oak island nova scotia

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Oak Island – With heavy heart

Out on tour yesterday, in front of the Money Pit on Oak Island

It’s with heavy heart I work, as a volunteer, what probably will be my final weekend, on Oak Island, possibly ever.

I’ve been involved, as a founding director and initially as the chairperson, of the Friends of Oak Island Society, since it’s inception in 2009. A very small group of us founded the society when Oak Island Tourism Society ceased to exist.

OAK ISLAND, quite frankly, is a national treasure. It is home to the worlds longest active treasure hunt. The island has what appears to be a huge underground complex of pits and tunnels, to protect whatever treasure or artifacts lay below at a great depth…it is fascinating mystery. Treasure hunting has again resumed following the acquisition of a 5 year treasure trove license from the government. The “Michigan Group” (a really lovely bunch of guys) who are 50/50 partners with Dan Blankenship, are so committed to resolving the mystery, in a way that is sympathetic to the island, environment and to the local economy.

The Friends of Oak Island Society, wished to bring regular, private guided tours to the island throughout the summer to raise awareness and keep alive the historical path of this treasure hunt. The island is private and therefore we have had to work with the owners, who have been incredibly supportive, to achieve this. All money raised through tours is put straight back in to improving the visitors centre (which we resurrected), tour signage, improvements as well as the ongoing cost of special tour insurance and equipment.

We give of our time freely and love every moment of it! The tours will continue (if we can get more volunteers) but I’ll just be unable to be part of them.

This will leave a huge gap in my life..

C xxxx

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Volunteering makes me happy

One of the greatest pleasures, since moving to Nova Scotia, here in Canada 8 years ago, has been the enjoyment integrating into the community via non-profit organizations, festivals and events  in our area. I am PASSIONATE about what Nova Scotia has to offer tourism. Over the years I’ve volunteered, fundraised, done publicity and media, chaired or just been an extra pair of hands for some great local events or places such as, The Settlers Museum, Mahone Bay Wooden Boat Festival, Mahone Bay Classic Boat Festival, Mahone Bay Father Christmas Festival, Mahone Bay Wooden Boat Society, Mahone Bay Civic Marina, Mahone Bay Pirate Festival, Growing Green Festival and the Friends of Oak Island Society.

ALL these organizations run on the goodness and freewill of unpaid volunteers. Without them our festivals and events would not thrive and would soon become obsolete. They still do… the struggle to maintain volunteers is a constant one so please consider offering to be an extra pair of hands or to be involved and pre-event organizing. These events NEED YOU!

I digress…

My biggest integration at the moment is as a founding director of the wonderful “Friends of Oak Island Society”. We formed our non-profit group to promote and educate people on Oak Island and it’s mystery and we work closely with Dan Blankenship and the Michigan Group (equal partners in Oak Island Tours inc which are the current treasure hunters) to provide monthly tours to the public from June until September. It’s the only opportunity the public now have to set foot on the island. Oak Island is the site of the worlds longest running treasure hunt. The island is private but hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world are fascinated by the story and the many theories surrounding it. Is it Knights Templar via Henry Sinclair,  Spanish treasure, Sir Francis Bacon or is there nothing there at all? But there IS something there, an extensive huge network of flooding systems and tunnels… millions of dollars have been spent but yet the island has not given up her mystery.

Today I am out on the island again. We have an awesome visitors centre we resurrected, all hands on deck. One day I even turned up to help out and found 89 year old Dan Blankenship up on the roof with hammer and nails laying the roofing. So today I’ll do my session in the visitors centre and enjoy watching people from all over the world, descend on us and then go out for the 2 hour guided walking tour around the island (lots of exercise!!) to all the places of significance. It’s great exercise and I never grow tired of listening to our awesome tour guide Charles Barkhouse, share his knowledge.

Enjoy your weekend!

C xxxxxxx