall wrote that “there exists in the world today, and has existed for thousands of years, a body of enlightened humans united in what might be termed, an Order of the Quest. It is composed of those whose intellectual and spiritual perceptions have revealed to them that civilization has a Secret Destiny1”108 Hall revealed: “Not only were the founders of the United States government Masons, but they received aid from a secret and august body existing in Europe, which helped them to establish this country for a peculiar and particular purpose known only to the initiated few.” It is this group of men, Freemasons, our forefathers, who were to perpetuate the vision of Francis Bacon. It has been pointed out that Masonry was not always as it appears today. Many early Christian patriots during the foundational period of American history were part of the predominate York Rite, which promoted values, ethics, and brotherhood among its members. It has been reported that the true Freemasonry Lodges were established in the cellars of the Episcopalian and Presbyterian Churches. While it is not the concern of this book to discuss whether this is even accurate, it is a well-known fact that the Illuminati did infiltrate the American Fraternal Lodges after 1776 to take them over from within. Some proponents believed that the Rockefellers were interested in securing the contents of the Vault, because it contained the basis of a Christian-based government that our forefathers truly intended for our country; as opposed to the godless society that the New World Order has been pursuing in the process of establishing one-world government. Hall wrote that “Bacon made sure that the American colonies were thoroughly indoctrinated with the principles of religious tolerance, political democracy, and social equality. Through carefully 108

Hall, Manly Palmer. The Secret Destiny of America. Los Angeles, CA: Philosophical Research Society, 1944, pg. 23.

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appointed representatives, the machinery of democracy was set up at least a hundred years before the period of the Revolutionary War.”109 So, was the interest in securing the contents of the Vault actually to prevent information from being made available that would have revealed the agenda that was being used to direct the affairs of this country? Was there a blueprint that would allow the federal government to incrementally become more oppressive in order to maintain control over the people by slowly eroding States’ rights? Was this really Bacon’s vision for the New World? Among researchers who believe in the existence of the Vault, It has been commonly accepted that that it contains a complete copy of New Atlantis, along with accompanying plans and organizational strategies for the type of democracy that Bacon envisioned. It’s also believed that the original manuscripts of his collection of writings will be found there, along with some that were never published. And, because of the notion by some researchers that Bacon (and his “pens”) was the actual author of Shakespeare’s works, the Vault may contain those original manuscripts. That in itself would be quite the treasure, as there are no surviving copies of scripts from any plays of the Elizabethan era.

The signing of the Declaration of Independence

Marie Bauer was told that the Vault contained Queen Elizabeth’s wedding ring (while others say the Vault contained the missing crown jewels of Queen Elizabeth I), as well as “other significant objects missing from the British Court.”110 It is also believed that the Vault contained a quantity of gold and silver items such as chalices, birth records of British royalty that provide documented proof of Bacon’s royal lineage, an original edition of the Bacon-edited King James Bible (and perhaps the notes and documentation of the Committee’s work), the Book of St. Peter (also edited by Bacon), drafts of what would become the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, drawings for inventions that were ahead of its time, and a device that will

109

Hall, Manly Palmer. The Secret Destiny of America. Los Angeles, CA: Philosophical Research Society, 1944, pg. 130. 110 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat

Foundation, 1984, pg. 113.

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enable their codes to be deciphered. Wayne Josephson, author of the fact-based fictional thriller The Secret Treaty, expressed his belief that the Vault contained an original copy of the Virginia Company Charter and an original copy of the Declaration of Independence dated July 2, 1776 and signed by Jefferson and Charles Thomson (Patriot leader during the American Revolution and the secretary of the Continental Congress).111 According to Richman, the material inside the Vault was said to be contained in 33 custom-made hermetically-sealed copper containers to preserve its contents. Still others say that the Vault contained books from the library of Benjamin Franklin and also the “key to the location of similar vaults in the various nations of Europe,”112 which contain documents written in their native language. Fletcher Richman said that the Vault also contained instructions, maps, and documents that lead to 144 “sacred” burial sites and vaults of certain forefathers, patriots and early leaders in our country, that in turn hold original writings, diaries, journals and documentation that will convey the ideology of our forefathers, and prove how history has been sanitized and rewritten to conceal the true nature of the direction this country is taking. Because of Bacon’s status as a high-ranking member of the Rosicrucians and the Freemasons, some researchers believe the Vault contains secret codes, diagrams, and documents, including ancient writings that had been in the possession of certain secret societies. One such artifact is the Book of Thoth, which had been retrieved from a golden box out of an inner sanctuary in an ancient Egyptian temple. It is connected to Hermes Trismegistus, the godfather of alchemy, and the Emerald Tablet (or Tablet of Destiny). It reveals a formula that contains the seven transformations of alchemy that leads to an accelerated spiritual evolution. Known as the ‘Sacred Torch,’ the most important document ever given to Man, it is believed that anyone who is able to decipher it will have their consciousness enhanced to the point that they will be able to see the invisible Immortals and enter the presence of the Superior Gods. Hall wrote in his book, The Secret Teachings of All Ages that the Book “was lost to the Ancient World with the decay of the Mysteries, but its faithful initiates carried it sealed to another land. The book is still in existence...” It is believed that Benjamin Franklin and others had visited the Vault. According to Colin Dyer in his book Symbolism in Craft Masonry, in 1804, Thomas Jefferson (3rd President) was the last person to examine the contents of the Vault, which he entered through the well behind the George Wythe House.113 In his book 1994 book, America’s Assignment With Destiny, Manley P. Hall stated: “Thomas Jefferson examined the ‘repositories’ of the Bacon group in Colonial America, checked their contents and caused them to be resealed for future ages.”114

111 Josephson, Wayne. The Secret Treaty. Charlottesville, VA: Chadwick Publishing, 2011, 298 pages (Kindle edition). 112 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat

Foundation, 1984, pg. 156. 113 Dyer, Colin F. W. Symbolism in Craft Freemasonry. London: Lewis Masonic, 1976. 114 Boren, Kerry Ross; Lisa Lee Boren. Following the Ark of the Covenant. Springville, UT: Cedar Fort Publishing/ Bonneville Books, 2000, pg. 165.

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Some researchers doubt that the contents of the Vault were left there. Some believe that the contents were removed and placed in a secret location either at the University of Virginia (founded by Thomas Jefferson), when it was under construction, prior to its opening in 1826; or the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. Henrietta Bernstein, author of Ark of the Covenant, Holy Grail, believes that the contents of the Vault were removed and taken to the Washington Cathedral or placed within a chamber under the Washington Monument.115

Benjamin Franklin Thomas Jefferson

However, after finding out about the Vault in 1925 from Masonic sources in Europe, Manley Palmer Hall became a leading proponent for the Bruton Vault being the location of this sacred repository. His students even believe that his quest to research, and get information about the Vault may have cost him his life, because it was alleged that he was strangled to death in August of 1990, by two members of the Skull and Bones Society– Morgan Brandt and Daniel Fritz. Luckily, some of his research notes, documents, maps, books, photos, and artifacts relating to 50 years of work on the Vault had already been either sent to a secret location in Russia, or given to trusted associates to carry out his work.

115 Bernstein, Henrietta. Ark of the Covenant, Holy Grail: Message For the New Millennium. Camarillo, CA: DeVorss & Company, 1999, 253 pgs.

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THE QUEST FOR BRUTON VAULT

The widow of Manly Palmer Hall, Marie Bauer Hall (who he married in 1940), had already been aggressively in pursuit of the uncovering of the Vault. In the 1930s, she found a book in Manly’s extensive metaphysical library (at the Philosophical Research Society) which she later referred to as “my friend.”

The Wither Book she referred to is actually known as A Collection of Emblemes, Ancient and Moderne and was published in 1635 by English poet and satirist George Wither (1558-1667). He used the plates of the two hundred engravings of Gabriel Rollenhagen, which were gathered from his two works, Nucleus emblematum selectissimorum (Arnheim, 1611) and Emblematum centuria secunda (Arnheim, 1613). They feature circular pictures that show a symbol or group of symbols in the foreground, while other details and scenes, known as fatti appear in miniature, and emerge from the background. Surrounding the engravings are inscriptions, normally in Latin, but sometimes written in Greek, French or Italian, along with brief pieces of text. Wither then extensively added his poems to these illustrations. The Collection is actually a volume of four books in one– each with 50 emblems and 50 poems. Marie Bauer believed this book contained encoded passages which referred to Williamsburg, Virginia and the Bruton Vault.

For instance, on poem #228, she discovered an emblem which she believed referred to the Bruton Vault, because of what she perceived as church ruins; Christ, Peter and Paul; a church with a tower that is a “replica of the first and original Christian Church in Bruton Churchyard,” and a cube which represented the Vault itself.116 On May 16, 1938, she left Los Angeles for Williamsburg under the assumption of the following theory: “Sealed in copper cylinders, the documentary wealth was secured in a great vault, ten feet square, buried twenty feet deep in Virginia earth, as centered beneath the tower center of the first Brick-Church.”

116 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat

Foundation, 1984, pg. 228.

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102

Emblem on Poem #228

A 1907 book by Leone Gardiner Tyler, President of William & Mary College plainly indicated that the original brick church at Williamsburg was in a different location than the current church, and a book by the Rector at that time, Dr. Goodwin, said that the current church was built on “the side of an older Church.”117 It also revealed: “1the old Vestry book of the Parish was either lost or destroyed during the wars, or was burned with the house of Rev. John McCabe in Hampton.”118 In fact, when the missing Register turned up, 77 years of births were torn from the pages in the front (it contains the records of Baptisms from 1739 to May 21, 1797), and 36 years of deaths were missing from the pages in the back (it contains the records of deaths from April 13, 1662 to December 18th, 1761).119 The remaining pages were rebound and kept in an iron safe.120 Ms. Bauer found out that the Masonic Lodge of Williamsburg possessed a historic chair, 117

Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat Foundation, 1984, pg. 295. 118 Goodwin, Rev. William Archer Rutherford. Historical Sketch of Bruton Church. Petersburg, VA: The Franklin

Press Company, 1903, pg. 72. 119 Goodwin, Rev. William Archer Rutherford. Historical Sketch of Bruton Church. Petersburg, VA: The Franklin

Press Company, 1903, pg. 71. 120 Goodwin, Rev. William Archer Rutherford. Bruton Church, Williamsburg, Virginia, Brief Historical Notes. Williamsburg, VA, 1903, pg. 13.

