Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
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Fort Pierce was incorporated as a city 124 years ago. Here are five facts about Fort Pierce.
- Started as a new wilderness outpost on Jan. 2, 1838, for U.S. Army soldiers during the Second Seminole War
- Named for the first commander, Lt. Col. Benjamin Kendrick Pierce, whose brother became President Franklin Pierce
- Remained active until 1842 when U.S. forces ended their campaign against the Seminoles, and later was destroyed by fire in 1843
- Incorporated on Feb. 2, 1901, as the seat of St. Lucie County
- Nicknamed the “Sunrise City” as its sister city, San Francisco, is nicknamed the “Sunset City”
Here is the link for more.
5 facts about Fort Pierce, a 124-year-old city on the Treasure Coast
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| Looking Through the Water. |
Can you see the bottle in the above photo?
It isn't easy, but here it is.
With practice you can get better at picking out things like that.
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I received the following email from Warren D.
I've never expressed much interest in "Celtic" history, pretty ignorant of the subject like most Americans, but I just happened to have acquired this book and was in the process of transferring it to a friend who owns a used bookstore. When I saw yesterday's blog about the Celtic coin hoard, I pulled out the book (published in 1975) and reviewed the Table of Contents.
After a few minutes of reading, I learn that Cunobelinus was a Celtic king who the Romans defeated near Dover, around 47 AD, Subsequently the Romans continued to advance. With the aid of a Celtic tribunal leader's wife, Cartimandua, who wanted to betray her husband to continue an affair with her husband's much younger weapon's bearer, the Roman's secured the tribunal area as a protectorate. She was thus protected by the Romans against her vindictive husband and her affair could con tinue.
After securing the foothold in Britain, the Roman conquest of Britain and northern Europe conquest could continue. Amazing how a used book could add interest to the news of a treasure find.
My friend says some visitors to her bookstore say they don't see any research value here.
The store has 150,000 books?
Maybe the ability to "research" requires some imagination, the ability to make correlations, make suppositions as necessary and be willing to go down various rabbit holes to learn what we don't already know.
Warren D.
Thanks Warren. I agree.
Going through books is very much like a treasure hunt. You never know when you'll find something useful or interesting or perhaps even mind changing. Years ago, I wrote an article entitled Treasure Books and Book Treasure that was published in a treasure magazine.
Books can be real treasures in another way. There are valuable rare or antique collectible books. Some have fine bindings of tooled leather. Some are prized literary works.
You can occasionally find valuable books in bookstores or thrift stores. Sometimes they are signed by famous authors or celebrities. Occasionally you can find money or valuables secreted between the pages.
People often say, "If only that coin or artifact could speak." Well books do speak.
Books are durable three-dimensional objects. I like the physical nature of books. You always have a sense of location when using a book. You can see where you are in the book and where things are on the page. That is not as trivial as it sounds. Digital sources may provide page numbers, but you don't get the same feel of where you are in the document. Digital documents are more amorphous and less stable.
Being physical objects, you can go back to a book after many years and find the thing you were looking for. It hasn't disappeared or been modified. It stays the same. There are times when that is a real benefit.
Of course, there are benefits to digital media, but there are also some ways in which books are better. There are times when you just want to type in a quick query and get a quick response and you might not have the book you need.
Books have a personality. Besides the physical characteristics, you can see the thought process of an author or authors. There is much more to a book than simple text.
You can probably tell that I like books and would like to say a lot more about why, but I'll stop there for now with the exception of showing a few examples.
The first example below is my oldest book find. It is an 18th century book. The photo shows a couple things I'd like to point out. Notice the bookplate. There are people who collect book plates. See A Bookplate Junkie on the Basics of Collecting Ex Libris | Collectors Weekly
Books were prized personal possessions and proud owners would add their bookplate or write their name in the book. This one has a bookplate and also a pen and ink name and date along with a few additional scribbles.
Sometimes you'll find the names of people who you can research and find out more about.
Travel logs are popular in the book market. The one above has nice gilt decorative binding.
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| A Couple Books on the History of New Orleans and Boston. |
All of the books above were found in thrift stores or library sales and purchased for next to nothing. That is just a sampling. You can also find atlases, maps and books on the Civil War or whatever your interest might be.
These books all contain nice illustrations. Some contain old maps.
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Expect a one to two foot surf for at least the next week.
The weather remains beautiful for being out on the beach,
Good hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net