Unknown

Unknown:
This could fit for anyone thinking Jackson square holds the casque.

Just about every park in New Orleans is represented in the Image. And depending on what you use for the “Iconic”, you can get to every one of those parks using some variation of the “Iconic to Park (or Dig Spot) theory. It’s a real problem if you are hoping to narrow down the parks in play. And it’s a non starter if we don’t even need a park anymore.

I was saying exactly that. If you hold to the Jackson square ‘iconic path’ this supports that theory. From Lafayette square take St. Charles (wrong way) to Jackson square where Philip II namesake titles intersect. Orleans/chartres/bourbon streets
Just pointing out his heritage is a possible fit for gnome and fay.

frishkie

Gnomes admire
Fays delight
The namesakes meeting
Near this site.

Lafayette Park already ‘commonly accepted’ as the verse line: “in the middle of…” was named after Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette and there is a sign there in the park. It would be a namesake in a way and has a connection to Fay (French) and literally in the name but not really any connection to Gnomes; that has been identified.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPho … siana.html
Looking deeper New Orleans was named for Phillip II, Duke of Orléans. (New Orleans namesake)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philipp … uke_of_Orl
éans
His mother was Prinzessin Elisabeth Charlotte von der Pfalz; nicknamed “Lieselotte”. (German princess = Gnomes admire?)
His father was Philip I, Duke of Orlèans, (of French Monarchy = Fay’s delight?)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_I,_Duke_of_Orl
éans
Street intersections named after Phillip II or one of his titles?

Euhirudinea

Just about every park in New Orleans is represented in the Image. And depending on what you use for the “Iconic”, you can get to every one of those parks using some variation of the “Iconic to Park (or Dig Spot) theory. It’s a real problem if you are hoping to narrow down the parks in play. And it’s a non starter if we don’t even need a park anymore.

Yes it seems totally impossible to figure out.

Unknown

Unknown:
Yes it seems totally impossible to figure out.

It’s impossible because it is arbitrary. There are just too many variables. I can start anywhere. I can turn anywhere. I can finish anywhere. We aren’t even confined to parks according to this latest example, because that would put us in Lafayette Park. And that’s not where the junk was found.
And no matter where I start, turn, and where I finish, I can find things that match something in the Image. For example, I can start at Armstrong, pass Preservation Hall, and end up at Jackson Square (shown in the Image) or proceed to Artillery Square (Fifteen Rows…), or even to the Moonwalk (also shown in the Image). Where I can find large planters (also shown in the Image) all in a row. Care to guess how many there were?

Chartres street intersects Orleans street at Jackson Square (Phillip I titles)
Burbon street intersects Orleans street ( Liselottes titles) two blocks away near Preservation Hall
St. Charles street (from Lafayette square, one way street though?) intersects Orleans street at the mouth of Jackson square though the name changes to Royal street at Canal street.
This could fit for anyone thinking Jackson square holds the casque.

I would tend to go by the verse for the instructions to find the casque site like the two known solves did. In Milwaukee city hall wasn’t anywhere near Lake park or the University where the three stories of Mitchell are, not to be confused with the Mitchell building that is near Milwaukee’s city hall.
Verse instructions and waypoints
Way point 1: ? Diamond streets (St Mary’s Park) its fifteen streets from Jackson square. Was it the same in the 80’s?
At the place where jewels abound
Fifteen rows down to the ground
Waypoint 2: Lafayette Park ( this indicates BP was using a city street map, reinforces 15 rows?)
In the middle of twenty-one
From end to end
Only three stand watch
Way point 3: ? Some place between Layfayette square and where the St. Charles hotel stood?)
As the sound of friends
Fills the afternoon hours
Waypoint 4: St. Charles Hotel (? No longer there but I think it was on the corner of St. Louis st. and Royal street(St Charles across Canal st.)
Waypoint 5: intersection of Burbon/Chartres/Orleans streets (titles of Philip II of whom New Orleans named after)
Gnomes admire (only son of German Princess)
Fays delight (only living son/heir to French monarch)
The namesakes meeting
Near this site
As we learned from the Milwaukee solve the icons in the picture doesn’t necessarily have to represented along the treasures path. That being said the Mcdonogh statue in Lafayette square confirms waypoint 2, the ‘Preservation’ and ‘horse head’could confirm Waypoint 5, as well as Jackson square is shaped Somewhat like a clocks face. But what could the ‘19’ clock hands and arrows elude to?

Euhirudinea

It’s impossible because it is arbitrary. There are just too many variables. I can start anywhere. I can turn anywhere. I can finish anywhere. We aren’t even confined to parks according to this latest example, because that would put us in Lafayette Park. And that’s not where the junk was found.
And no matter where I start, turn, and where I finish, I can find things that match something in the Image. For example, I can start at Armstrong, pass Preservation Hall, and end up at Jackson Square (shown in the Image) or proceed to Artillery Square (Fifteen Rows…), or even to the Moonwalk (also shown in the Image). Where I can find large planters (also shown in the Image) all in a row. Care to guess how many there were?

21, yes been there done that. Yes you keep getting hung up on it’s not perfect, However it it was perfect, all the casques would have been found.
instead look at it as a tool, a methodology to check possible casque sites. if you arrive at a casque site. by the normal method.
That is recognizing from the verse as a possible location or by recognizing site confirmers in the image.
Then use this tool to see if you can create the path. If you can that’s a plus in your theories column,, if you can’t that’s a minus.
We would all love definitive methods, but at this point they elude us.
I see you are really thrown by the possibility things aren’t always in parks, yet, there was never anything that said they had to be in parks, it seems that way maybe we should just stretch the definition of parks to public property.

My interpretation of these verse lines are as follows as my dig spot is in Lafayette Square.
Way point 1: ? Diamond streets (St Mary’s Park) its fifteen streets from Jackson square. Was it the same in the 80’s?
At the place where jewels abound –
St. Charles Ave parade route
Fifteen rows down to the ground –
15 Row houses on the Jazz Walking tour in the area around Lafayette Square
Waypoint 2: Lafayette Park ( this indicates BP was using a city street map, reinforces 15 rows?)
In the middle of twenty-one
From end to end –
Center of 21 blocks from Superdome to River
Only three stand watch –
“Flood Control” bas relief on Hebert building
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2237/229 … 1f3e_z.jpg
Way point 3: ? Some place between Layfayette square and where the St. Charles hotel stood?)
As the sound of friends
Fills the afternoon hours –
Lafayette Square visitors
Waypoint 4: St. Charles Hotel (? No longer there but I think it was on the corner of St. Louis st. and Royal street(St Charles across Canal st.)
Waypoint 5: intersection of Burbon/Chartres/Orleans streets (titles of Philip II of whom New Orleans named after)
Gnomes admire (only son of German Princess) –
Financial gnomes on 3 statues…Franklin, Clay, McDonough
Fays delight (only living son/heir to French monarch) –
Lafayette Square’s District Light poles (perimeter and 4 around Clay Statue)
The namesakes meeting
Near this site –
Lafayette Square and Lafayette Street

Unknown

Unknown:
it seems that way maybe we should just stretch the definition of parks to public property.