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donated by someone in England that is used during certain rituals. There is a dedication to the Williamsburg Lodge at a period in time when there is no documentation that there was a Lodge there. In addition, documentation at the Fredericksburg Lodge indicates entries of visitors from the Lodge in Williamsburg– when there was no mention of a Lodge being in place at that time. So, it appears that Masonic records over the same time period were also missing. The theory was, it would have been the Masons that would have provided the men who constructed the tunnel, the Vault, and engraved the coded directional information.121 The illustrations in the Wither Book (see poem #153, which even looks similar to Duke of Gloucester Street) all showed churches with the tower over the nave, which differed from the cruciform design of the current Bruton church, except for the one on poem #20. Marie Bauer now felt that the Rockefeller Restoration was deliberately hiding the location of the previous church.

Emblem on Poem #153

The Wither Book had provided many details that aided her research, but now, even though the book had been written nearly 75 years before most of the original buildings in Williamsburg, it portrayed buildings, streets, and detailed depictions of the colonial town. Vernon Geddy, the Restoration lawyer, even commented that the illustration on poem #159 looked like the original

121 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat

Foundation, 1984, pg. 511.

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Capitol building.122

Emblem on Poem #159

All of this convinced Bauer that this was “telling proof of the fact that American History (including all the circumstances pertaining to Bruton) was predetermined and events carried out almost minutely in accordance with a great plan.”123 At a meeting with some professors from the College of William & Mary who found it hard to believe that a book printed in 1635 could have information about another place in a future time, she said “that the long range anticipations of the original initiate Group could and did in fact pre-conceive, outline and document a basic plan, designated to be transformed into reality at specified times and places.”124 The city officials of Williamsburg, and Vestry officials at the church agreed to allow an excavation, and the Rockefeller Restoration agreed to finance it. She was told that if a Vault was found, the contents were to be taken either to a vault at the bank, or if necessary, a vault at the College of William & Mary. Digging began on June 10th, under a 5' X 7' section of the 20-foot square area of the bell tower floor. Twice they struck layers of previous brick floors, the second

122 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat

Foundation, 1984, pg. 330. 123 Bauer, Maria. Foundations Unearthed. Glendale, CA: Veritas Press, 1948, pg. 47.

124 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat

Foundation, 1984, pg. 375.

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being at a fair depth, which they believed to be the Vault. However, underneath was nothing but dirt. But then at the nine-foot level, workers discovered a “tomb-like structure.”125

The floor of the bell tower where the excavation took place

Bauer wrote: “Curiously enough the ground had been disturbed all the way, and at nine feet depth a peculiar arched structure was discovered1”126 She also wrote: “1an arched structure was discovered. It was built of the largest brick yet unearthed in all of Williamsburg and its twelve years of excavations.” The officials declined to investigate any further, and someone mentioned about an earlier excavation there in regard to the repairs on a furnace or water pipe.127 That night the hole was filled in, and the stone floor slabs put in place, with the excuse that there was a wedding the next day, and it represented a hazard. Yet, the tower was separate from the rest of the church and could be secured. Digging was not to continue. With representatives of all three groups there to witness the excavation, she realized that they had lost faith in her claims, so she decided not to push her luck. Besides, she felt that what they unearthed did not fit with what she had decoded, so it wasn’t the Vault. This meant they were digging in the wrong area.

1905 Church excavation 1938/39 Church excavation

125 Taylor Jr., L.B. The Ghosts of Virginia (Volume 2). Progress Printing, 1994, pg. 357.

126 Bauer, Maria. Foundations Unearthed. Glendale, CA: Veritas Press, 1948, pg. 38.

127 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat

Foundation, 1984, pg. 313.

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However, in retrospect, one has to wonder why Williamsburg would not have wanted to find out what this structure was. Instead, they quickly buried it. To me, this indicated that they already knew what it was. With the absence of any notes from the 1905/06 restoration available to see what they encountered in their work, I would say they probably recognized the structure as a drain tunnel so it wasn’t necessary to go any further based on its orientation. Explaining that fact might have eliminated a lot of misunderstanding.

Vaulted brick tunnel known as Jacob’s Run Architectural diagram of an Arch

With the description given, especially the type of brick used (which indicates an older style), the structure uncovered was a vaulted or arched brick tunnel that has been subsequently found in a number of other places throughout Colonial Williamsburg for the purpose of promoting the elimination of excessive water. The purpose of an arch is to transfer the vertical pressure of the weight above, into lateral pressure that relieves the weight on it and helps to keep the elements of it in place.128 The builders in ancient Rome recognized this principle and used it, especially in bridges, because load forces do not get pushed straight down, instead the load is transferred along the curve of the arch to the supports on each end. The design allows a structure to support a tremendous amount of weight. This is the type of construction used in these underground drain tunnels. Prior to the digging that day, Marie had noticed a tombstone outside of the entrance to the Tower. The edge of it lined up exactly with the center of the tower. This was the tomb of James Nicolson (site #133), who had been a steward at William & Mary College.129 The inscription stood out because the word “Reader” was written so large that it took up a whole line. In her research she discovered that the word “Reader” was used as a keyword which indicated instructions. She wrote: “There were most obvious misspellings, such as the name ‘Mary’ spelled with two r’s, the word ‘town,’ ‘toun.’ I began to play with anagrammatic combinations, and at the point ‘Reader’ it seemed singularly easy to extract the sentence, ‘Dear Reader, learn from this tomb the exact location of old Bruton’s foundations.’” She was assured by officials that the present church was the original one. But Hall had her doubts.130 128 Vadnal, Jane. “Arch.” Glossary of Medieval Art and Architecture. University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh,

Pennsylvania) <www.pitt.edu/~medart/menuglossary> 129 Bruton Parish Church. Bruton Parish Churchyard: A Guide with Map. Williamsburg, VA: Bruton Parish Church,

1976, pg. 60. 130 Bauer, Maria. Foundations Unearthed. Glendale, CA: Veritas Press, 1948, pg. 39.

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James Nicolson Tomb of James Nicolson

Rubbing of the Nicolson Tomb Anagrams on the Nicolson Tomb

At the College of William & Mary she found a drawing of the Bruton Church which had been done in 1702 by Swiss traveler Francis Louis Michel,131 when the original brick church was still standing. In the public research room of the Restoration’s library, she located a copy of an old map referred to as the “Bland Map.” It had been drawn in 1699, but only three buildings were marked on it: William & Mary College on one end, the Capitol building on the other end, and the Bruton Parish church right in the middle. There was a legend attached to the map. She noticed 131 Yetter, George Humphrey. Williamsburg Before and After: The Rebirth of Virginia’s Colonial Capital.

Williamsburg, VA: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1988, pg. 126.

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that the name of the man who wrote the Legend was Nicolson– the same name as on the tomb. The scale was surrounded with a depiction of two snakes, a graphic that appeared numerous times in the Wither Book. On top of that, Bland had been a close associate of Nathaniel Bacon during the Rebellion. One of the boys from the college, an engineering student, helped her to convert the measurements on the Legend, which were in “poles,” (1 pole = 16½ feet), and Marie discovered that the original brick church stood about 75 feet west of the current church. She suspected that both of the drawings had been made by men who knew about the Vault, and therefore were purposely vague in order to conceal its secret. She continued to concentrate on the Nicolson tomb, and discovered that exactly adjacent to the numbers indicating birth, death and age were anagrams that spelled out these numbers. She began to think that this was not just a coincidence, and that perhaps they were actually distance measurements. She calculated that the center of the current tower is 1773 feet east of the College of William & Mary (1773, the date of Nicolson’s death), that the center of the old tower was 1711 feet east of the college (1711, the date of Nicolson’s birth). This meant that the old foundations were 62 feet west of the current church. Then she began to expand on her calculations. Another number that appeared on the tomb was 22 (January), which was the day that Nicolson died. It is also Francis Bacon’s birthday. The 22 was lined up on top of the 77 of 1773, and formed a figure that added up to 99. Adjacent to that was an anagram which spelled out “ninety-nine,” followed by “northwest.” To her, this indicated that the center of the original tower, where the Vault is located, was 99 (6 poles) feet northwest and 62 feet west. Bauer was able to get a federal government surveyor, by the name of MacManus, who was vacationing in Williamsburg, to do some measurements,132 and he verified that the center of the current tower was exactly 1773 feet east of William and Mary College. This was not enough to make the Rockefeller Restoration budge on the financing of any further excavation work.133 She believed that the tombstones could possible yield more encoded information. She observed that there were five tombs lined up along the south side of the church, by the tower and front part of the Church. Two of them were away from the other three and closer together. She theorized that maybe the two indicated the size of the old tower, and the other three, the rest of the church. And maybe, just maybe, if she took the rectangular shape and located it according to the information from the Nicolson tomb, the original foundations would be there. She noticed that the numbers on the other tombs “coincided approximately with the distances the tombs were spaced from each other.” She was able to determine that the foundations were 66 feet long and 29 feet wide.134

132 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat

Foundation, 1984, pg. 363. 133

Bauer, Maria. Foundations Unearthed. Glendale, CA: Veritas Press, 1948, pg. 41. 134 Bauer, Maria. Foundations Unearthed. Glendale, CA: Veritas Press, 1948, pg. 44.

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Marie also became interested in the tomb of Thomas Ludwell (site #78), and decoded anagrams which said: “Under the Secret Foundations of Former Bruton lies Francis Bacon’s Great Virginia Vault of Free-Masonry.”135

Ludwell Tomb Anagrams noted on the Ludwell Tomb tracing

In trying to calculate where the original foundations were located, she paid close attention to the tomb of Gov. Edward Nott (site #36), a large decorative tomb near south-east end of where the original foundations would have set. She had found the anagram “south-east end,” on the Nicholsen tomb, and when she deciphered the Nott inscription, she discovered this: “This marble marks the south-east end of gentle old Bruton foundations.” Plus, she found five carvings on the tomb which had also been seen among the illustrations in the Wither Book. When she looked closer at the accompanying poems in the book, she discovered references to the Nott tomb, the original foundations, and the Bruton Vault. She then determined, because of the emblem on poem #226 of the Wither Book that the pyramid-shaped monument that marked the grave of David Bray (site #37), was probably where the altar was;136 and the grave of Ann Frank (site #147, also known as Anna Graham) was the probable location of the Vault.137

135

Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat Foundation, 1984, pg. 361. 136 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat Foundation, 1984, pg. 263. 137 Bauer, Maria. Foundations Unearthed. Glendale, CA: Veritas Press, 1948, pg. 45.

