Honey Island Swamp Gold Coins

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Honey Island Swamp Gold Coins

Lost Treasure LA • St. Tammany Parish County
Description
1907 discovery of more than $1,000 in 1827-dated gold coins buried on Honey Island in the Pearl River swamp — mystery as to who hid them; linked to Lafitte-era smugglers and river pirates.
Historical Notes
In November 1907 the New Orleans Item reported Monroe Tally and James Culbert dug up over $1,000 in gold coins dated 1827 on Honey Island, about forty miles from New Orleans in St. Tammany Parish. No local theory explained the cache. Gumbo Ya-Ya and Tammany Family history tie the Pearl River swamp to Jean Lafitte, Pierre Rameau's Chats-Huants (Screech Owls), and other outlaw societies who used the inaccessible bayous as Robbers' Roost. A separate tale describes an iron chest of 1827 Mexican coins worth about $1,000 found by hunters; frantic searching found nothing else.
Status / Verification legend — Legendary or approximate

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