New England ExplorersExploration & Adventurers in New England

This past fall and winter we decided to hunt down caves in southeastern New England that are seldom visited or long forgotten. We dug through our library of historic books and documents and began to make a list. As has often happened in the past we came across one a cave we were eager to hunt for when we read about it years ago, but were tied up with other project. Over time we had forgotten about it. We thought now was the best time to act on it before it would again be put off once again.

From 1786 – 1795 counterfeiters were forging Spanish silver coins at a rocky ridge on the south side of a ravine deep in the forests of Southeastern New England. Tradition says that at this same location there was a small rocky cave they used to hide their tools and money. This cave was entered from above through a triangular opening that could easily be hidden by a rock slab that fit the opening well. The Counterfeiters Den was large enough for three men.

The counterfeiters were eventually caught and tried in a court of law. Their forging was discovered because of one of them, intoxicated by his sudden spurious wealth, began passing large amounts of counterfeit money to local business men at a nearby town. Though the court was aware of the den, its location and the tools used, they were not found not guilty. It was believe that was due to important local people were thought to have been involved. Their careers as criminals now left them poor and stained their reputation for the rest of their lives.

We spent about a month digging for as much detail on the den as we could. Though local records spoke a lot about the counterfeiters and their demise, it appeared that the location of their den was eventually lost to history.  Most of documents we found spoke of it as so well hidden it could not be found, still Ms. Dreadful and I ventured out to find it. Lady luck was with us and though it was still hidden as it was in the past, we found it!

As mentioned in the records the den was cleverly hidden. It was hidden so well that if I hadn’t taken a closer look at what appeared to be a tiny rodent hole, we never would have found it. With the slab of stone and forest debris covering it just as the counterfeiters had in the past, there was no reason to suspect it was any different than the rest of the forest floor surrounding it.

There is much more to the story and will post it on our blog once we finish up on the research to get the full story behind The Lost Counterfeiters Den.

~Michael

editor@neexplorers.org

A photo of the den from the early 1920s

The den as it looks when hidden

Under the leave is what left of the stone slab.

At first the slab wouldn’t move but with a tug I broke the frozen seal.

The triangular entrance

I measured the den to confirm against demensions I found in the records

Looking into the den.

Looking toward the entrance from the back eastern corner.

Ms. Dreadful stands aproximately where the den ends under the forest floor.

The dies these counterfeiters used.

These are the coins they were milling.

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