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Emblem on Poem #226

The pyramidal monument over David Bray’s grave had been destroyed during the Civil War, but later reconstructed. There was speculation that the original version may have looked like the image that appeared in the Wither Book.138 Bauer even thought that it might have actually marked the spot where Francis Bacon himself was buried because of the Wither Book illustration and the name “Guil. Bray” written beneath a Latin inscription on one of the front pages of the book. When they excavated around the base of the tomb, she found out the base was nine feet square and three feet deep, and was made with the same brick used in the original church’s foundations.139 When she asked for permission to excavate under the Bray monument, she was told she had to get permission from the Bray family because they owned that ground. In fact, the Bray family actually owned all the ground where the foundations of the original church were located.140

138 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat Foundation, 1984, pg. 397. 139 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat

Foundation, 1984, pg. 397. 140 Bauer, Maria. Foundations Unearthed. Glendale, CA: Veritas Press, 1948, pg. 398.

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The Bray Tomb The area in the Churchyard where the original foundations lie

The tombstone of Ann Frank (Anna Graham)

Armed with the new calculations from her research, she approached the Restoration officials again, but the word from New York was negative. Undeterred, she got an iron bar from the shed in the Churchyard and began probing at Nott’s tomb. Less than three feet down she hit brick. She recruited help from the Senior Warden of the Vestry, hired a digger, and early on the morning of August 26, 1938 they began to move some dirt near the Nott tomb. Over two feet down they uncovered “several layers of unusually large bricks.” About five or six bricks deep, they had been laid as part of a foundation (3½ feet thick). It turned out to be one (the most easterly) of the five buttresses along the southeast side of the original brick church.141 Needless to say, crowds began forming, and an official, Dr. Donald Davis showed up and demanded that they stop digging. In the crowd was a young man named Eisendrath, who was employed by the Jamestown Park Service, and he took some pictures of the exposed

141 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat

Foundation, 1984, pg. 384.

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foundations.142 Soon, church officials, representatives from Rockefeller Restoration, and the local government arrived and they said that the glistening brick was nothing more than an unmarked grave. But Marie believed it was more than that, and she appealed to Channing Hall, the mayor of Williamsburg for help. After two days, church officials agreed to provide the funds to complete the excavation work. On Monday, August 29th, five diggers showed up to begin work. But before they could start, Hall asked one of the men to measure out 29 feet in one direction, and 66 feet in a westerly direction, so she could prove that the encoded information was correct. Luckily some students from the College of William & Mary signed a statement attesting to the information, because later, Restoration officials denied that she had known the measurements of the original foundation.

Images of the unearthed foundations of the original church

142 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat

Foundation, 1984, pg. 385.

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Images of the unearthed foundations of the original church

Colonial Williamsburg’s diagrams of the original foundations

From August 29th till September 8th, starting at the northeast corner of Edward Nott’s tomb, about 10" below ground, foundations began to be unearthed. When the foundations were completely uncovered, the north wall turned out to have a total length of 65' 1" and the east and west walls were 28' 8½".143 They were located 62 feet east to west by 30 feet north to south of the church that was built in 1715, and was probably similar in appearance to St. Luke’s Church in Isle of Wight, except the tower was not placed over the nave (from “navel;” or middle of the church), but at the end of the structure.144

Just as the reconstruction of the Church at Jamestown was based on the design of St. Luke’s Church, we can be fairly confident that the original Church in Williamsburg was built in the same style because of the “footprint” of the foundations that were left in the ground.

143 Allen, Marshall F. Notes on Excavations at Bruton Parish Church Archaeological Report (Block 21 Building 1)

(Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library Research Report Series #0125). Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1990, pgs. 1-9. 144 Taylor Jr., L.B. The Ghosts of Virginia (Volume 2). Progress Printing, 1994, pg. 358.

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Marie Bauer’s diagram of the Churchyard

St. Luke’s Church

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Prior to 1820, St. Luke’s Church was known as Newport Parish Church, and according to records in their Vestry books, it was built in 1632, yet most researchers believe it was built around 1675. In front of the altar, set into the floor, is a tombstone that had originally been found at a nearby estate. Mrs. Bauer wondered if it came from Bacon’s Castle, and indicated that her research pointed to the possibility that something which had originally been buried at the Castle, had been relocated under the Church. She found out that in 1927, representatives from the Federal government, acting on information that there had been historical documents buried there, were sent to Bacon’s Castle to carry out soundings on all the brick walls to determine if there was something hidden there. They didn’t find anything.145 There was speculation that whatever it was had been moved to the Bruton Vault. Her joy at discovering the foundations were cut short when three days later they were covered over again, because church officials had begun a planned restoration project on the inside of the Church, which had to be postponed for ten days. The Church wanted to delay the excavation to reach the Vault until all the commotion had settled down. They asked her not to make any statements to the press because it seemed that they didn’t want any publicity about the search for the Vault.146 Actually, it wasn’t the possibility of the existence of the Vault, but the very foundations themselves that the Church, for some reason, did not want known. Perhaps because all along they were promoting the Church as being built on the foundations of the original church and wanted to keep it that way. Someone would later place four stone markers in the ground which marked the place where the original church sat. Years later they would install a stone border to mark the location of the original foundations.

The stone border around the area which indicates the location of the original foundations

Despite their reluctance for publicity, the Rockefeller Restoration leaked the story to the newspaper, and two days later an article appeared saying that the foundations had been discovered by the Church, but didn’t mention Bauer at all. In a public meeting, the head of the Restoration said that “the finding of old Bruton’s foundations was the most unfortunate thing that had ever happened to Williamsburg, and should never have been permitted.”147 Reports

145 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat

Foundation, 1984, pg. 509. 146 Bauer, Maria. Foundations Unearthed. Glendale, CA: Veritas Press, 1948, pg. 53. 147

Bauer, Maria. Foundations Unearthed. Glendale, CA: Veritas Press, 1948, pg. 54.

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began to circulate that they had known all along about the location of the original foundation, and that Bauer did not have any other source but the Bland map.148 However, she was able to prove that wasn’t true, because measurements on the map from east to west (indicated on its attached legend) were over 13 feet off; and north to south (not indicated on the legend, and had to have the attached scale applied) were 49 feet off. Freemasons, including a descendant of Sir Walter Raleigh, were not in favor of her efforts to locate the Vault because, at the time, they felt it should remain hidden.149 In August, 1940, the Bruton Parish Church issued a booklet which said: “There has been discovered recently in Bruton Churchyard the foundation of an early brick church, apparently gothic, the location of which conforms to Colonel Page’s gift, and to the Theodorick Bland survey of the new town of Williamsburg, made in 1699, showing the site of the church.”150 Restoration officials said that if she could verify the location of the Vault through noninvasive means, with “scientific instruments,” they would allow her to excavate. Hans Lundberg Ltd. in Ontario, Canada, who had earlier offered their services, sent an engineer, Mark Malamphy, a geophysicist, with the equipment to do an equipotential survey of the Bruton Church Churchyard. Marie had hoped that the copper containers believed to be in the Vault could be detected. It was the first known geophysical survey for an archaeological application. The tests took place from November 1-4, 1938. Bauer explained the nature of the tests: “1an induced current produces sound and travels about a solid object in the earth in curves. Established points on the forming map are joined to linear curves. If the buried object is approached from four directions, four-sided curves peal out the size of the object, and from the curvature its depth can be calculated.”151 According to his tests, Malamphy located a high resistivity feature, which seemed to confirm Ms. Hall’s research.152 She wrote: “At a depth of from sixteen to twenty feet, about ten feet square, centered exactly where the 1711 line east of William & Mary crosses the old foundation, lies a body partially filled and much larger than an ordinary tomb.” The official report stated, in part:

“Examination of equipotential lines given on figures one to four inclusive shows a very definite convergence pattern which is more accentuated near the tree and the Anna Graham tomb within the western end of the old foundation’s walls.

148 Bauer, Maria. Foundations Unearthed. Glendale, CA: Veritas Press, 1948, pg. 55.

149 Sora, Steven. The Lost Colony of the Templars: Verrazano’s Secret Mission to America. Rochester, VT: Destiny Books, 2004, pg. 245. 150

Bauer, Maria. Foundations Unearthed. Glendale, CA: Veritas Press, 1948, pg. 56. 151 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat

Foundation, 1984, pg. 450. 152

Bauer, Maria. Foundations Unearthed. Glendale, CA: Veritas Press, 1948, pg. 58.

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This becomes even more apparent if we superimpose Fig. 1 and 2 or Fig. 3 and 4. This convergence which is clearly indicated by the several series of measurements taken under different conditions, is definite indication of the presence of more resistant material in this vicinity, and the area distribution of the distortion pattern indicates that the foreign body is of moderate dimensions and depth, presumably both larger and deeper than any normal tomb. It will also be noted that the walls of the old foundations which are near the surface and extend only to a shallow depth, have no appreciable effect upon the potential distribution pattern, nor do the various tombs and monuments falling within the area surveyed, with the exception of the Graham tomb. This latter tomb shows a pattern of diverging potential lines, indicative of a conductor whose longitudinal axis is east-west. In figure 5 we have indicated the approximate location of the high resistance area, which has caused the distortion of our equipotential distribution pattern, and it might be mentioned that this area essentially coincides with the point where Mrs. Bauer indicated her belief that a Vault might be found.”153

After the tests were finished, on the evening of November 4th, Malamphy presented his findings to representatives of the Church and the Rockefeller Restoration. He elaborated on his methods of testing and the maps that he produced. He recommended that the Church dig down 12 to 15 feet, and then probing further; and if nothing was found, to examine the Graham tomb, to see what caused a different reading compared to the other tombs.154 The Restoration officials did not support an excavation, however, the Church voted for it, and agreed to supply the labor to carry it out. The work began with the digging of a 15' X 3' trench between the Graham tomb and the tree with orders not to disturb the roots or the tomb, and when they got five feet down, there was no stratification, which meant that the ground had never been disturbed. But then they discovered an object with brass tacks that was identified as a casket, which gave them the impetus to continue digging the next day. They encountered areas of ash, which was an indication that the ground had indeed been disturbed. When they got down to the nine-foot level, the diggers were ordered to stop and fill in the hole because it represented a danger to tourists.155 Malamphy asked that he be allowed to probe further with an auger, but he was told there was none available.156 With research that indicated the top of the Vault was ten feet down, this would have enabled him to reach it. He then requested if he could dig a cross-trench, but Church officials were worried that it would compromise the tree, or affect the Graham grave, or the

153 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat

Foundation, 1984, pg. 453. 154 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat

Foundation, 1984, pg. 458. 155 Bauer, Maria. Foundations Unearthed. Glendale, CA: Veritas Press, 1948, pg. 59.

156 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat

Foundation, 1984, pg. 470.

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coffin that was discovered.