Fine. As I’ve noted before, there are 9.4 million square miles in North America. And there are about 28 million square feet in a square mile. That’s a lot of holes to dig, public property or no.

Also, in image 7, the mask covers a quarter of the clock face — maybe a visual pun for French Quarter.  Another question:  Are there any theatres around?  The French word for theatre/theater is “bijoux”–meaning, I think, “Jewel”– so we may be looking at a part of the theatre district.

Bumping this up to use as the discussion on Image
9 continues to be hashed out..
Keep in mind:  “AT THE PLACE WHERE JEWELS ABOUND”
This is the first line and the clue to where you need to
begin your search.
As far as I am concerned, we have had only two answers
to this  line:  “Jewel Box” and “Crown”
I tend to like crown because it matches with the jewel in the
hat image.
Please add on to any other interpretation to this line.

There was a time when some thought this might refer to the area of New Orleans just NW of City Park, along Lake Pontchartrain – a neighborhood where all the streets are named after jewels and gemstones.

Trohn

I am the only one to favor this theory so I haven’t been posting about it (much)
and have been persuing the site to allow a review of the spot….
In Priess’ verses, he tends to use synonyms as often as possible
in order to allow subjectivity to the solves – sovereignty in this case probably can be replaced with
‘Royalty’, ‘King’ or ‘Queen’.
Horse racing is the ‘Sport of Kings’
With the same method, ‘Heads’ can also be replaced with a synonym.
(I have selected ‘horses’ obviously)

“Their heads for a night!”
night could also be =knight, like in chess the horse head
Either way you put them it could still match Kentucky
Anyway, in Louisville I found this pic of a tornado sculpture that has 15 rows, don’t know much about it just that it’s in louisville and seen the 15 “rows” to the ground and I thought it was cool so I thought I’d post it.

erexere

T, that is cool, but too chilly for me.  Have you made any adjustments to your St. Louis theory?

I do not have a St Louis theory.  Personally, I think it is flat wrong.
Its at Churchill Downs.
The middle of 21 is the winners circle horseshoe (21 = U)
Its been a long time, but that spot has never been changed.

While I’m currently stumped by the Philadelphia/Pittsburgh picture (#4), I’m throwing a new idea out there for verse 2.  I’m thinking Canada (a sovereign people), specifically Quebec (want to be a sovereign people).  here is the verse and my thoughts:
At the place where jewels abound
Fifteen rows down to the ground
In the middle of twenty-one
From end to end
Only three stand watch
As the sound of friends
Fills the afternoon hours
Here is a sovereign people
Who build palaces to shelter
Their heads for a night!
Gnomes admire
Fays delight
The namesakes meeting
Near this site.
1. Cap Diamant (Cape Diamond) is in Quebec City and there are gemstones in the rocks there.
2.  Le Chateau Frontenac in on Cape Diamond and is a famous palatial hotel (
www.hotels.net/quebec-city/fairmont-le- … -12522.htm
).
3.  There are steps down from Chateau Frontenac (I don’t know how many) to a promenade where there are cannons, guards and statues, any of which might be standing guard.
It’s not much, but it would seem to be worth exploring further.

Jewel = gem.
Abound, meaning to be abundant.
Galore, meaning abundant.
Mr. Bingle’s theme song:
Jingle, jangle, jingle
Here comes Mr. Bingle
With another message from Kris Kringle
Time to launch your Christmas season
Maison Blanche makes Christmas pleasin’
Gifts galore for you to see
Each a gem from MB!
It’s tough to argue that the floating clockboy doesn’t have the same body posture as Mr. Bingle on the parade float.
I believe Maison Blanche is the place to start in New Orleans.

“In the middle of twenty one”
twenty first letter is a ‘U’ (or a horse shoe)
I wonder…..
1974
http://travel.webshots.com/photo/106756 … 8872wMXtuD
2005
http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/13 … 2605ndyULE
The winners ‘circle’ is actually a horse shoe
and would be ‘down to the ground’
(nice flowers)

Unknown

Unknown:
In my experience most people don’t give a flying flock about treasure hunts.

I’m going to agree completely. (don’t faint.)
If they did, these forums would be a lot larger.

Unknown

Unknown:
I do not discount that a casque was buried in New Orleans but the verse/image pairing is not this one (verse 2, image 9)

Sorry, I don’t believe that’s the correct pairing. It discounts something else: that Image  9 is practically the only image that has anything distinctly Canadian in it. I’d like to believe your idea, but I just can’t.  I really think Verse 2 goes with NO.

cant get around that ol legeater.
might look similar to a jockey but looks exactly like the lamp in montreal.
you would need to find that lamp at churchill downs.

maltedfalcon

You would know if you were right by the following day. People cant resist a treasure hunt.

If only that were true…I’ve tried contacting dozens of people and rarely received a reply. I post summaries on local treasure hunting forums, and they get ignored even there. Here are some typical examples.
http://scmetaldetectingclub.com/communi … d/858.aspx
http://forums.neworleans.com/showthread.php?t=9783
In my experience most people don’t give a flying flock about treasure hunts.  😛

