The small, black pickup truck raced past Lawson’s Quarry in pursuit of North Haven Road, dodging pedestrians and passing slower cars. Once at its destination, the driver flew out the door while two of his accomplices jumped out of the back. “Go, go, go!” yelled a woman in the truck bed, “Hurry up!”
“I got it!” yelled the driver, as he grabbed their objective and ran back to the truck. As he squealed out of the driveway, his partners dove into the truck bed just in time, the first part of their mission accomplished.
This wasn’t a get-away chase. It was Vinalhaven’s Fourth of July Treasure Hunt, where speed and local savvy count for everything.
Each Independence Day for the past five years, the Vinalhaven Historical Society has organized a treasure hunt, sending teams of up to five people to 12 different island landmarks. The teams’ mission: To be the first to complete a series of clues regarding the island’s rich history. High-speed chases are optional.
Team Bunker, an island family consisting of Captain Mike, his wife Lorraine, their daughter Hillary, another daughter’s husband Joe Bickford, and Lorraine’s father Paul Chilles, have participated in the treasure hunt every year and won twice. This year, Mike and Paul navigated inside the truck while Joe, Hillary, Lorraine and her niece Sarah James, just along for the ride, sat on old spare car seats set up in the truck bed, seatbelts still in tact.
Not that the buckles were used.
As Mike raced to each location on the island, Joe and Hillary would prepare to leap out of the truck, search for the can that held their next clue hidden on doorsteps, in the grass, next to mailboxes and even in a resident’s home, and hop back into the bed feet first. Every second counted as the team ripped open their clue envelopes, discussed the information and raced to their next location.
“We’re on record pace right now,” Joe said. “We’ve never gone this fast.”
Vinalhaven Historical Society President Bill Chilles, who is also Paul’s son, and Historical Society Director Sue Radley warned that the teams get competitive. For Team Bunker, the roads seemed full of Sunday drivers, with Mike passing several cars to save time. “Go back to Massachusetts!” Joe yelled from the back of the truck.
The clues and hints for the hunt—incorporating everything from famous islanders, granite quarries and dynamite sheds, to former businesses and old pictures of dirt roads and estates—are created and organized by Chilles, Radley, volunteer Elizabeth Bickford and Fourth of July Committee member Samantha Carter. “We have a folder that during the course of the year if something pops in your head, you just jot it down and throw it in there,” Chilles said.
The treasure hunt organizers spend hours creating the clues. Each team has the same set of clues and visits the same places on the island, but in a different order. The clues are in envelopes marked with a color and a clue number and are hidden in tin cans at each location. One clue read: The home of the largest taxpayer in Vinalhaven in 1865 was the man who owned this house. He started a fish curing business here on the island. (Answer: The old Rockaway Inn on Lane’s Island.)
“It’s a huge effort,” said Chilles, “making sure people don’t cross paths and don’t get confused.” Radley estimated she and her collaborators spend close to 20 hours working on the hunt. But, said Carter, “It’s fun.” Participants learn a lot about island history. Most important of all, “they want the bragging rights” that come with winning.
Each clue also has a hint envelope, but it comes with a price: Five minutes deducted from the team’s final time if opened. Team Bunker was forced to open four hint envelopes, a number Mike was not pleased with. “Four’s a lot better than the five or six we opened last year,” Joe reminded him.
The treasure hunt teams consist of primarily local islanders, although a team that didn’t grow up on the island finished first in the past. The team’s secret weapon: Valerie Morton, Vinalhaven’s librarian. Local knowledge is good. So is age. “Most teams try to get more seasoned natives who know about island history,” Carter said.
Chilles and Radley incorporated some twists into this year’s treasure hunt. “Bill found an old postcard with a picture of a car on it, and he knew who the original owner of the car was,” said Radley. For that clue, the teams had to look at the picture and go to the house where the car owner lived.
After a couple of mistakes, some run-ins with other teams, a quick referral to one of the island’s history books, and a few close calls with bicycles, the Bunkers read their last clue. They raced towards Reta’s Island Beauty Shop, a business that once occupied the building beside The Sand Bar restaurant, where the hunt ends every year.
After the times were calculated, Team Bunker finished in 1 hour 57 minutes and 20 seconds, but was edged out by Team Hopkins, another island family, with a time of 1 hour 50 minutes and 50 seconds. The two other teams, Team Geeze and Team Lazaro, came in third with 2 hours and 30 seconds and fourth with 2.5 hours, respectively.
“We had a ringer,” confessed winner Jean Thompson of Team Hopkins, pointing to lifelong resident and teammate Dallas Anthony.
Mike Bunker plans to spend a lot of time hitting the books to get ready for next year’s hunt. “We’re gonna study more and spend more time at the Historical Society,” he said. “A couple of the clues got us, but it was fun.”
Claire Carter is a Vinalhaven resident and is participating in The Working Waterfront’s student writers program.