One of the equipotential maps plotted by Malamphy

An explanation offered by the Canadian firm was that the geophysical anomaly was caused by a natural soil contrast– maybe “a high point in a bed of marl.” However, the engineer for the town of Williamsburg issued a statement that marl could not be reached at a level of less than 50 feet, and that bluish-white clay which turned up at 30-foot levels was sometimes mistaken for marl. Marshall Allen, a retired mechanical engineer from Pennsylvania (who had been a student at the College of William & Mary in 1938), told reporter Wilford Kale of the Richmond Times Dispatch in September, 1991, that “something was found about 10 feet under the Bruton Parish churchyard in November 1938. Some people said it was a burial vault. Indeed, Church Vestry minutes cryptically suggested it was a coffin.” Allen claimed that it was “too wide to be a coffin.” Whatever it was, according to Allen, it “caused either Bruton Vestry leaders or Colonial Williamsburg officials to suddenly end the excavations.” He said: “I know they found a very large box. It was about 4½ feet wide and they didn’t know how long it was because it was never uncovered. They never finished digging it out.”157 The Church issued a statement that this would be the last excavation they would allow.158 Bauer believed that the Rockefellers only agreed to restore the town of Williamsburg when they saw it as a means of acquiring the contents of the Vault.159 Considering their influence on international affairs and global governance, I was inclined to agree, but after I started digging deeper into the Archaeological Reports, I began to see things differently. Plus, my own research showed the extent of the Rockefeller’s philanthropic endeavors, so it wasn’t hard to believe that they invested their money with honorable intentions. She continued her research to find additional clues. While looking at the first paragraph of

157 Taylor Jr., L.B. The Ghosts of Virginia (Volume 2). Progress Printing, 1994, pg. 359.

158 Bauer, Maria. Foundations Unearthed. Glendale, CA: Veritas Press, 1948, pg. 60. 159 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat Foundation, 1984, pg. 434.

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Bacon’s essay called Of Discourse she began to see the following anagrams encoded: “The mother of Sir Francis being Elisabeth,” “Bacon is True Heir to Throne,” “Under Old Bruton’s Foundations in America’s Williamsburg,” and “The names of the Shakespeare Poet Authors,” “The key to Bacon’s Code and Shakespeare Playes,” “The key to Secreted Places of European,” and “Under old tower center.”160

Of Discourse text Of Discourse anagrams

In 1948, Veritas Press published her 64-page book Foundations Unearthed (originally published in 1940 as Francis Bacon’s Great Virginia Vault) and in 1984, the Veritat Foundation published her 609-page book (ISBN 0938760084), The Quest for Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. She died on April 21, 2005 at the age of 100. Her work has been unofficially continued (some say stolen) by Victoria Jennings, whose website www.godasmother.org contains information and graphics on Bruton Vault, some of which have been utilized in this book.

Marie Bauer Hall in 1994 Foundations Unearthed

160 Hall, Marie Bauer. Quest For Bruton Vault: An American Williamsburg Happening. Los Angeles, CA: Veritat

Foundation, 1984, pg. 499.

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According to NADAG (North American Database of Archaeological Geophysics) on April 1 and 2, 1985, a survey of the Churchyard was conducted by Bruce W. Beven of Geosight on behalf of John Milewski (a ceramic engineer) and John Pillsbury of the Veritat Foundation, and the results were published in Beven’s 1991 journal article for Geophysics magazine.161 He used Ground Penetrating Radar, as well as testing for conductivity and magnetometry. The report summary said in part:

“A ground-penetrating radar survey, with its capability for estimating the depth and shape of buried objects, is particularly suitable. With an electromagnetic induction survey, the disturbed soil in the grave can sometimes be detected as a change in electrical conductivity. Both of these surveys also can locate large metal objects. These surveys have limitations. At some sites, the radar cannot profile deeply enough; at others, the soil strata are so complex that graves cannot be distinguished. A conductivity survey can be degraded by metallic trash and other small objects in the topsoil; it can give the best results where the earth is distinctly stratified. 1Magnetic (magnetometric) and (electrical) resistivity surveys may be suitable for some sites, but they have not been very successful for the sites discussed here.”

The first results didn’t turn up anything because they didn’t go deep enough. However, later tests were more optimistic. Dr. Billy Hibbard, a chemist, one of those involved in the testing, said: “Absolutely, there is a chance something is there because we got a basic difference in resistance measurements in the area they believe the vault is located.” The testing was abruptly stopped.162 A surreptitious nighttime excavation took place on September 9, 1991, when Marsha Middleton (a direct descendent of Declaration of Independence signer Arthur Middleton), her husband Frank Flint, and Douglas Moore, from a group called the Ministry of the Children in Sante Fe, New Mexico,163 who were students of Hall’s teachings, secretly dug in the Churchyard until dawn. After breakfast they returned, and when they realized that the hole had not been discovered, they continued digging to a depth of about four feet before quitting about mid-morning. They were threatened with prosecution if they returned, and the Church got an injunction from the Court to prevent the three from entering the property. Another illegal dig in the same spot was interrupted around 4:30 a.m. by a Colonial Williamsburg security guard on November 27, 1991. The same two men, from the same group,164 who in 4½ hours had dug a 7½ foot deep hole, dropped their tools and a camera, jumped over the Churchyard wall, and disappeared into the night.165 An hour later Middleton notified the media

161 Bevan, Bruce W. “The Search for Graves.” Geophysics, Vol. 56, No. 9, 1991. 162 Taylor Jr., L.B. The Ghosts of Virginia (Volume 2). Progress Printing, 1994, pg. 358.

163 Taylor Jr., L.B. The Ghosts of Virginia (Volume 2). Progress Printing, 1994, pg. 356.

164 “Bruton Vault.” SUN Nation (Ministry of the Children) <http://www.sun-nation.org/sun-quest-ages-vault.html>

165

Taylor Jr., L.B. The Ghosts of Virginia (Volume 2). Progress Printing, 1994, pg. 355.

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of the dig, and said they would turn themselves in.166 They didn’t turn themselves in, and the Williamsburg police issued 12 warrants for their arrest, with each facing charges for two counts of trespassing and two counts of vandalism. However, they were unable to serve them, because the group was holed up in an undisclosed location in North Carolina. They pledged not to return to Williamsburg until the church agreed to authorize an excavation dig and agreed to drop all charges against them.167 In an October 1, 1991 meeting at the Williamsburg Regional Library that was attended by about 75 people, Middleton had claimed that the 1938 dig was stopped by the Church, who was trying to cover-up the existence of the Vault, while the Smithsonian Institution continues to block any further excavation at the site. Ivor Noel-Hume, a former Colonial Williamsburg archaeologist, disputed that and said “there was absolutely no cover-up” and added: “The digging was done haphazardly and it had begun to undermine the tombs.”168 Records were “unclear whether Ms. Hall, the Vestry, or Colonial Williamsburg architects were in charge of the excavations.”169 Even though Colonial Williamsburg acknowledged that Marie Bauer Hall did find the foundations of the original Church, it is clear that they didn’t respect her accomplishments because she was referred to as a “mystic from California seeking a legendary secret vault containing Masonic Mysteries.”170 In an effort to finally dismiss talk of the Vault, in the summer of 1992, Church officials asked archaeological experts from the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation to do some excavation work. Scheduled for 2-3 weeks, Colonial Williamsburg archaeologists Andrew Edwards, Jennifer Jones and Marley R. Brown III,171 with a crew of five others, were to retrace the work done in 1938 to excavate down to the walls and floor of the original church (which goes back to 1683), and then to go ten feet beyond that in an attempt to finally reach the Vault.172 Brown didn’t approve of the work done back in 1938. He said: “Apparently they went to town. They just

166 Couto, Lucinda. “New Age Diggers Escape Arrest.” Daily Press (Hampton Roads, VA), November 28, 1991

<http://articles.dailypress.com/1991-11-28/news/9111270255_1_marsha-middleton-colonial-williamsburg-bruton parish-church> 167 Stratton, Jim. “Group’s Digging Days Are Over.” Daily Press (Hampton Roads, VA), December 3, 1991

<http://articles.dailypress.com/1991-12-03/news/9112030084_1_marsha-middleton-bruton-parish-private-property> 168 Couto, Lucinda. “Woman Expands Search For Vaults.” Daily Press (Hampton Roads, VA), October 2, 1991

<http://articles.dailypress.com/1991-10-02/news/9110020250_1_marsha-middleton-vault-bruton-parish> 169 Brown, Gregory J.; Lisa E. Fischer. Department of Archaeological Research: Research Summaries and Prospectus, 2002. Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg Research Division, 2003, Part III (Seventeenth-Century Archaeology), pg. 3. 170 Brown, Gregory J.; Lisa E. Fischer. Department of Archaeological Research: Research Summaries and Prospectus, 2002. Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg Research Division, 2003, Part III (Seventeenth-Century Archaeology), pg. 11. 171 Brown, Gregory J.; Lisa E. Fischer. Department of Archaeological Research: Research Summaries and

Prospectus, 2002. Williamsburg, VA: Colonial Williamsburg Research Division, 2003, Part II (Material Life), pg. 50. 172 Boyd, Bentley. “Bruton Parish Dig Set For Today.” Daily Press (Hampton Roads, VA), August 18, 1992 <http://articles.dailypress.com/1992-08-18/news/9208180078_1_dig-bruton-parish-church-colonial-williamsburg>

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started digging and moving dirt. It wasn’t excavated by professionals.” In regard to what they were going to do there, he said: We’re going down to the bottom of her [Middleton’s] hole to see what’s down there.”173 Brown was also hoping to do some selective work on the east end of the site, because that would be the location of most of the architectural evidence, since that is where the altar, pulpit, and tombs would have been located.174 Amidst crowds of tourists and widespread media attention, working within a 20' X 20' area at the northwest corner of the site, they dug straight down into the ground, and at diagonal angles under the grave of Anna Frank (Graham). They located the foundations of the original church, as well as a portion of a wooden coffin. It culminated with an announcement that they had searched though the subsurface of every area that had been accessed by humans in the past three centuries, and found only dirt which had been “undisturbed for thousands of years.” They found no evidence of a Vault.175 On September 11, 1992, the last day of the four-week excavation, Dr. Gerald H. Johnson, a retired geologist from the faculty of the College of William & Mary, followed up their work by hand-screwing augers into the ground for more than nine hours, extracting 12 core samples of the subsurface to a depth of 21½ feet,176 beneath the water table, and found no evidence that the soil had been disturbed by human activity.177 Five of the holes that Johnson bored were in or next to the hole that Middleton dug, including a diagonal hole that was twisted under Ann Frank’s tomb. He said of the red dirt he found: “This stuff is so compacted, it’s been here forever.”178 A year after their first unauthorized dig, Middleton and her husband Frank, even after they were told to stay away, returned to Williamsburg to witness the final probes of the ground, and they were arrested on the misdemeanor charges, then freed after posting $500 bond each.179 When they appeared in court a couple weeks later, they each received a 12-month suspended sentence, paid $100 fines and were told to never again enter the Church property or they would

173 Boyd, Bentley. “Archaeologists Delayed in Search for Sir Francis Bacon Vault.” Savannah Morning News (Savannah, GA), Wednesday, August 19, 1992, pg. 3C. 174 Boyd, Bentley. “New Agers Destroyed Crucial Data.” Daily Press (Hampton Roads, VA), August 22, 1992 <http://articles.dailypress.com/1992-08-22/news/9208220099_1_bruton-parish-church-clues-dig> 175 Taylor Jr., L.B. The Ghosts of Virginia (Volume 2). Progress Printing, 1994, pg. 358.