The first two lines of every verse we have solved have almost nothing to do with a specific location, sign, landmark, etc. They are usually not on the treasure path, and are just vague descriptions that get you to a state/city and sometimes a general area. We can show this to be true in a few poems.
“Where M and B are cast in stone, and to Congress R is known.” These lines bring us to an area, not a spot on the ground. They describe the roads and streets and nearby objects to the park, they do not necessarily bring you to a specific starting location, and none of the words are written on a sign, plaque, etc.
“If Thucydides is, North of Xenophon.” This gets you thinking Boston via the Walpole Quote, and the general Library area, which is not a park and not where the treasure is buried. It’s nearby and fairly close. The names are written on the side of the BPL, but the first instruction is “take five steps.”
“Beneath Two Countries, as the road curves.” This is also non specific. It takes us to a huge park and a general area where we should then start looking for the rest of the verse matches. These are not specific walking directions, they are general.
“Pass two friends of Octave, in December.” Refers again to point us toward a specific area. It gets us to NC, and it tells us to keep going after we hit the Wright Bros memorial, many miles farther in fact. It is not a specific walking direction, nor is it something you see on your walk to the treasure. They aren’t on signs, etc. Same as the rest.
So I spent a week in New Orleans, and I learned some things, and I feel very comfortable with the following interpretation of the first two lines of Verse #2
“At the place where jewels abound, fifteen rows down to the ground.”
The French Quarter in New Orleans is a strictly defined area that has remained mostly the same for hundreds of years. In New Orleans, the directions used by locals are not “N/E/S/W” but “Up and
Down
.” The French Quarter consists of
exactly
15 streets laid out in a perfect grid, or rows. The 15 streets are:
Canal St (1), Iberville St (2), Bienville St (3), Conti St (4), St Louis St (5), Toulouse St (6), St Peter St (7), Orleans St (8), St. Ann St (9), Dumaine St (10), St Philip St (11), Ursulines St (12), Governor Nichols St (13), Barracks St (14), Esplanade Ave (15).
Those are numbered in the “down” direction, away from the River. That is it, there is no other interpretation of the French Quarter and there never has been.
Considering the St. Louis Exchange Hotel was in the French Quarter, the St Louis Cathedral, is still there, and from the proper angle the horse ridden by Jackson is
spot on
for the Horse Head seen in Image #7, as well as the clock’s general resemblance to Jackson Sq, I think it extremely likely that we can start excluding parks such as Audobon and City, and focuse intensely on the Jackson Square area.
—- Cut here for where speculation begins —-
There is are area between/behind Jackson Sq are Washington Artillery Park that is of intense interest to me, but I never got to explore this area with any real depth. The question remains, is “namesake” referring to St Louis (as the previous line is about the St Louis Hotel -> St Louis St or St Louis Cathedral) or possibly
New Orleans
itself?
I didn’t get a good picture of it, but if you are standing on Decateur St between Jackson Sq and Washington Artillery Park looking right at this sign, there is a French Quarter Visitor Center (you cannot actually see it on GMaps, they never get the angle correct, and I’m an idiot who didn’t get pictures, but I’ll ask a friend) that has the same pattern of Windows four21thrasher found on the NOMA. The square tiles.
I would suggest somewhere between Jackson Square and Woldenberg Park. I understand people will continue to advance various theories, but given what we know for sure in these puzzles I think at least the first part of this is extremely, extremely conclusive. Especially consiering the links to the Hotel/St Louis name, general shape of the painting/area, and the simple fact that Preservation Hall is right there. It all lines up.
From the edge of the French Quarter you can also walk directly down Esplanade Ave (which is the 15th row when navigating Down) to the
Fair Grounds
, which has the jockey tie in and “Fair Grounds” would be the namesake of the “Fair Folk.” Which is not a new interpretation at all, but I think either has merit. But the first lines absolutely have to refer to the French Quarter, no way they don’t, and they probably lead you DOWN to Esplanade.

The namesakes meeting
Near this site
Thinking about this namesakes thing…
A namesake is something that is named after something else. In verse 6 we have: “Edwin and Edwina named after him”. So maybe these are the namesakes. After all, Edwin and Edwina are from Sarmiento, and we have another Sarmiento quote in this same verse. It’s a bit of a coincidence.
Now, although verse 6 is referring to one pair of namesakes, we also have another identically named pair to consider: the Booths. The Smithsonian has the photo of Edwin and Edwina Booth “meeting”:
http://www.civilwar.si.edu/brady_booth.html
…and was also the setting for the exhibition which kicked off the whole Sarmiento thing as far as I understand it. (Incidentally, it also has a stash of jewels and the Copley “Red Cross Knight” painting, though I don’t know where it was in the 80s.) So I’m wondering about this as a candidate for “near this site”.

Edwin and Edwina are not from Sarmiento. Both the Sarmiento quote and the connection of Edwin and Edwina to Edward Wilmot Blyden are from the same book, but in different chapters.

(Aha – OK, cheers.)

I wonder if there were 21 stories in 1981 or
is the 21st of 26 stories  3 little pigs.
if so I would dig in the center of the 3 pigs…

Wow, heck of a lot of activity since I last visited this site.  Trohn, pretty many posts there, good job trying to figure this one out, a word of caution though, you have solved the puzzle to fit Churchill Downs, and seem to have tried to make the puzzle fit your solution, not the other way around.  Step back, take a breath, and watch me pull a casque out of my hat.
I think I have solved it.  I have used every clue available in both the picture and the verse, and it all fits.  I need to do a bit of a road trip, and my time spent on ‘A treasures trove’ has taught me not to give it all up too quickly, or there is a gold rush mentality.  I promise to reveal my solution whether I find it there or not.  I am however, confident enough that I am bringing a camera with me.  Wish me luck, because finding this gets me on the second season of ‘Treasure Hunters’.
Peace.

Unknown

Unknown:
I think I have solved it. I have used every clue available in both the picture and the verse, and it all fits. I need to do a bit of a road trip, and my time spent on ‘A treasures trove’ has taught me not to give it all up too quickly, or there is a gold rush mentality.

Unknown

Unknown:
I promise to reveal my solution whether I find it there or not. I am however, confident enough that I am bringing a camera with me. Wish me luck, because finding this gets me on the second season of ‘Treasure Hunters’.

Not on this forum, friend. It might get you a few people to help dig, though.
Wow, spinner. Good luck! Take lots of pictures. I’m rooting for you.

spinner

I need to do a bit of a road trip, and my time spent on ‘A treasures trove’ has taught me not to give it all up too quickly, or there is a gold rush mentality.

haven’t you been around this site enough to know that nothing is more untrue than that statement, at least here?
wilhouse

There are also 15 steps on each side of the Lee monument. I initially liked Lee as a location but nothing else really fit.

Unknown

Unknown:
More than anything else, the personal items of Civil War soldiers come with often the most poignant stories. A set a field eating utensils inscribed “For a Good Boy,” a sewing kit called a “housewife” made to resemble a First National pattern Confederate Flag, and a chess set, carved of wood while confined to a prison camp in the north. Items such as these allow the distant past to speak.

I especially liked the chess set.
http://www.confederatemuseum.com/galler … f-soldiers
How many places in NO are you going to see a chess set on display? Worth taking a look at anyway. I’m curious to know if the knight looks anything like the dragon/dog head.

