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In the early 80's something strange and
mysterious was found at the bottom of Crescent Lake. No, it wasn't
Cressie Nessie. Clark Moore wrote about the discovery in the
1999 Chronicles. Here's the
complete article from Clark:
By Clark Moore, map site 22
It was a summer day in 1983 and scuba diver Jan Narushof from Clare-mont
was "goofin around" the bottom of our lake. He was looking for
Fish¬ing lures. We have a large supply, as most of you know. Jan
noticed rocks piled in a strange way. As he started to move them, he
noticed the tip of what looked like a canoe. He soon realized it was
a dugout canoe. Ninety-five percent of the canoe was buried in mud
and filled with rocks.
Later, after unloading the rocks, the canoe was raised by using a
lift bag. This is something divers use. A Large balloon is
positioned over the object to be lifted. As the balloon is inflated,
up comes the object. What appeared was not the Titanic but what was
eventually determined to be a 17-foot Abenaki canoe of the 17th
century.
Isn't that interesting? Jan told me that large white pine trees were
prone to center rot and made excellent canoes. Usually they were
hollowed out by burning the logs and carving the remainder.
The canoes were buried in the lake to keep them from being chewed by
porcupines and from thieves (finders keepers). Also, mud is a good
preservative because it keeps the oxygen out. So, good old Crescent
Lake mud did the trick
What happened to the canoe? Thanks to Jan it is now on display at
the Fort at Number 4 in
Charlestown.
An Indian trail once went through what is now the Unity/Acworth town
line. So, who knows what else is down at the bottom of Crescent
Lake? Besides my lost tools, that is. I'll bet you would like to
know the exact spot where Jan found the canoe, Shh, don't tell, but
it is 30 yards off shore from Camp/ Cottage/ Cabin/ Castle 73,
straight out from the dock.
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