176 Gardner, Martin. The Night Is Large: Collected Essays, 1938-1995. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press, 1996, pg.

374. 177 Associated Press. “Mystics Want to Search For Vault For Secret Keys to World Peace.” The Free Lance-Star

(Fredericksburg, VA), Thursday, March 20, 2003, pg. C10 <http://paxmundus.come030323d.htm> 178 Boyd, Bentley. “Bruton Parish Dig Fails to Convince Believers.” Daily Press (Hampton Roads, VA), September

12, 1992 <http://articles.dailypress.com/1992-09-12/news/9209120042_1_bruton-parish-church-church-rector-dig> 179 Boyd, Bentley. “2 Mystics Arrested After Midnight Dig.” Daily Press (Hampton Roads, VA), September 9, 1992

<http://articles.dailypress.com/1992-09-09/news/9209090056_1_marsha-middleton-vault-bruton-parish-church>

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be jailed.180 Today, visitors to the Church are not permitted to enter the Churchyard, to prevent any further damage to the tombs, and to discourage any more illegal digging. The question has been asked about what this Vault would look like. Unfortunately, when it comes to historic areas like this, there are few examples because their owners like to keep them a secret. I’m sure they have their reasons. Safety is certainly a consideration, if the structure is not sound and there are no funds to maintain it. Another is not having the manpower or budget to provide supervision for its access. And then there may be some who prefer just to keep it to themselves and utilize it for storage or maybe secret ceremonies. Who knows? Nevertheless, it is difficult to be able to provide a relevant example. A number of years ago, after my tour of the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia, I was talking to one of the living historians there, who, is his conversations with other living historians around the city, had been told there was a tunnel underneath Carpenter’s Hall on Chestnut Street, which is still owned by the Carpenters' Company of the City and County of Philadelphia. It is still used for the purpose it was built– as a meeting place for the Carpenters' Company and union meetings. As soon as it was built it housed the seven-week session of the First Continental Congress in 1774 and later served as the headquarters of the First Bank of the United States in 1791. I thought maybe I could check it out to see how it was constructed to get an idea of how the Bruton Vault may have been constructed. I was told by the receptionist that it wasn’t a tunnel, that it was a storage vault, which I figured was even better– but it wasn’t open to the public. I found out later that she was referring to the vaults of the Bank of Pennsylvania who had moved into the building in the late 1700s. The only mention of the vaults I could find was a historical reference about a bank robbery. I wasn’t able to find any pictures or any other information. Another example of history being purposely hidden.

Carpenter’s Hall

180 Stratton, Jim. “New Age Christians Plead Guilty, Promise To Leave Church Alone.” Daily Press (Hampton

Roads, VA), September 26, 1992 <http://articles.dailypress.com/1992-09-26/news/9209260068_1_marsha-middleton-bruton-parish-michael-mcginty>

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But maybe I can provide you with a little bit of a glimpse of what it may look like. On May 24, 2014, a demolition crew working to tear down a home at 239 Ann Street (on the NW corner of Ann Street and Fisher Alley) in Middletown, PA, discovered a brick wall that eventually collapsed to unveil the opening to what appeared to be a tunnel. Initial speculation was that it had been a speakeasy during prohibition, or a stop on the Underground Railroad.

House on Ann Street in Middletown on top of the vault

It turned out to be a hidden 57' long brick vaulted chamber, divided into two rooms, that appears to be of an older construction than the wood frame house that had stood above it. The deed indicated an 1870-1880 construction date, as well as the code “SAL” (instead of a “D” indicating a dwelling) which may indicate that it was a saloon, and possibly the site a microbrewery. The name of Jacob Bischel was on the original deed, and this German immigrant had owned a saloon on Ann Street for 10 years in the 1880s and 1890s; and family members owned adjoining properties, which is why the room may have extended there. They found air vents, and a place where steps led up to a previously demolished building next door that used the area as a wine cellar. The end had been bricked-up and a 3rd room filled in with dirt because it had collapsed in the 1960s, but led to a house on the next block. The website www.oldbreweries.com lists this site as the location of the Gustave E. Reichmann Brewery from 1874-75, which was one of the six breweries in the area in the mid-to-late 1800s. So, the implication is that this room was used for cold storage. Although some old glass bottles were found, there were no traces of wooden barrels, which is a key feature of a brewery. A spokesperson for the Middletown Historical Society said there is no consensus on what it was built for, and that it may have been part of an earlier structure on the site, since Middletown, being the oldest community in Dauphin County, was founded in 1755. Though larger than the purported Bruton Vault, this may have been the way it would have been constructed, which matches the style of the drain tunnels that have been found. However, if it did exist, even as far as it being a storage or basement area of the original church, let alone a

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hidden Vault beneath it, given the problematic water table beneath the surface of Williamsburg, it is highly unlikely that it would be intact today. Which means that the proposed containers may have been crushed, compromising any contents that consisted of paper, exposing them to water, which would have caused them deteriorate and dissolve.

A view inside of the Ann Street vault

It is quite clear that Ms. Hall was able to determine the location of the foundations of the original church because of apparently being able to decipher encoded information that was engraved on the tomb of James Nicolson. Other than being a steward at the College, and being connected to the map, there is very little information about him available. I would like to know if he served in any capacity at the Church, or was he a Freemason. What was it about him that ascribed such significance to his tombstone that made it the key to being able to find the location of the original church? Seemingly it was by design, and it was very mysteriously done, as if it may have been if it was arranged by the Freemasons. But is it really that unusual? When you consider that, historically, they were master builders and probably built the original church, maybe it was just a way to let their own members know where the original church actually stood, as memorial of their efforts in erecting one of the earliest churches in the New World. Why were there detailed calculations to locate the original foundations, but not the Vault? Maybe it’s because there is no Vault, and the foundations are what they wanted to be found. The same thing happened in Jamestown. When they built a new church in a different location, they forgot all about the old church, and in fact didn’t discover its actual location until 2011. Maybe that is what has been the prize all along in Williamsburg– discovering the location of the original church there, and not some fabled Vault.

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MOUNT RUSHMORE Baconian researchers say that when President Theodore Roosevelt visited Williamsburg, and learned of its significance, he donated a lectern to the Church, vowed to protect the Vault, and out of appreciation, was honored by having his image placed on Mount Rushmore. However, this claim takes the story of the Vault to a whole new level that borders on the impossible. After all, Teddy Roosevelt– who in their right mind would consider him on par with Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln. There has to be another explanation. Right?

Theodore Roosevelt

South Dakota’s state historian, Doane Robinson, when he read about how many people were driving to Georgia just to see the incomplete Stone Mountain carving of General Robert E. Lee, in August of 1924, invited its sculptor John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum (Gutzon Borglum, 1867-1941) to do a mountain sculpture at the Black Hills. He suggested Lewis and Clark, Buffalo Bill, Chief Red Cloud– something that would bring tourists to the area. According to the Mount Rushmore “American Experience” documentary produced by PBS in

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2001, Borglum said that “western figures are too parochial1he would carve national heroes. The first three were no brainers: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln. The fourth would be Borglum’s great personal friend and political hero, Teddy Roosevelt.” He chose Mount Rushmore. The announcement of the project was made in October, 1925. Work commenced August 10, 1927. After the expenditure of almost a million dollars, nearly all of it appropriated by Congress; with the dedication of Roosevelt’s likeness, for all intents and purposes, the work was finished in July, 1939. Borglum’s son, Lincoln, did continue to do some incidental work on it until October, 1941, when funding ran out. The Bruton Vault story appeared to have a shred of credibility by the fact that the choice of Roosevelt, the 26th president, to be on the monument, has always been criticized. He seemed mismatched with the historical icons he was appearing with. Supposedly, Borglum’s choices of presidents were determined by what they represented. George Washington, the first president, symbolized the nation’s struggle for independence. Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, stood for the promise of government by the people. Abraham Lincoln, the martyred president, had a vision of equality and a truly united country. Theodore Roosevelt was being honored for the 20th century role of the United States in world affairs. Borglum viewed him as the epitome of the American spirit. Because they had been close friends before, during, and after his presidency, Borglum actually sculpted him from memory. This argument was strengthened by the July 3, 2006 issue of Time magazine, their 5th annual “Making of America” edition (with Teddy on the cover), which trumpeted on the cover: “How Roosevelt Invented Modern America.” Inside, the article stated: “Presidents come and go, but monuments are always with us. There’s a reason Theodore Roosevelt is the only 20th century President whose face is carved into Mount Rushmore, the only one who could hold his own with Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson. Roosevelt not only remade America, but he also charmed the pants off everybody while he did it.”181 Well, that seems to answer the question. Or does it? In a July 24, 1999 lecture by Guy M. Chalmers called “Masonic Leaders in the United States and Their Influence on This Century 1900-1999,” which was delivered to a joint meeting of the NCRL and SCRL in Fresno, California. He said: “The artist, a Mason, picked the site because it got the most sun, selected the subjects he wanted to carve, which in many ways, was a tribute to Masonry.” This adds a little fuel to the fire. We find that Borglum, born in Idaho, but educated in Nevada, was raised in the Howard Masonic Lodge #35 in New York City on June 10, 1904, and served as its Worshipful Master (1910-11), and in 1915 was appointed Grand Representative of the Grand Lodge of Denmark (near the Grand Lodge of New York). He received his Scottish Rite Degrees in the New York Consistory on October 25, 1907. His son, Lincoln Borglum, who worked on the monument after his death, was also a Mason, raised in the Battle River Lodge #92 in Hermosa, South Dakota. George Washington (1732-1799) and Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) were both well-known Freemasons.

181 Lacayo, Richard. “The 20

th Century Express.” Time magazine, July 3, 2006, pg. 41.

