“But the leather pouch was never returned to Anockus,” said Peter.
“Somehow, Professor Brown acquired it and figured out what the symbols stood for. He wanted it returned to its original owners — Anockus’s people — the Wampanoag.”
Meg and Peter took the leather pouch to the curator of Native American artifacts at the museum. She was thrilled to have it for their collection.
Meg and Peter congratulated themselves on solving the case, but they couldn’t help imagining what it must have been like to live in Plimoth in the 1620s as a Wampanoag or as an immigrant to the new land.
“I’ll never forget the name Anockus,” said Meg wistfully.
“Nutmeg, I’ll never remember the name ‘Remember’,” Peter replied.
History Mystery #2
The Minuteman’s Secret
“Menotomy, Massachusetts, is the next stop on our history mystery tour,” said Peter as he held up the slip of paper. He unfolded a map of the United States. “Here’s Menotomy, near Boston.”
“I’ve seen the name Menotomy on a few sites near Boston,” Gramps told them. “Let’s go to a local library and find out where it is, or was. Many old villages are swallowed by bigger towns and lost in history.”
Meanwhile, Meg was carefully lifting all the artifacts from the old chest and studying them for clues. Suddenly she noticed something connected the location with an artifact.
What did Meg notice? Which artifact belongs with this mystery?
“What about this old sampler?” Meg suggested.
“What exactly is a sampler?” Peter asked, as he watched for road signs out the window.
“Young girls made them to practice their sewing skills.” Meg studied the old cloth. “It’s signed Abigail Hopkins. That’s one of the names Professor Brown gave us. She was ten years old and she lived in Menotomy!”
“And check out the date!” Meg exclaimed. “Abigail made it in 1775.” Meg couldn’t take her eyes off the intricately embroidered alphabet. She ran her fingers along the letters. The colors of the silk thread were faded; the linen brittle with age.
“Meg, look at the last line she sewed: ‘To W.D. The secret to the silver is hidden under the sta.’ It definitely sounds like the clue to the history mystery. Isn’t it weird that she didn’t finish? What do you think happened to her?”
“We should read the clues before we start jumping to conclusions,” suggested Meg.
“Good idea,” said Gramps as he handed the envelope to them. Meg opened the envelope. “This is an odd looking clue,” she said.
How could you read this message?
“I’ve got an idea,” said Meg, climbing into the front seat.
She pulled the passenger visor down and held the message in front of the mirror. “Reflect the message in the mirror!”
“Hey! I know Arlington! That’s where Willy’s cousin lives!” Peter said. “It’s by Cambridge, just outside of Boston.”
“Then we should go to the Arlington Public Library,” said Meg as she carefully packed the sampler into her detective knapsack.
When they arrived in Arlington, Gramps went to get lunch, and Meg and Peter headed to the library. “The town of Arlington used to be called Menotomy, the Native American name,” explained the librarian as she pored over the old record books. “And yes, there was a girl named Abigail Hopkins who lived here. She was the daughter of Ezekial and Anna Hopkins. She’s buried in the old town cemetery up the hill. Her gravestone is probably very worn, but you might be able to find it.”
“This is creepy,” said Peter, “but I like it.”
“We’d better hurry,” Meg advised. “Gramps told us to meet him at the minivan at one o’clock. That doesn’t give us much time.”
After an hour’s search, Meg called out, “Peter, I found it! It’s so sad; Abigail died of a fever April 30, 1775.”
“So that’s why she never finished the sampler,” said Peter.
Meg took the sampler out of her knapsack. “Look at the last line — I guess Abigail was in the middle of telling someone about the silver when she became ill.”
“Yeah, or maybe that last line is just a silly old nursery rhyme,” Peter said, taking the sampler from Meg. He stared at the date. “April 1775 — I know that date is important…”
What happened in April 1775?
“I’ve got it!” exclaimed Peter. “It’s from the poem I memorized for class. Paul Revere’s Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.” He recited the beginning, quite dramatically:
Listen, my, children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.
“Peter, you’re right,” said Meg. “Paul Revere rode north from Boston through this area to warn the colonists at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. He was one of the minutemen! I wonder what his secret was?”
“Quick, let’s check with the librarian again and see if he passed through this town. Maybe that’s the night Abigail wrote the message,” Meg said, dashing with her brother back to the library.
What would you do next?
“Yes, indeed, this town was on Paul Revere’s route to Lexington and Concord,” the librarian explained. She smiled at the young historians before her as she pulled out a map. “William Dawes, the other rider, also rode through Menotomy.”
“William Dawes!” Meg exclaimed. She almost fell off the edge of her seat.
Why did Meg jump at the mention of William Dawes?
“The message on the sampler was inscribed to W. D. It’s got to be William Dawes! Maybe he stopped at Abigail’s house to get a drink of water for his horse or something,” she said excitedly. “Imagine being awakened by the call, ‘The British are coming!’”
“What they called out, Meggers was ‘the Regulars are coming’,” Peter told her, somewhat smugly.
Meg barely heard Peter; she was so caught up in her thoughts.
“You’re letting your imagination run a little wild,” Peter cautioned.
