Mystery surrounds legend of lost gold at Shipps Pond in Conecuh County

Much has been made in recent months about the History Channel television show, “The Curse of Oak Island.” This reality TV show premiered on Jan. 5 and details the efforts of two Michigan brothers as they dig for buried treasure on Oak Island, an island in Nova Scotia, Canada. People have been digging for buried treasure on this island for over 200 years, and at least six people are known to have died during treasure hunts on the island.

“The Curse of Oak Island” TV show is really entertaining, and what many readers may not realize is that Conecuh County has it’s own Oak Island-style mystery. According to back issues of The Evergreen Courant, there’s a local legend about lost gold in Shipps Pond, a 43-acre natural lake that’s located off Conecuh County Road 27, between Castleberry and Brooklyn.

According to news stories published in The Evergreen Courant and The Brewton Standard in the 1970s and 1950s, Henchie Warren, the great-grandfather of President Warren G. Harding, is said to have used a buggy to transport a chest of gold and other valuables to the pond late one night in the 1862. The Civil War was raging across the South, and Warren, who owned what is now the Jay Villa Plantation, hoped to hide his gold and other valuables from invading Union troops.

Under the cover of darkness, Warren is said to have made his way to the edge of the pond, where he removed the chest of gold from beneath a “lap robe,” a blanket that people often used in the old days to cover their feet, legs and laps while riding in wagons. Warren then placed the chest on a “billy,” which was a small raft made out of four short logs. Warren then used a long pole to push himself and the raft out into the pond, and it’s said that he steered it straight toward a tall dead pine that was silhouetted against the moonlit sky on the other side of the pond.

When he got halfway across the pond, Warren stopped and waited several minutes to see if anyone was watching. Seeing and hearing no one, he then picked up the chest, lowered it over the side and dropped it into the dark water. Warren then pushed himself back to shore, got into his buggy and rode off into history.

The story goes that Warren was never able to reclaim his chest of gold and future owners of the pond tried to find the treasure, but weren’t able to locate it. It’s said that the bottom of the pond is composed of soft, black mud and that anything heavy will, over time, gradually sink beneath the surface. A number of people believe that Warren’s chest of gold remains there today, waiting to be discovered beneath layers of black mud.

In the end, I can’t say for sure how much of the above story is true, but it’s an interesting tale to say the least. Also, I feel I should say that I wouldn’t advise any of you to go snooping around Shipps Pond today. From what I’ve been told, it’s located on private property, and you might end up in jail if you go to poking around the pond uninvited.

(Special thanks to Evergreen-Conecuh County Public Library staff historian and genealogist Sherry Johnston for providing me with information about the legend of the Shipps Pond treasure. This story wouldn’t have been possible without her help.)