New Orleans
I just tried taking a fresh look at this – see what you think.
At the place where jewels abound
La Petit Fleur (“small flower”, cf flowers in image), New Orleans Jewellers at 534 Royal St.
http://lapetitfleur.com/
Apparently they’ve been trading in the French Quarter for over 40 years, though I don’t know if it was at this location in 1982.
Fifteen rows down to the ground
Fifteen blocks south…
…takes you past Lafayette Square with possible “clock-boy” match to the Confederate Memorial Hall at 929 Camp St.
http://www.confederatemuseum.com/
They have old flags and stuff…(also a chess set).
In the middle of twenty-one
From end to end
21 bricks:
…also another possible interpretation of the “fifteen rows” – 14 steps plus kerb.
Only three stand watch
Dunno – possible reference to something in the museum?
As the sound of friends
Fills the afternoon hours
Could refer to any gathering really.
Here is a sovereign people
Who build palaces to shelter
Their heads for a night!
New Orleans (from Sarmiento quote).
Gnomes admire
Fays delight
Dunno. The litany refers to the “Fays of France” so there’s a link there, and the fays also remind me of nearby Lafayette.
The namesakes meeting
Near this site
Junction of Lee Circle and Andrew Higgins.

New Orleans
I just tried taking a fresh look at this – see what you think.
At the place where jewels abound
La Petit Fleur (“small flower”, cf flowers in image), New Orleans Jewellers at 534 Royal St.
http://lapetitfleur.com/
Apparently they’ve been trading in the French Quarter for over 40 years, though I don’t know if it was at this location in 1982.
Fifteen rows down to the ground
Fifteen blocks south…
…takes you past Lafayette Square with possible “clock-boy” match to the Confederate Memorial Hall at 929 Camp St.
http://www.confederatemuseum.com/
They have old flags and stuff…(also a chess set).
In the middle of twenty-one
From end to end
21 bricks:
…also another possible interpretation of the “fifteen rows” – 14 steps plus kerb.
Only three stand watch
Dunno – possible reference to something in the museum?
As the sound of friends
Fills the afternoon hours
Could refer to any gathering really.
Here is a
sovereign
people
Who build palaces to shelter
Their heads for a night!
New Orleans (from Sarmiento quote).
Gnomes admire
Fays delight
Dunno. The litany refers to the “Fays of France” so there’s a link there, and the fays also remind me of nearby Lafayette.
The namesakes meeting
Near this site
Junction of Lee Circle and Andrew Higgins.

That’s a good “in the middle of 21”.  Very reminiscent of the Cleveland solution.

I agree. In my group’s hunting, we’ve been focusing on image 7 and not paying much mind to the verse yet because I’m not fully convinced verse 2 is New Orleans.
To me, finding as many landmarks in the image is paramount and then the verse will hone you in to a more specific spot.

animatedgeoff

I agree. In my group’s hunting, we’ve been focusing on image 7 and not paying much mind to the verse yet because I’m not fully convinced verse 2 is New Orleans.
To me, finding as many landmarks in the image is paramount and then the verse will hone you in to a more specific spot.

take a look at wk moon theory,
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=770&start=15#p128063
as the theory put V6 with img7
somewhere maybe in V6, or img7, i explored V6 with img7 a little, i think i still have some of the notes
in my secret junk file, ill look and try to put it all in order for a post, patience it may take me a few days

I’m hoping people might wish to consider an interpretation of this verse that still fits with Sarmiento but matches this verse to Image 9 (Montreal). I’d like to see what might come up regarding Image 7 (New Orleans) if we start considering alternate verses for that image. I know a lot of this has been mentioned before, but I’ll try to keep some points tied in so folks don’t have to dig through the archives too much. Unfortunately, Dorchester Square has been through some pretty serious renovations in recent years. That’s why I’m trying to put this out just as much to demonstrate a viable alternative pairing for Verse 2 in hopes that it might open some new ideas up about Image 7 (New Orleans).
At the place where jewels abound
Fifteen rows down to the ground
In the middle of twenty-one
From end to end
Only three stand watch
As the sound of friends
Fills the afternoon hours
Here is a sovereign people
Who build palaces to shelter
Their heads for a night!
Gnomes admire
Fays delight
The namesakes meeting
Near this site.
Here is the Sarmiento quote which directly matches Verse 2:
Rather than concentrating on the fact that the St. Charles Hotel was in New Orleans, what if we concentrate on the fact that Sarmiento’s originally talking about a building that was made to resemble and reminded him of St. Peter’s in Rome before he was actually told it was just a hotel.
This is the Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde (Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral) in Montreal. Sorry for the aged photo, but this one compares nicely to the St. Charles picture from the book. It was built to be a scale replica of St. Peter’s Cathedral:
To put it all on the map for some perspective, it is right in the thick of many of the other Montreal clues. Sorry for the crude map. The hash marks represent the border of the Golden Square Mile. This is important as it relates to Image 9 itself (The legeater being drawn inside a golden square, etc..). I’m happy to discuss the imagery in the Image 9 thread, but this will already be lengthy and I’m trying to keep this post focused on Verse 2. Suffice to say everything else is right there in Dorchester square. From the legeater, to the jewels, to the cathedral, they’re all within the Golden Square Mile.
At the place where jewels abound
The Sun life building was used to house the wealth of the British Empire (including the crown jewels) during World War 2. See
Operation Fish
Here’s the Sun Life Building overlooking Dorchester Square. You can see the dome of the Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde in the background for some perspective.
This is the Belfort Lion sculpture. There are some interesting comparisons that you can make to the blob in Image 9 also. It’s located in Dorchester square right across the street from the Sun Life building:
It was dedicated to honor Queen Victoria’s
Diamond
Jubilee. The fountain on the front has since been repaired, as well as the shields and text seen here:
Here is the text on the shields. This is all of them, but the importance for the moment is the diamond, of course. Maybe a few namesakes. If you buy into “Peel” being hidden in Image 9, it pops up again here also:
Here is the Boer War monument:
It is significant because of the Dutch connection that ties in with Image 9, but it is also one of three human sculptures in Dorchester square. All three are standing, by the way. In the Chicago solve, “L sits” a literal sculpture of Lincoln sitting, so it makes sense to me that
three stand watch
could very well be literal sculptures of three men standing. This post already has a ton of images, but this link to the
Dorchester Square Wiki page
talks about the other two monuments. The three standing watch are the monuments for the soldier in the Boer War Memorial, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, and Robert Burns. Also, more
jewels abound
on the back of the Boer War Memorial:
From that point, of course, you’re getting into specifics, and unfortunately, Dorchester Square went through a pretty heavy facelift in recent years. The “end of ten by thirteen” were trees in the Chicago Solution, so it could easily be the same if the cask were buried in Dorchester Square. a lot of that foliage is long gone. Here’s another little Dorchester Square clue which has been posted before. This is from the late 60’s and I have no idea how long that was actually there, though:
.
Since the verse does say
“near this site”
, I suppose it could also indicate a Dorchester Square starting point, with the Mount Stephen Club being where the namesakes meet near the site. Then you’re back to counting rows and/or steps at the Mount Stephen Club. Earlier in this thread, someone pointed out that there are 15 rows of stairs at the entrance of the Mount Stephen Club. Both locations would satisfy
The Sound of friends fills the afternoon hours
, be it Dorchester Square or the (former) social club.
Ultimately, it boils down to whether or not you want to accept that Preiss was intentionally using the Sarmiento quote, but not to point us toward New Orleans. The majority of the lead-up to the quote itself is about being reminded of St. Peter’s in Rome. I don’t think it’s too outrageous to think that he’s talking about another building that was modeled after St. Peters, the Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde, and it is a stone’s throw away from the exact match in image 9, the Legeater at the Mount Stephen Club.
Maybe Verse 2 isn’t an absolute lock for New Orleans. I think this scenario accommodates the Sarmiento quote nicely with other good matches to the verse.