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According to Mackey’s Encyclopedia of Freemasonry, Washington was initiated (1st degree, Entered Apprentice Mason) on November 4, 1752; Passed (2nd degree, Fellowcraft Mason) on March 3, 1753; and Raised August 4, 1753 in the Fredericksburg Lodge (later renamed as #4) in Fredericksburg. In the 4-volume reference work known as 10,000 Famous Freemasons, it says: “It is possible that he received some additional degree, or was reobligated during the French War in a military lodge attached to the 46th Regiment. It might have been the Mark Master degree. It is also speculated that he received the Royal Arch degree in Fredericksburg Lodge as it was being worked by that Lodge at the time Washington was Raised. This claim is aided by the fact that in August, 1784, Lafayette presented Washington with a Masonic apron which had been embroidered by Madame Lafayette,

and contained emblems of the Royal Arch with the letters H.T.W.S.S.T.K.S. in a circle and a beehive within the circle to indicate that it was the wearer’s mark.”182 Mackey’s Encyclopedia of Freemasonry indicates that Roosevelt was a “member of Matinecock Lodge #806, Oyster Bay, New York, [where] he was Initiated January 2, 1901; Passed, March 27, 1901; and Raised April 24, 1901. His Masonic interests were keen, loyal and constant, and his intercourse with Brethren abroad and at home most enjoyable. He participated wholeheartedly in a number of public Masonic functions.” 10,000 Famous Freemasons has a lengthy list of Masonic credentials for Roosevelt.

George Washington Theodore Roosevelt Even though Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) is not officially recognized as a Freemason, some Masonic sources have speculated that he was a member. He is known to have praised the fraternal organization, and attended Masonic functions in France. He was portrayed in a mural in Washington, D.C. wearing a Masonic apron. 10,000 Famous Freemasons indicates that “Masonic speakers and periodicals, both Masonic and anti-Masonic, of the middle 1800s claimed Jefferson was a Freemason1his writings and actions contain Masonic philosophy1he was identified as marching in procession with Widow’s Son Lodge No. 60 and Charlottesville Lodge No. 90, October 6, 1817, at the laying of the cornerstone of Central College [now the University of Virginia].” The minutes of Charlottesville Lodge #90 recorded that he was a visitor

182 Denslow, William R. “George Washington.” 10,000 Famous Freemasons. Richmond, VA: Macoy Publishing &

Masonic Supply Co., Inc., 1957, Volume 4, pg. 299.

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to the Masonic ceremony that laid the cornerstone to Central College in 1817, and some claim that he was a member of that Lodge. It is also claimed that he was a member of the Lodge of the Nine Muses in Paris, because in his travels to France, he attended meetings there with his close friend Benjamin Franklin.183 An 1876 illustration portrayed Jefferson with a Masonic symbol over his head. A 1955 Masonic Bible, in a list of Presidents who have been Masons, said about Jefferson that “there are unmistakable evidences that he was an active Mason.”

Thomas Jefferson 1876 Jefferson Masonic Illustration

That leaves Abraham Lincoln. For the most part, Masonic sources do not list him as a Freemason. However, Mackey’s Encyclopedia of Freemasonry reported: “Past Grand Master, Swiss Grand Lodge Alpina, in the Annuaire, International Masonic Association, listed Lincoln among illustrious Freemasons (1913, pg. 44; 1923, pg. 59).” The Past Grand Master also said: “I will further state that Mr. J. H. Brooks, who was Mr. Lincoln’s messenger, informed me that Mr. Lincoln was a Mason. The degrees were conferred in an Army Lodge attached to Gen.

Grant’s army in front of Richmond.” William Grimshaw of the Library of Congress, in his 1903 history of Freemasonry, also listed Lincoln as a Freemason.184 Though there are conflicting facts, we can ascertain Lincoln’s mindset about the group. According to the article “Is This Of Your Own Free Will and Accord?” during the 1860 Presidential campaign, the Grand Lodge of Illinois recessed their meeting to give candidate Lincoln a chance to speak, and he reportedly said: “Gentlemen, I have always entertained a profound respect for the Masonic fraternity and have long cherished a desire to become a member1”185 In October, 1860, 10,000 Famous Freemasons

reported that during the campaign, Lincoln had been told by Robert Morris, a Mason from

183 Denslow, William R. “Thomas Jefferson.” 10,000 Famous Freemasons. Richmond, VA: Macoy Publishing &

Masonic Supply Co., Inc., 1957, Volume 2, pg. 290. 184 Grimshaw, William Henry. The Official History of Freemasonry Among the Colored People in North America.

Negro Universities Press, 1969, pg. 365. 185 Havlik, R.V. “Is This Of Your Own Free Will and Accord?” Lincoln Lore magazine, January, 1971, pg. 66.

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Kentucky, that all of his opponents in the election were Freemasons, and pointed out that Stephen A. Douglas was an early member of the Lodge in Springfield (Lincoln’s home town), but that Lincoln wasn’t a member. Lincoln said: “I am not a Freemason, Dr. Morris, though I have great respect for the institution.”186 Carl Sandburg, who has written more about Lincoln than anyone else, touched on his connection to Masonry: “Though not a Mason, he had at hand a personal copy of the bound Proceedings of the Grand Arch Chapter of the State of Illinois, being reports of conventions of the Masonic order for the years 1851-1857.”187 Shortly after his nomination for the presidency in 1860, Lincoln had applied for membership to Tyrian Lodge No. 333 in Springfield, Illinois, but later withdrew it because he was worried that it might be construed as a political ploy just to get votes. He told the Lodge that he would resubmit his application after his term as president. 10,000 Famous Freemasons indicated that after his assassination, on April 17, 1865, the Tyrian Lodge adopted a Resolution which said “that the decision of President Lincoln to postpone his application for the honours of Freemasonry, lest his motives be misconstrued, is the highest degree honourable to his memory.”188 In the memorial volume published by the Federal Government in Washington, D.C. in 1866, there were tributes from 44 foreign Masonic Lodges who referred to Lincoln as a Brother. An article called “Lincoln and the Masons,” said that after his death, the Grand Master of Masons in the District of Columbia, Benjamin B. French, a friend of Lincoln’s, wrote to the editor of The Masonic Trowel, who was also the Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Illinois, and said: “He once told me how highly he respected our Order and that he at one time had fully made up his mind to apply for admission into it1”189 French elaborated on that further in an April 21, 1865 letter he wrote to the Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New York: “President Lincoln was not a Mason. He once told me, in the presence of Most Worshipful Brother J. W. Simons, that he had at one time made up his mind to apply for admission to our Fraternity but that he feared he was too lazy to attend to his duty as a Mason, as he should like to do, and that he had not carried out his intentions1”190 In an article called “Abraham Lincoln and Freemasonry,” Paul M. Bessel (a member of the Alexandria-Washington Lodge #22) wrote: “Abraham Lincoln was not a Mason, but he possessed and displayed all the important qualities of Freemasonry: faith, hope, and charity, belief in God, the equality of all people, and the ability of each person to improve.”191

186 Havlik, R.V. “Is This Of Your Own Free Will and Accord?” Lincoln Lore magazine, January, 1971, pg. 67. 187 Sandburg, Carl. Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years. New York, NY: Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1926, Volume 2, pg. 98. 188 Denslow, William R. “Abraham Lincoln.” 10,000 Famous Freemasons. Richmond, VA: Macoy Publishing &

Masonic Supply Co., Inc., 1957, Volume 3, pg. 85. 189 “Lincoln and the Masons.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Summer, 1955, pgs. 191-198. 190 Stein, Elmer; Fred Schwengel. “Lincoln and Freemasonry.” The Scottish Rite Journal, February, 1990, pgs. 23-24. 191 Bessel, Paul M. “Abraham Lincoln and Freemasonry.” Paul M. Bessel’s Homepage, November, 1994 <http://bessel.org/lincmasn.htm>

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Given all this, a different light is indeed shed on Mount Rushmore, and its insignificance in regard to having any connection to the Bruton Vault.

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HOW THE BRUTON VAULT BECAME A LEGEND

Except for some people in the Williamsburg area, knowledge about the Bruton Vault came from two minimally distributed books by Marie Bauer Hall. So how did the story of the Vault become so widespread? How did you hear about it to end up reading this book? It was probably because of the effort of one man– Fletcher Richman.

Fletcher Richman

This gentleman was born in 1953 as Cynthia Susan Mercer, because a hermaphroditic condition resulted in his parents deciding to have him surgically altered to be female, and in 1971 she graduated from Kearny High School in San Diego, California. San Diego county records state that in 1978 she changed her name to Bradley David Richman, and subsequent surgical procedures were implemented to facilitate the necessary changes to become a man. One of his stories is that he was an informant for the FBI in a case involving the DiFilippo crime family in San Diego and was working at a restaurant they owned. When the FBI did something illegal in the course of their investigation, Fletcher decided to help the Family and they put him up in a Las Vegas hotel until he could testify for them at the trial. He later moved to Colorado, and then in the early 1990s, moved to Williamsburg to do research on the Bruton Vault. He ran a public relations firm known as Tudor Graphics and was a janitor at the Williamsburg Apartments near Merrimac Trail. He began taking people on tours of the Bruton Churchyard to point out coded messages on the tombstones and tell them about the Vault.192 He then moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, and that’s where he was living around the year 2000 when he initially contacted me by Email. He had seen my book Final Warning online and was surprised that I had information in there about the Bruton Vault. I ended up speaking to him a

192 Couto, Lucinda. “Woman Expands Search For Vaults.” Daily Press (Hampton Roads, VA), October 2, 1991

(http://articles.dailypress.com/1991-10-02/news/9110020250_1_marsha-middleton-vault-bruton-parish).