“That’s what imaginations are for, aren’t they?” Meg retorted, turning to ask the librarian where Abigail’s home was located. “Was it along William Dawes’ route? Is it still there?” The librarian studied another old town map.
“Yes!” answered the amazed librarian. “Abigail’s house was on the route, and if it’s the house I’m thinking of, it’s still standing, though it’s fallen into disrepair. It’s along the old main road, as many old houses are,” she remarked.
“It’s probably an old cape or colonial house. Let me show you a diagram of an early American house in this book so you’ll know what to look for.”
How can you tell if a building is old?
“Notice how the beams were hand-cut and then numbered and framed together, practically like Lincoln logs,” the librarian continued. “Here are some examples of different styles of old houses. Sometime you can tell an old house by the shape of the roof and other architectural features. You can borrow this book if you like.”
“Thanks, we may need it,” Meg said, and then she and Peter set off to find the old Hopkins’ place. “I’m willing to bet the house will hold another clue to the mystery,” Meg said confidently.
What do you think it would be like to live in a colonial house?
It wasn’t hard to find the ramshackle house with its steep roof and weathered sides. Some carpenters were there, restoring the structure. They were curious about Meg and Peter’s history mystery, so they gave them permission to go inside to search for clues.
Inside, it was dark and the ceilings were low. Doors hung from broken hinges and the wide Plank wood floorboards were slanted with age.
“It even smells old,” remarked Meg. “Fortunately, it doesn’t look like much has changed over the years.” She brought out her notes. “The secret to the silver is under the sta.” She read quietly to herself.
; What words begin with ‘sta’?
“It’s got to be stable,” said Peter. “If Abigail did give Dawes’ horse water, it makes sense that she hid the silver in the stable.” Peter dashed out back to explore, leaving Meg alone in the mysterious old house to think.
She remembered from her history class that many early American houses had secret hiding places, and that often they were found near the chimney or built in under the s-t-a-i-r-s!
Meg knocked on the wood next to the stairs.
One panel sounded hollow. She pulled at it and sure enough, it gave way, revealing a space big enough to hold a small family. Meg got out her flashlight to investigate, just as Peter burst back into the room. “There isn’t a stable — Meg … Meg, where are you?”
“Boo!” Meg yelled, peeking out from the secret door.
“Abigail meant stairs not stable,” Meg said. “Come in here and see what’s carved in the wood: ‘Beehive is the key, A. H.’ What do you think that clue means?”
“We’ll never find a beehive,” Peter frowned. “It would be long gone.”
Meg studied her notes, reviewing all the information they’d learned thus far. “I know what beehive she means!” shouted Meg, playfully shining the flashlight in Peter’s face and then running off.
Where did Meg run? Hint: look at the illustration of the house on page 32.
“In colonial times, brick ovens were often made in the shape of beehives. They were built in the back of the fireplace or next to it — just like this one,” Meg explained to Peter. Searching the inside of the oven, they found a loose brick, which she carefully dislodged. Tucked behind it was a tightly wrapped piece of cloth. Meg gingerly unfolded the material.
“It’s an old key!” said Peter.
“I wonder what it opens? Look, there’s a letter ‘V’ on the cloth. Maybe it’s a clue.”
“I’m stumped,” said Meg. She stared at her notes. “We’re so close to solving the case. What could the ‘V’ mean — violin, venison, violets, vase, vault?”
“Maybe the V is upside down … and it means the point of the roof?” suggested Peter.
“Let’s check it out,” offered Meg, and they climbed the steep narrow stairs to the attic. They searched high and low but could not find another clue or the silver.
Then Meg noticed the symbols carved on the crossbeams: I, II, III. Each symbol on the beam matched a symbol on the rafter it was notched into. She thought about what the librarian had told her about how old houses were put together. “I’ve solved the mystery, Peter!” she said. “I know where Abigail Hopkins hid the silver on April 18, 1775.”
What did the ‘V’ stand for? Where is the Minuteman’s secret silver hidden?
When Meg saw the I, II, and III, she realized that they were Roman numerals and that the ‘V’ stands for Roman numeral five. She deduced that the silver was hidden near the fifth rafter and the fifth crossbeam. She and Peter found a small tin box wedged into the space there. Meg took the key they’d found in the beehive oven and unlocked the box. Inside was a folded piece of parchment paper with the initials W.D.
Meg unfolded the parchment and tilted it into the palm of Peter’s hand — three silver coins and a tightly rolled note from Abigail spilled out.
Meg and Peter figured that Abigail hid the coins near the fifth rafter and then hid the key to the box in the beehive oven.
She might not have told her parents because she didn’t want to worry them, given all the turmoil of the times.
Abigail and her family probably hid in the secret place while they feared the British were marching through town. While in hiding, Abigail left another clue to help Mr. Dawes find the coins, in case anything happened to them. Tragically, Abigail took ill with a fever shortly after that night and sewed the final clue into her sampler before she died. Her parents were probably too grief-stricken to notice the message. William Dawes may have returned for the coins, but seeing a home in mourning, he turned away. Maybe he decided that Abigail deserved the coins for helping him that fateful night.
“But why isn’t William Dawes as famous as Paul Revere?” Peter wondered when they told the story to Gramps.