I’m hoping people might wish to consider an interpretation of this verse that still fits with Sarmiento but matches this verse to Image 9 (Montreal). I’d like to see what might come up regarding Image 7 (New Orleans) if we start considering alternate verses for that image. I know a lot of this has been mentioned before, but I’ll try to keep some points tied in so folks don’t have to dig through the archives too much. Unfortunately, Dorchester Square has been through some pretty serious renovations in recent years. That’s why I’m trying to put this out just as much to demonstrate a viable alternative pairing for Verse 2 in hopes that it might open some new ideas up about Image 7 (New Orleans).
At the place where jewels abound
Fifteen rows down to the ground
In the middle of twenty-one
From end to end
Only three stand watch
As the sound of friends
Fills the afternoon hours
Here is a
sovereign
people
Who build palaces to shelter
Their heads for a night!
Gnomes admire
Fays delight
The namesakes meeting
Near this site.
Here is the Sarmiento quote which directly matches Verse 2:
Rather than concentrating on the fact that the St. Charles Hotel was in New Orleans, what if we concentrate on the fact that Sarmiento’s originally talking about a building that was made to resemble and reminded him of St. Peter’s in Rome before he was actually told it was just a hotel.
This is the Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde (Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral) in Montreal. Sorry for the aged photo, but this one compares nicely to the St. Charles picture from the book. It was built to be a scale replica of St. Peter’s Cathedral:
To put it all on the map for some perspective, it is right in the thick of many of the other Montreal clues. Sorry for the crude map. The hash marks represent the border of the Golden Square Mile. This is important as it relates to Image 9 itself (The legeater being drawn inside a golden square, etc..). I’m happy to discuss the imagery in the Image 9 thread, but this will already be lengthy and I’m trying to keep this post focused on Verse 2. Suffice to say everything else is right there in Dorchester square. From the legeater, to the jewels, to the cathedral, they’re all within the Golden Square Mile.
At the place where jewels abound
The Sun life building was used to house the wealth of the British Empire (including the crown jewels) during World War 2. See
Operation Fish
Here’s the Sun Life Building overlooking Dorchester Square. You can see the dome of the Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde in the background for some perspective.
This is the Belfort Lion sculpture. There are some interesting comparisons that you can make to the blob in Image 9 also. It’s located in Dorchester square right across the street from the Sun Life building:
It was dedicated to honor Queen Victoria’s
Diamond
Jubilee. The fountain on the front has since been repaired, as well as the shields and text seen here:
Here is the text on the shields. This is all of them, but the importance for the moment is the diamond, of course. Maybe a few namesakes. If you buy into “Peel” being hidden in Image 9, it pops up again here also:
Here is the Boer War monument:
It is significant because of the Dutch connection that ties in with Image 9, but it is also one of three human sculptures in Dorchester square. All three are standing, by the way. In the Chicago solve, “L sits” a literal sculpture of Lincoln sitting, so it makes sense to me that
three stand watch
could very well be literal sculptures of three men standing. This post already has a ton of images, but this link to the
Dorchester Square Wiki page
talks about the other two monuments. The three standing watch are the monuments for the soldier in the Boer War Memorial, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, and Robert Burns. Also, more
jewels abound
on the back of the Boer War Memorial:
From that point, of course, you’re getting into specifics, and unfortunately, Dorchester Square went through a pretty heavy facelift in recent years. The “end of ten by thirteen” were trees in the Chicago Solution, so it could easily be the same if the cask were buried in Dorchester Square. a lot of that foliage is long gone. Here’s another little Dorchester Square clue which has been posted before. This is from the late 60’s and I have no idea how long that was actually there, though:
.
Since the verse does say
“near this site”
, I suppose it could also indicate a Dorchester Square starting point, with the Mount Stephen Club being where the namesakes meet near the site. Then you’re back to counting rows and/or steps at the Mount Stephen Club. Earlier in this thread, someone pointed out that there are 15 rows of stairs at the entrance of the Mount Stephen Club. Both locations would satisfy
The Sound of friends fills the afternoon hours
, be it Dorchester Square or the (former) social club.
Ultimately, it boils down to whether or not you want to accept that Preiss was intentionally using the Sarmiento quote, but not to point us toward New Orleans. The majority of the lead-up to the quote itself is about being reminded of St. Peter’s in Rome. I don’t think it’s too outrageous to think that he’s talking about another building that was modeled after St. Peters, the Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde, and it is a stone’s throw away from the exact match in image 9, the Legeater at the Mount Stephen Club.
Maybe Verse 2 isn’t an absolute lock for New Orleans. I think this scenario accommodates the Sarmiento quote nicely with other good matches to the verse.

animatedgeoff, here are 2 posts, about EF in nola,havent checked my
notes,there on a thumb drive somewhere i cant find
edwin forrest was in nola
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=2437&p=126831&sid=11c5bbe648a556acacd407332f2b413c#p126831
just off hand,works only if V6 goes with img 7, and the sculpture was there in 80-81
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=2437&start=30#p127500

Interesting connection, but I feel that’s too deep. Chicago and Cleveland’s clues were very much on the surface and didn’t require historical knowledge, just looking at the surroundings.
My find today I posted in the P7 thread I think solidifies P7 as New Orleans.
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=740&p=128129#p128129

Just an observation of the Mount Stephen Club…
It has
15 steps (rows) down to the ground.
…
You can count them using these 2 photos.
AP
(Just for fun, you can watch a video clip of
Mount Stephen Club on You Tube.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu12uIS4Eo4

Er…where among all that concrete of those steps do you think Preiss dug the hole?

Shecrab,
If you look at other pictures of Mount Stephen Club, you see
that there is grassy garden area on both sides of the building.
I will post some pix later…
AP

Yes, I know…I was just being a smart-alec.