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couple of times on the phone; and then a few years later, when he had moved to 2173 Sampson Street in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (this house has since been sold, and he has moved), he brought his team to Harrisburg (PA) for a couple days to meet with me. At the time, I did think it was sort of strange, because although I knew a lot about the Vault, I assumed he knew more than me, and in fact had some inside information that I didn’t know. In addition, my book had not really sold that well to afford me the kind of influence that would have been beneficial to him. So, I was wondering why he was expending the time and money to see me. He gave me a couple magazines that had articles about the Vault which had been prompted by his campaign for a professional excavation there; as well as copies of a couple letters to him from the Bruton Parish Church. And then he elaborated on some of the oral traditions that have either been passed down or theorized by him. He invited me to head up the public relations for his organization, Tudorgram Metaphysical Research Historians (they were formerly known as the Sages of the Seventh Seal), and brought up that he was going to have financing from his grandfather’s trust fund. He also knew that I was interested in writing a book about the Vault, and he was concerned as to how I was going to present it. I remembered being flattered at the opportunity he proposed, but there were some basic things that caused me to be apprehensive about his offer. Probably first and foremost, I am sort of a loner and I don’t play well with others. As a Christian, I didn’t want to be connected to an organization that had New Age leanings. Plus my time is limited and I didn’t want anything impeding my own research. I spoke to him a couple times after that, but have not spoken to him for years. But the other thing was that he revealed to me that the owners of the Custis-Maupin house told him that there was indeed a tunnel underneath their house, but the time wasn’t right to reveal it to the world. I knew that was one of the structures that had been totally rebuilt on the original foundations and saw the picture of the exposed foundation in one of Colonial Williamsburg’s Archaeological Reports. So I knew there was no tunnel access there. It was then that I realized he was purposely misrepresenting information about the Vault, and it called into question anything that he said. A couple years ago, after I released a preliminary copy of my research about the Vault on my website, I got an Email from someone who I ended up speaking to on the phone. It turns out that he has been bilking thousands of dollars from people by dangling his supposed quest for the Bruton Vault in front of them, so he can travel around the country looking for more victims, renting cars, staying in hotels, eating out at restaurants and going to amusement parks. In addition, he had made copies of my book to distribute and was telling people that I stole his research; when in fact it is quite clear that I had been researching it long before I met him, and all my research is fully footnoted and sourced. At that point I realized what he was doing when he came to visit me– he was hoping to get money from me. I guess he realized fairly quickly that I didn’t have any. He has taken so much money from people, that a website has been set-up to document the accusations made against him at www.sacredvaults.org. There you can find the documentation of people who have come forward to tell their stories about their dealings with Fletcher, the promises he made to return their money, and the lies he told to perpetuate his ruse. Among the aliases he has used: Bradley David Mercer, Bradley Fletcher Richman, Fletcher Richman; and he is currently using Johnathan Carpenter. On some internet message boards he was using the moniker Sir Shining Knight. The team that he traveled around with consisted of:

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• Eleanor (Ellie) Henderson (whose house he was living in at Pittsburgh), who also used the following aliases: Eleanor Heard, Eleanor Williamson, Joan Washington.

• Linda Marie Haught (Fletcher’s ex-wife of ten years, who as a paralegal handled their legal affairs. She was also known as Justina Legacy.

• Warren T. Angel The essence of his deception is that he has told people that a benefactor named William Christopher Spears in Dylan, CO was underwriting $7 million to support the Bruton Vault (as well as Oak Island in Canada) research to locate and excavate its contents. The money never came, because there wasn’t anyone providing any funds. He has also referred to a $12.3 million trust fund he will have access to, which stems from an oil fortune left by his grandfather Huey Mercer that had been controlled by his Aunt Sylvia. His aunt, as well as his parents in California, have confirmed that there is no trust fund. Fletcher said he studied under Manly Palmer Hall and Marie Bauer Hall for six months in 1988 and has claimed, since the deaths of them both, to have control of Manly Hall’s books and documents, when in fact his library was going to be maintained by the Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles, the organization he founded. It is believed that he was never mentored by them, and that in fact they barely knew him. Fletcher disputes this and claims to have documentary evidence to prove his claim. Regardless of that, it is clear that he has usurped the spiritual teachings of the “I AM” movement and his constant references to “ascended beings” to misappropriate them in an attempt to convince people of his piety and sincerity in regard to his intent to find the Bruton Vault and have its contents revealed to the world. He travels around the country under the guise of being a Baconian researcher and a Vault expert. What appears to be his passion to find the Vault, is actually masking what he is really up to and that is the creation of a façade that gives people and prospective marks the impression that he is really doing something. His campaign to excavate the Churchyard was conveyed to the media and resulted in news stories on television and radio, and articles in newspapers and magazines. He lobbied the Church on a regular basis in an attempt to convince them to authorize a professional and controlled dig, and became a nuisance to them because of his brash and abrasive manner. He organized meetings and “conventions,” and sought cooperation with the Sir Francis Bacon Research and Historical Society of America. But it was all done to create this image that he was the leading proponent for raising the Vault so that he could capitalize on the publicity to further his schemes. He has asked for people to contribute money to him, with the promise that it will be returned (but never is); in some cases Limited Partnership Agreements were drawn up (with investments lost), and in one situation an elderly woman was convinced into giving him Power of Attorney over her finances. As far as I can tell, I don’t believe that a single dollar he raised has ever been put toward actually doing anything to find the Vault. The 1992 work was all done under the auspices of Colonial Williamsburg. If his intents were honorable, there are certainly ways that he could have used the money he got to benefit the research about the Vault. The fact that he didn’t should have raised a red flag about the existence of the Bruton Vault. Maybe he knows that there is no Vault, and he doesn’t want to actually prove it, because that would shut down his cash cow and he would no longer be able to act with impunity in carrying out his deception.

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CONCLUSION It has been reported by these so-called Baconian researchers that Queen Elizabeth has shown a particular interest in the Vault’s contents; and possibly the Rockefellers. The Rockefellers, for the information and artifacts it contains; and the Queen, on behalf of England, to have its contents returned. The contents of the Bruton Vault, if intact, and if it contains everything they say it does, would be priceless, and in fact are considered so important that it is referred to as the “Seventh Seal” by a small group known as Sir Francis Bacon’s Sages of the Seventh Seal (but now known as the Tudorgram Metaphysical Research Historians) led by the previously mentioned Fletcher Richman, who has promoted himself as the driving force behind the movement to uncover the Bruton Masonic Vault depository. After having met with Rev. Herman Hollerith IV, the Rector of the Bruton Parish Church the previous summer, he returned to Williamsburg in March, 2003 with his team to continue pushing the Church into authorizing a new, controlled archeological dig in an attempt to locate the Vault, so that its contents can be retrieved and studied.193 According to Marie Bauer, when the Vault is finally opened, it will “release the key to the location of similar

vaults in the various nations of Europe, and to disclose to the nations their participation in this great scheme of eliminating war from the face of the Earth.” Because of the significance of Bacon’s writings, the missing portion of New Atlantis, Richman believes that “this could stop the holy wars in the Middle East.”194 The group believed that the 1992 dig was unsuccessful because they had chosen the wrong spot. They now believe that underneath the pyramid-shaped tomb of David and Elizabeth Bray “is a spiral staircase that goes down to a freemasonry library.” Dr. Johnson, who took core samples at the site before, is willing to take more samples under the Bray monument.195 All along, Church officials have said there will be no more excavation work done. In a letter to Richman’s group, dated March

27, 2003, Hollerith wrote: “My official position on the matter of further archeological exploration in the churchyard is simply there will be none.”196 In addition, after an August 18, 2006 press conference by the group, Facilities Manager for Bruton Parish Church, Mike Wanless, told the Virginia Gazette, that “this is mythology. It’s an interesting story, but it’s a myth.” He told Richman: “The chance that you’ll be allowed to do any further excavation here is next to

193 Trindle, Tedi. “Return of the Vault People (Part 3, April 28, 2003).” The Piker Press <http://www.pikerpress.com/

article.php?aID=405> 194 Associated Press. “Mystics Say Hidden Vault Contains Secret to World Peace.” Wednesday, March 19, 2003

<http://paxmundus.come030323d.htm> 195 Associated Press. “Mystics Say Hidden Vault Contains Secret to World Peace.” Wednesday, March 19, 2003 <http://paxmundus.come030323d.htm> 196 Hollerith IV, Rev. Herman (Rector of Bruton Parish Church). March 27, 2003 letter to Fletcher Richman (and the

members of the Sir Francis Bacon’s Sages of the Seventh Seal).

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zero.”197 Why, in spite of the denials by Colonial Williamsburg and the Bruton Parish Church, won’t this story go away? Why, despite the absence of truly persuasive evidence, does the movement to excavate that area of the churchyard continue to garner interest and gain supporters? It’s a combination of things really. The biggest thing is probably because everyone loves a mystery. In the wake of the DaVinci Code, and National Treasure, it’s a story that has all the same kind of trappings that have been thrilling readers and moviegoers for the last few years. Williamsburg officials denied that the existence of the original foundations– insisting that the current Church was built on the foundations of the original church. And yet, after they were discovered, they covered them up again (at least for a while). At the Wren Building of William & Mary, they celebrated the discovery of the foundations for the West Wing, which was never built; yet Church officials covered up the foundations for the original church, which was built. How do you reconcile that action? It’s one of the irrational decisions that helped fuel the movement to seek the Vault. Though it’s not intentional, the Archaeological and Architectural Reports have a feeling of deception to them because of the uneven way they were prepared, and the secretive manner in which they seem to withhold information or never fully explain some of their findings. Because the different reports have different authors, the information flow is disjointed, but it still has enabled enough bits of information to be pieced together to reach a definite conclusion about the alleged Bruton Vault. If the Reports were more complete, with diagrams, measurements and pictures of any drain tunnels that were found, this full disclosure may have been enough to stave off any talk of tunnels leading to the Vault in the Churchyard. The simple fact is, there are tunnels beneath the ground in Williamsburg, but the truth is, they were built for the primary purpose of being drainage tunnels, and not to serve as the means to access a Vault that had supposedly been constructed beneath the original church. Digging, excavating, core samples and Ground Penetrating Radar have been done at the site of the original church, and nothing has been turned up, because there is no Vault there. It is an esoteric fable that has been passed down by secret societies, and given the necessary impetus by purely circumstantial evidence that continues to fuel the imagination of those that hear the story. To believe that a “treasure” of that magnitude was brought here just before the Jamestown Church was built, and then moved just before the church at Williamsburg was built, and then kept hidden all these years even though there were access tunnels to it, which little children were able to find, stretches credulity to its limits. One thing that has affected the credibility of the proponents of the Bruton Vault is the fact that many of them are New Age adherents who are engaged in Metaphysical studies. However, like it or not, our forefathers were involved in very secretive groups such as the Freemasons and Rosicrucians, whose rituals and ceremonies also delve into very metaphysical aspects. Nevertheless, I believe that the particular notion they have of who Francis Bacon was, is an over

197

Vaughan, Steve. “Vault Believers Want New Dig.” The Virginia Gazette, August 21, 2006 <http://www.sott.net /article/118387-Vault-believers-want-new-dig>

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exaggeration of the role he played in the colonization of America. There is absolutely no documentary evidence that he had any of his private papers or research sent to this country. Because he died unexpectedly, most likely he never even had a chance to finish New Atlantis, since what was published was considered “a work unfinished.” To believe that he had an entire body of work prepared for the time when this nation would be established is purely conjecture and has no basis in reality. In the original edition of this book, I was blinded by the thought of finding a missing piece of the puzzle that revealed a starting point for how the federal government has been able to manipulate the system in order to further their agenda. Although I still believe that agenda has led to our nation being on the precipice of Socialism, I no longer see its initial stirrings as emanating from what is contained in a vault under the remains of a colonial church. For this revised edition, I have approached this subject by simply looking at the facts and the evidence in the light of historical and archaeological perspective. It is so easy to be caught up in theories and wild stories that might be true, and as a researcher, I try to be open-minded, but I also have to be realistic. There comes a point when facts outweigh fantasy, and you are hit with the realization that what you think is there, is not there, and you have to move on. Too much time has been spent on this because I failed to initially follow through on my research, which is what necessitated this new edition. I’m sure there are going to be some who will read this and disregard it, because they still believe. Even when the evidence is standing right in front of them and slapping them in the face, they will choose to believe that what they have been holding onto all these years is not a lie. It’s funny, people who are involved in these esoteric groups never seem to achieve the level they’ve been promised; and those things that hold the very secrets of life continue to remain hidden. They serve only to deceive people and string them along, distracting them from what is really important. So, let’s look at the four possible scenarios in regard to the Bruton Vault:

1) The tunnel beneath Williamsburg is nothing more than a random group of drainage tunnels, and various testing at the foundations of the original church have more than proved that there is no hidden Vault underneath the Churchyard of the Bruton Parish Church.