Gramps paused for a second, then said, “Maybe it has something to do with Longellow’s poem about Paul Revere.”
“What do you mean?” asked Meg.
“Maybe Paul Revere became even more famous for the midnight ride because Longellow wrote the poem about him,” Gramps went on, “probably because it was easier to find words to rhyme with Revere than with Dawes:
Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere…”
“Hmmm.” said Peter: “It could have been:
Listen, children, and we shall pause
To hear the story of William Dawes…”
“You’ll have to write that poem, Peter,” said Meg.
“I think I will,” said Peter. “William Dawes, unsung hero! And we’ll give the coins to the Arlington Library for their historic collection.”
Continue the poem about William Dawes
History Mystery #3
Witness at Washington
“So long Boston! From now on this history mystery tour is heading west!” Meg Mackintosh called out from the minivan.
“To be more exact, we are going southwest, down the East Coast to Washington, D.C.,” said her brother, Peter.
“This is just one of many long traveling days,” their grandfather told them. “So I’ll let you get started on your next history mystery — Witness at Washington.”
“Witness to what?” wondered Meg.
Gramps peered quickly in the envelope. “There are four clues. Here’s the first.”
Peter looked at the clue. “It’s the cover of an old almanac.”
“What exactly is an almanac?” Meg asked.
Clue 1
“An almanac is a book of facts that is published every year,” Gramps explained to them. “In old days, most people didn’t own clocks or calendars, so they relied on an almanac to figure out the best time to plant and harvest crops and fish.”
“Well, I know who wrote an almanac — Poor Richard,” said Meg as she got out her notebook. “He said things like ‘a penny saved is a penny earned’.”
“A poor guy named Richard didn’t write it,” said Peter.
“He didn’t?” Meg hated being wrong. She ignored Peter and stared at the almanac cover. Then she got out her magnifying glass. “Wait a minute. This almanac has clues all over it!”
Who wrote Poor Richard’s Almanac? What clues did Meg detect? What do the circled letters spell? Who do you think is the next History mystery child?
“Poor Richard’s Almanac was really written by Benjamin Franklin,” said Peter. “Poor Richard was a pen name.”
“Oh, right. I forgot,” Meg admitted.
“The author of this almanac was another Benjamin — Benjamin Banneker. There’s a picture of him and his name right at the top.”
“So now we know who the next history mystery child is,” said Peter as he glanced at the list. “Ten to one it’s a Robert Banneker.”
“He’s got to be related to Benjamin Banneker,” Meg agreed. “There’s more,” said Meg. “See the circled letters.”
Peter called out the letters, “E-Y-E-P-I-E-C-E.”
“Eyepiece?” Meg and Peter were baffled. “What could an eyepiece have to do with the history mystery? Gramps, we need more clues.”
“Okay, here are the second and third clues from the Professor,” said Gramps as he handed them into the back seat. “Maybe these will keep you busy until we get to Washington.”
What is clue two? Can you decode clue three?
Peter stared at clue two. “This has to be an old map of Washington, D.C. It faintly says ‘Capitol’ here.” He pointed. And the ‘X’ must mark the spot where we’re supposed to go. But everything just looks like a bunch of shapes.”
“The City of Washington was designed by a Frenchman, Pierre L’Enfant,
” Gramps informed them. “He planned the city to be on a geometric grid with diagonal avenues that created rectangles, triangles, and even circles and squares for parks and gardens.”
“It’s a nice design,” Meg said, glancing at the old map. Then she resumed writing in her notebook. “But I’m trying to figure out where we should go first when we arrive in Washington. This is an alphabet code and A=E.”
“We should go to the Smithsonian Institution.” Meg tossed her pencil in the air.
“That’s exactly where I wanted to go,” said Gramps. “The largest museum in the United States!”
Peter got out a new city map of Washington to locate the Smithsonian.
“We should go to the Museum of American History at the Smithsonian for the purposes of our investigation,” he suggested.
What do you notice about the location of the Smithsonian?
“Just as I thought, the Smithsonian is located at the spot marked off on the old map!” Peter blurted out.
The next morning that’s exactly where they went.
Peter bought a history book at the museum bookstore that had information about Benjamin Banneker.
“Listen to this, Meg. Benjamin Banneker was an inventor, astronomer, writer, and mathematician. He was born a free black in the British Colony of Maryland in 1731. Banneker taught himself the principles of mathematics and science and became interested in astronomy in 1788, when his neighbor George Ellicott lent him some astronomical instruments.”
“He sounds like a genius!” Meg commented as she scribbled down notes.
“There’s more,” Peter continued. “He was one of the surveyors of Washington, D.C.”
What other famous American was a surveyor? Where should they go?
“George Washington was a surveyor before he became commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Army,” Meg declared. “I read that in a biography about him.”
“What do surveyors do?” asked Peter.
“They measure land with instruments and draw pictures of it,” said Gramps. “Let’s see if this book tells us anything. Oh, here it is. It says Washington chose the site. He met with some of the surveyors. Banneker helped with the surveying.”
Meg Mackintosh Solves Seven American History Mysteries Page 2