Gnomes admire
Fays delight
The namesakes meeting
near this site.
There is a statue of Robert Burns…Scottish poet..
in the nearby park, Dorchester Square.
He would write about such “fairy folk”, but I have
not done a search for any “namesakes” yet.
AP

At the place where jewels abound
Just Google on “Cartier” and Montreal and
see just how many references you get…
If you Google on “where jewels abound”,
you will find a few literary references.
One is “Ordinary Wisdom”:
http://tinyurl.com/5loar3
just looking around…
AP

UnprovenFact

Although, I thought the line was referring to things
burning
“down to the ground”.

There have been a few fires. I looked into this and I think there was a fire that took out 15 or so city blocks…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_New … Fire_(1788
)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_New … Fire_(1794
)#/media/File:1794_mapa_incendio_Nueva_Orleans_AGI.jpg (15 blocks effected)
and there have been more…
XdM

Yet another theory, inspired by my present circumstances…
We know there is a casque buried in Canada. Montreal has the “Tam-Tam Jam,” a hippie music-fest enjoyed by Montrealers every Sunday afternoon near a statue of Sir George-Étienne Cartier in Mount Royal Park. The word “Tam-Tam” could be loosely interpreted as “namesakes meeting,” and the sovereign connection to “Mount Royal” is obvious. The music would then be the “sound of friends,” and the temporary shelters they build for the event would be their “palaces.” Mount Royal Park, incidentally, was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted.
I’m in Montreal at the moment for a conference. So if anyone has any good ideas, now is the time to let me know.

In this verse, jewels and namesakes are plural not possesive.
I would agree that a possessive form is important to the solve.

Fenix- open for discussion sticking strickly to the verse….
Tell me a place –  (
At a place
)  (This appears at the beginning of verse two
and at the end of verse 7)
with many many similar items that are very valuable  (
jewels abound
)
a distinctly diferent purpose at this place between the
afternoon
versus the
night
a place with a large public gathering  (
sounds of friends
)
a place where the public
admires
and gets
delight
a place which is known independently from its location (
namesakes
recognition)
a place that is run by royalty (
a
sovereign
people
)

Fenix- open for discussion sticking strickly to the verse….
Tell me a place –  (
At a place
)  (This appears at the beginning of verse two
and at the end of verse 7)
with many many similar items that are very valuable  (
jewels abound
)
a distinctly diferent purpose at this place between the
afternoon
versus the
night
a place with a large public gathering  (
sounds of friends
)
a place where the public
admires
and gets
delight
a place which is known independently from its location (
namesakes
recognition)
a place that is run by royalty (
a sovereign people
)

Disneyland comes to mind….

Trohn, I think your list of requirements is sticking a little *too* strickly to the verse. For example “where jewels abound” could be a phrase on plaque or monument in the casque location, or maybe words in a poem or book where the authors name or a fictional place in the story is related to the casque location, like with Hermann park. “A
sovereign
people” could also mean all sorts of things, not just royalty. That said, I don’t have a clue where this verse is leading so I’m certainly not saying your ideas aren’t correct, just that other ideas/possible places may not fit the definition of verse that you’ve used.

Trohn, I think your list of requirements is sticking a little *too* strickly to the verse. For example “where jewels abound” could be a phrase on plaque or monument in the casque location, or maybe words in a poem or book where the authors name or a fictional place in the story is related to the casque location, like with Hermann park. “A sovereign people” could also mean all sorts of things, not just royalty. That said, I don’t have a clue where this verse is leading so I’m certainly not saying your ideas aren’t correct, just that other ideas/possible places may not fit the definition of verse that you’ve used.

I always felt that the “sounds of friends fills the afternoon hours’ was referring to a college football game on a Saturday afternoon.
“Namesakes meeting near this site” being the nickname of a team whose arena or stadium was nearby the casque.  Any nicknames in college ball that match up with any fays or gnomes?  Preferably American Indian? ( Palaces meaning tepees maybe?)

I agree with the last three posts
in that a large gathering of people
would be involved for entertainment
purposes.
Stadiums, Amusements Parks, etc..
Yes, I am sticking close to the verse
because as with the other solves, read
in the proper perspective, the verses
are exact.
I am tending to restrict “soverign people”
to royalty because of the approximity of the
term “palaces”.  With these two terms
together, the only thing that fits is royalty.
I do not think that this verse use “A place where jewels abound”
as read from a plaque by the simply realization that
‘a place where’ and ‘abound’ are phrasing that is used
in other verses in other solves.  If this were to be a quote from
a location marker, I believe he would not have repeated the phrasing elsewhere.

hi from a friend… still think the sovereign people could be the u.n. delegates in …manhattan, by washington park with the two statues of washington (the namesakes) on the arch. also, check my post on the other site from june 9, regarding v10. i think you’ll like it!

Unknown

Unknown:
While it could still be our location jewels may not be referring to the cask/jewel at all.

Fenix writes:
That is interesting; I never thought it referred to the casque. It’s plural, for one thing, and the jewel wouldn’t be there – a casque would. Of course, if one permits latitude in the definition of “jewel”…
There is that neighborhood in New Orleans, NNW of Jackson Square on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain, where all the streets are named after jewels/gemstones. I would say that is a place where jewels abound.
As the sound of friends / Fills the afternoon hours
could be a reference to a nearby school playground. During afternoon recess, the sound of friends would be noticeable. Alternatively, he could mean “friends” in the Quaker sense. Even more deviously, “Fills the afternoon hours” could mean to take the letters P and M and put letters in the middle and make another word. Maybe I’ve been doing too many cryptic crosswords.
I believe
The namesakes meeting / Near this site
will not be obvious until after we’ve already figured out what is in the vicinity. A confirmer for later; otherwise it is too easy to retro-fit a plausible (but wrong) location.
As for royalty being the only possible interpretation of “sovereign,” remember that the U.S. government recognizes some American Indian tribes as nations. A “sovereign” is also a pound coin, a coin that dates back to 1489. So in the same way that “cast in copper” refers to the back of a penny, “a sovereign people” could be an oblique reference to someone who has appeared on a sovereign (or any large denomination coin?) in the past. Finally, it might be worth locating all instances of foreign soil located
within
the contiguous 48 states. For example, there is a small cemetery on Ocracoke Island in NC that is officially British soil. Most likely, though, this is simply a reference to something that has words like king, queen, royals, etc. in its name.

Xlurker ,
I believe you are right. I get the 2 confused. After I posted I doubted myself.

egads egbert…you are correct.  I didnt even notice the month that was posted.  My deepest apologies  :-X .
No confirmers yet johann.  dig away…….