2) Even though the tunnel beneath Williamsburg was publicly constructed as a drain tunnel, it was actually designed for the dual purpose of also being able to secretly access an unbreached Vault beneath the original foundations of the Bruton Parish Church.

3) W.A.R. Goodwin, the Rector of the Bruton Parish Church, who knew about the Vault, had the contents of the Vault removed to a secret location (most likely the College of William & Mary); and then used the existence of the Vault as a carrot to lure John D. Rockefeller, Jr. to invest his millions into the revitalization and reconstruction of Williamsburg.

4) When researching Williamsburg as a possible recipient of their philanthropic endeavors, the Rockefeller Foundation found out about the Vault, concentrated their initial efforts at that location, retrieved its contents, and is now engaged in a

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campaign to prevent the discovery of an empty Vault. Many Vault proponents believe the tunnel has been filled in with cement.

Even after I have laid out what I believe to be a convincing argument based on the facts, I believe that there will still be people who will continue to believe that the Vault is real, hoping that the Church will somehow change their mind to allow, as much as is possible, a complete excavation of the entire area of the original church– and not by Colonial Williamsburg, but an independent firm with no ties, commitments, and loyalties to the Foundation. I’m here to tell you, that is wishful thinking, and will never happen– so get over it and accept it. The Churchyard is a sacred place and it is history. Nobody should be digging there in a quest for an imaginary Vault. There is no documentation, there is no evidence, there is no proof and none of testing that has been done has given any indication of any kind of structure beneath the foundations. Even when I thought there was something to all of this, I was never a proponent for digging there, and advocated a less invasive method of searching for the Vault. I am referring to the use of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR). I always felt that it could be used along Duke of Gloucester Street to determine if there were tunnels emanating from the Custis-Maupin House, and the Geddy House; and along the grounds of the Wythe House. However, in light of the evidence that there are actually drain tunnels under the ground, that would skew the results, so there would have to be a more precise targeting and tracking. I believe that the “arched structure” exposed under the Bruton tower during the initial excavation, was one of these drain tunnels. I wasn’t able to find the orientation or what direction this ran. The Maupin sister did say that a tunnel ran through the Churchyard. There is a real possibility that there was a drain tunnel underneath the original Church that ran somewhere. By using GPR around the perimeter of the original foundation, maybe it could be located, and depending on its direction, there could be a spot where an excavation could be done to reach it. Its size would determine its purpose. If it is the smaller variety, then we would know it is a drain tunnel. If it is the larger variety, then it could be explored to see if it would lead to anything substantive. .

How Ground Penetrating Radar would be used

Obviously, if the tunnel is collapsed, that would not be an option, but it would still enable archaeologists to pinpoint exactly where it tracks, to see if it goes to the foundations, where

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perhaps calculations could be done. Then, if it didn’t compromise any of the graves, a decision would have to be made by the Church to excavate. However, my thinking is, if the tunnel is collapsed, there’s a good chance that any Vault would have also collapsed; and even if it hasn’t collapsed, in all likelihood its contents have probably been compromised due to the water table. Unless of course, the story is true, that everything placed there is in copper containers My firm belief is that the tunnel found under the bell tower was a drain tunnel, and has to emanate from somewhere. And because they know it is just a drain tunnel, it is not important to trace it. For example, the mouth of the tunnel at the Wren Building is big enough for a cat to get in, so in that regard, it is a very unremarkable architectural feature. In other locations, where the tunnel is much bigger, they have devoted more attention to it. Nowhere in Williamsburg has there been found a tunnel specifically designed for the movement of people. Again, that part of the Bruton Vault legend is a complete fabrication– an exaggeration of the existence of the drain tunnels. In regard to anything being done there, it has been implied that the Church doesn’t even own that part of the property. It’s been said that the Bray family still owns the area of the Churchyard where the original foundations lay; and it would be up to them whether or not they would allow a controlled, professional, and precise excavation once it has been determined that there may be something there. In September, 1991, at a hearing following her illegal digging in the Churchyard, Marsha Middleton brought up the accusation that the Church doesn’t own that portion of the grounds, that the Bray family holds the deed. However, Vernon Geddy Jr, the Church’s attorney and a trustee of the Church, said that he, George F. Wright and I.L. Jones Jr. as trustees, “are the legally appointed owners of the property,” and did not comment on her claim.198 Fletcher Richman told me that if the Vault was ever found, he wanted it to be exhumed and taken to a facility where it could be stored in a controlled environment, and its contents examined, photographed and scanned so that the information can be shared and studied. However, it is highly unlikely that the Vault would be removed, simply because it is an historical artifact; though, because of its location, restoring it and creating an access to it for tourists would be impossible. I had always thought that if an empty, intact Vault was found, the Foundation would be forced to respond to charges of confiscating its contents, instead of making it public. However, since other vaults were found under other buildings, the presence of an empty vault is not all that unusual, as structures such as this could have been used for a variety of things. I’m hoping that this book will, once and for all, end all the speculation regarding the existence of the Bruton Vault. As exciting as it is, it is totally implausible and has no historical basis. As much as I would like to have absolute proof, there are no funds available to pursue a quest that has no tangible proof behind it. I think that Vault proponents should consider themselves fortunate to have been able to get what they have already gotten just on the basis of hearsay. There was nothing written in Francis Bacon’s hand (or even a descendent), no Masonic documents and no Church records that offer any indication of the existence of a Vault. It is a theory based on

198 Cuoto, Lucinda. “Bruton Bars Diggers From Churchyard.” Daily Press (Hampton Roads, VA), September 26,

1991 <http://articles.dailypress.com/1991-09-26/news/9109260052_1_marsha-middleton-churchyard-bruton-parish-church>

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information passed down by secret societies and esoteric researchers. I’m sorry, I think we need more than that. Over three hundred years ago, a group of men buried and kept hidden something that could reveal the very framework of what eventually became our federal government. A government that is now too big, and out of control. A government that will soon turn on its own people, so they can control every aspect of our lives. Was this actually the type of government envisioned by our forefathers– part of an overall plan that would usher in the type of system needed to be in place for a particular purpose? Or, was our system of government supposed to be based Christianity and Godly principles? The documents placed in the Bruton Vault could very well answer the question about where we are as a nation, and why. Yeah, it’s a real neat story– but it’s not true.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Colonial Williamsburg

P.O. Box 1776 Williamsburg, VA 23187

(757)220-7650 http://research.history.org/

jmurray@cwf.org

Architectural Research: Bruton Heights School (Room 132)

301 First Street Williamsburg, VA 23185

Archaeological Research: Franklin Street Annex

429 Franklin Street Williamsburg, VA 23185

It is with extreme gratitude that I give thanks to Colonial Williamsburg for being able to access their vast archaeological and historic archives for documentation and images.

The College of William & Mary 104 Jamestown Road, Williamsburg, VA 23185

P.O. Box 8795, Williamsburg, VA 23187 (757)221-4314

http://www.wm.edu living@wm.edu

My profound thanks to Louise Lambert Kale, former Executive Director of the Historic Campus (the 3 original Colonial buildings) for taking the time to respond to my Emails, help me with my research, and give me a tour of the Wren Building basement. Without her contribution, this book would not be as effective in being able to present the full story of the Bruton Vault.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Rivera has been studying and researching the New World Order and its relationship to Bible prophecy for over 35 years. He has an Associate in Arts (Paralegal) Degree from the Harrisburg Area Community College, and majored in Psychology and Public Policy at the Pennsylvania State University. As a young man he was very active in grassroots politics and held various positions in the local Party. He was the recipient of the 1979 and 1981 ‘Outstanding Young Man of America’ Award from the U.S. Jaycees. He completed a 2-year Bible School program through Bill Anderson Ministries International and has undergone ministry training in his Church. David is the author of Final Warning: A History of the New World Order (Progressive Press, 2010) which is available in paperback from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. It is the definitive and most widely distributed book on world government. He has written the following eBooks: Controlled by the Calendar: The Pagan Origins of Our Major Holidays (1997), Understanding ‘The Matrix’ (2008), A Study of the Gospels: Reconciling the New Testament Canon (2008), A Study of the Epistles: A Complete Look at the Doctrine That Established the Church (2010), Rendering Unto God: What Does the Bible Really Say About Tithing (2004, 2013), Being a Tribulation Christian: Holding Onto Your Faith in the Last Days (2013); and an expanded edition of Final Warning: A History of the New World Order (2013). He was also the Proofreader and Editor of the book Double Honor: Uprooting Shame In Your Life (1999) by Pastor Melodye Hilton (Giving Light Christian Fellowship, Elizabethville, PA). He lives in central Pennsylvania with his wife of 29 years. Thousands of copies of his books have been read and downloaded by people in 180 countries.

Since 1938, a small group of esoteric researchers have attempted to garner public support to force the Bruton Parish Episcopal Church in Williamsburg, VA to allow an excavation beneath the foundations of the original church in the cemetery behind their current building. They believe that a secret 300 year old Masonic vault twenty feet below the ground is protecting a priceless collection of information, artifacts, and treasure. Now, after 75 years, the truth is finally revealed. Illustrated with 186 photographs and graphics.

David Allen Rivera is the author of Final Warning: A History of the New World Order (Progressive Press, 2010), the most definitive and widely distributed book about world government, as well as 6 eBooks which are freely available on his website.

RIVERA

ENTERPRISES

Genre: History, Esoteric, Nonfiction and Expose’