I do like the idea that “near this site” will be a literal match to an actual phrase on a plaque (or some other sign). The spot where you’ve circled the word “jewels” is less compelling as it doesn’t really invoke the notion of something abounding there.
I honestly woke up this morning with the phrase “the middle of twenty-one” repeating in my head. I think in a dream I was debating the formation of a single thing with twenty similar things around it (with sets of ten on either side) versus a single unique thing surrounded by 21 other things nothing like it, arranged in 3 sets of seven. I imagined something like a monument in the center of a circle with three spokes going away from it made of 7 steps on paths leading away (climbing either up or down). Maybe I need more sleep!

Could this be just crazy enough to make sense?
At the place where jewels abound
New Orleans, Mardi Gras
Fifteen rows down to the ground
New Orleans Jazz walking tour consists of 15 Jazz “row houses’ and buildings running on St. Charles Avenue from Clio to Canal.
https://www.nps.gov/jazz/learn/historyc … tte-bd.pdf
In the middle of twenty-one
From end to end
Lafayette Square is in the middle of 21 blocks from the Superdome and the Mississippi.
Only three stand watch
Hebert Federal Building “Flood Control” limestone sculpture
http://www.bing.com/images/search?view= … ajaxhist=0
As the sound of friends
Fills the afternoon hours
People coming to visit Lafayette Square
Here is a sovereign people
Gallier Hall is the old New Orleans City Hall and has seen many Mayors during the years that would be the Sovereign people in this verse (rulers).
Who build palaces to shelter
Their heads for a night!
Others have stated that this is in reference to the St. Charles Hotel which no longer exists because of an excerpt listed on wiki from the book
Abroad in America: visitors to the new nation
. I’m more inclined to go with a building that was around while BP was standing in Lafayette Square. Their heads for the night! (with an exclamation point) refers to jail cells that would be in City Hall or perhaps the US Court of Appeals.
Gnomes admire
Fays delight
Statues of McDonogh, Franklin and Clay are the Financial Gnomes observing Lafayette Square’s Beauty.
The namesakes meeting
Near this site.
Lafayette Street runs into Layfayette Square.
There’s my new take, have at it people.

MrBackstop

Could this be just crazy enough to make sense?
At the place where jewels abound
New Orleans, Mardi Gras
Fifteen rows down to the ground
New Orleans Jazz walking tour consists of 15 Jazz “row houses’ and buildings running on St. Charles Avenue from Clio to Canal.
https://www.nps.gov/jazz/learn/historyc … tte-bd.pdf
In the middle of twenty-one
From end to end
Lafayette Square is in the middle of 21 blocks from the Superdome and the Mississippi.
Only three stand watch
Hebert Federal Building “Flood Control” limestone sculpture
http://www.bing.com/images/search?view= … ajaxhist=0
As the sound of friends
Fills the afternoon hours
People coming to visit Lafayette Square
Here is a sovereign people
Gallier Hall is the old New Orleans City Hall and has seen many Mayors during the years that would be the Sovereign people in this verse (rulers).
Who build palaces to shelter
Their heads for a night!
Others have stated that this is in reference to the St. Charles Hotel which no longer exists because of an excerpt listed on wiki from the book
Abroad in America: visitors to the new nation
. I’m more inclined to go with a building that was around while BP was standing in Lafayette Square. Their heads for the night! (with an exclamation point) refers to jail cells that would be in City Hall or perhaps the US Court of Appeals.
Gnomes admire
Fays delight
Statues of McDonogh, Franklin and Clay are the Financial Gnomes observing Lafayette Square’s Beauty.
The namesakes meeting
Near this site.
Lafayette Street runs into Layfayette Square.
There’s my new take, have at it people.

Not at all, this is basically what everyone is saying more or less. Right now there seems to be 2 camps. Lafayette Square and Armstrong Park. There are a few people that are somewhere on the perimeter of these two.

clarkrock7

Hi everyone, don’t know if this has been put out there yet, but Audubon Park has a fountain that is at the end of 15 rows of trees (at least per the map) called Hyams Fountain. The inscription says that the lady left her jewels to the park for the benefit of children. Just throwing that out there.
Also, I was thinking that the sovereign peoples line would most easily fit with a hotel named navajo manor, or cherokee castle, or something like that. A sovereign people of some kind, paired with a synonym for palace. That would not necessarily have anything to do with new orleans, but I think the obscure quote is not necessarily telling us to pair the quote to new orleans. There’s no way Preiss could have expected people to track down that book pre-internet. I think he just had some obscure books that he chose to borrow from in crafting the riddles.

When I first looked at New Orleans, I expected it to be Audubon Park. It’s an easy street car ride down St Charles. The fountain, the area at the entrance matches the clock face, etc. I just couldn’t seem to bring it all together though. Maybe you can have better luck.

Assuming V2, there just doesn’t seem a lot to get hold of.
Here is a sovereign people
Who build palaces to shelter
Their heads for a night!
Could just mean New Orleans.
At the place where jewels abound
Might just mean the casque.
As the sound of friends
Fills the afternoon hours
Could be anywhere.
Only three stand watch
Ambiguous, but possibly one of the more helpful lines.
Gnomes admire
Fays delight
We have the Fays of France in the litany, otherwise baffling.
Fifteen rows down to the ground
In the middle of twenty-one
From end to end
Sounds like a specific place once you’ve found the area.
The namesakes meeting
Near this site
Various possibilities for namesakes. 421’s “Near this site” sign near Jackson is still one of my favourite options for the last line, since other verses are known to include quotes from signs and it gives us a narrow area. Lafayette Square at least has the proximity of the St Charles Hotel going for it IIRC. Armstrong Park and Storyland have good image matches, but there’s no strong correlation with the verse, though I suppose there’s Armstrong “giant leap” and Jack and the Beanstalk’s “giant’s step”.
(In general, there’s a lot of plaques around with “Near this site” on them, so I reckon that’s potentially a useful clue whether this is NO or not. Maybe there’s a plaque somewhere that describes a meeting with that wording.)
So, yeah, it
could
be Audubon Park, but that leaves the questions, where and why.
(I like quotes though.)

Fifteen Rows down to the ground.
http://www.mcchump.com/cd.jpg

How many rows of bleachers are there?  It is hard to see in the photo.

looks like 15 or 16 to me.

*The game is afoot dear watson”
Dear Mr. Alfano,
Hello, my name is Katherine Veitschegger and I am the Curator of Collections for the Kentucky Derby Museum. The postcard you sent to us is very interesting. We do not have a large amount of research on the “lawn jockeys”. However, we can infer that they were stationed obviously in the twentieth century, and that there were most likely just the three, due to track configuration. These jockeys are also not part of our collection here at the Kentucky Derby Museum. Thank you for sending is such a unique postcard. I will research the subject matter for a more detailed response to follow.

Verse Only – Let’s Review
At the place where jewels abound          the place (famous name)
jewels abound (a lot of really expensive beautiful fragile things)
Fifteen rows down to the ground            first level grandstand/clubhouse (counted fifteen rows)
In the middle of twenty-one        a most prominent spot from the standing at the rail (U/horse shoe/infield)
From end to end                          a stretch (from one end to the other end – in the middle of)
Only three stand watch                found them!
As the sound of friends                the people are not the attraction but they do make a lot of noise
Fills the afternoon hours              horse racing typically (historically) only run in the afternoons
Here is a sovereign people          the sport of kings/Millionaries
Who build palaces to shelter        fancy barns
Their heads for a night!              heads = herds = cattle = horses
Gnomes admire                          gnomes = jockeys
Fays delight                              fays = fairies = things that fly past with lightning speed
The namesakes meeting              Ohio Falls (the meeting of Lewis and Clark)
Near this site.                            Founder of Churchill Downs was named for Lewis and Clark (nephew)
Just the verse – nothing else….
“If you eliminate the impossible, then what you are left with, no matter how
improbable, is the possible”  Sherlock Holmes

I’ve been looking over verse 2 and image 7. I thought I’d share what I’ve pondered. I think it involves a pretty straight path and a relatively straight forward solution. Even when presenting the map below, I recognize that there are more clues (Joan of Arch, Armstrong, Story Land, etc.) I did not speak about and neglected to put on the map. I also realize some of the statements might need explaining. But, I posted this anyway to generate some discussion.
A. Walk from 678 St. Charles Ave (Lafayette Square)
B. past the Parc St. Charles
C. and Royal St. Charles hotels
D. through the Toulouse St. intersection
E. to Preservation Hall. Make a right
F. and go to where Jackson Square meets Jax Brewery.
G. Take the 15 stairs up into Artillery Park
At this point, you see the 21 trees, or tree containers.
Then proceed with the exact directions:
At the place where jewels abound
This is where you’ll find the gem.
Fifteen rows down to the ground
Washington Artillery Park
In the middle of twenty-one
From end to end
A very complex clue:
The mask on the image covers 3 numbers… 6 + 7 + 8, which equals 21 and directly links the verse to the image (think seek the columns, fence and fixture).
21 is a card game, also known as Blackjack. In this game there are “splits,” the line gives the exact definition of a split. Jacks (Jax) would be a split.
Behind Washington Artillery Park, there are 21 tree containers along the Moonwalk from end to end, and 21 trees (Note: It appears the same today as in 1979. I have more than enough pics to show this, but I figured these would do). They are irregularly spaced in a straight line, and they separate the Moonwalk from the 3 train tracks running behind Washington Artillery Park.
You can see that the trees once provided quite a bit of cover near those tracks (think Chicago):
They are numbered below, as seen today:
If these are the twenty-one, then is it “the middle of twenty-one:
1 – the exact middle of the distance from one end to the other of the 21?
2 – the middle of the eleventh container, which has 10 containers on either side of it?
3 – between the tenth and eleventh containers (21/2=10.5)?

Those containers are very convincing.
probably not 3) because there are seats between each container.
I like 1) because there are no lamp posts
btw, you can get a good view of some of the containers using Bing street as their camera went down to the rail crossing nearby.
What is the object/marker on the edge of the grass just to the west of 1) ?

Glossiphoniidae

a pretty straight path and a relatively straight forward solution

Well…not really. You’ve found 21 of something, but none of the rest of it makes any more sense than ever.  😉
(It’s a nice 21 though.)

Do you remember that the only place we found “Where jewels abound” verbatim was in a list of 20 floats (in the middle of twenty… one)?

Glossiphoniidae

Do you remember that the only place we found “Where jewels abound” verbatim was in a list of 20 floats (in the middle of twenty… one)?

That float was from Rex in 1906.  That is the year Comus used the theme named: The Masque of Comus.

Hey E, remember your pizza oven theory?

Omg…I have a fond memories of that theory.

An idea for why look at tomb 15 first and then 21:  15 = chess, then looking at 21 and knowing we aren’t allowed to dig inside the cemetery and there’s a wall intervening in the direct path to the casque, perhaps there’s the idea that you are to pretend that you are a knight piece which can leap over walls and while making an L shape maneuver to capture the opponent piece, in this case being the Morazan statue.  I kinda like that logic.  The casque is at the spot where the L path turns at 90 degrees.

http://www.saveourcemeteries.org/images/StL1_Map.pdf

Four21, thanks for posting that.  I’ve been going over that count of “fifteen” tombs and I’m not sure I’m sold on the idea now that I look at it again.  It’s so irregular as a layout and then I must be including Tomb #0 in my count and excluding #17 adjacent to the corner.  It really seems odd and unlikely from what you’d expect as a conclusion.  I’m really sold on the idea that Tomb #21 is the key but something that just now occured to me was to consider the line “fifteen rows down to the ground” as if it has hidden breaks:
Fifteen / rows / down to the ground
#15 / assorted rows / tombs
Giving significance to the cemetery in general but also specifying Tomb #15 for some reason.  Looking at the listings, it shows that the family name for Tomb #15 is “Chesse”.  Does that hold some kind of importance to this puzzle?  Chesse looks like a variant of Chess or Cheese.  I take some time looking into it and discover through the magic of Google that one of the first books (second actually) published in England was “The Game and Playe of Chesse” by William Caxton.
I’ve felt strongly in the past that image 7 has some hints about chess given the checker pattern and the knight like gryffon head and a shape that looks like the profile of a chess piece when you wrap the sides of the image together for a half and half reversed image.  It’s just easy to go with that interpretion but there’s much more non-chess related activity to consider as well.
If this was about chess, then wouldn’t Paul Morphy’s tomb be the best choice?  I suppose Chesse is more direct.  Morphy is Tomb #366 in Alley 15T-1.
I have a few different ideas brewing here.  Setting up a chess related perspective this way seems not so functional towards directing us to a spot outside the cemetery.  If anything, it makes the McDonough statue seem like a better end result.  It is a giant chess piece after all.  The only alternative I can see is to utilize the classic white vs black theme as a way of working with Comus/Zulu.

I post/deleted earlier. sorry. i still want to express thanks for talking about the puzzle.

Welcome to the hunt, outragedwolf. Please share whatever ideas or photos you have – hopefully we can provide some helpful input on your ideas.

or perhaps where jackson square meets jackson brewery?

Egbert

So, I agree with Merlot that it could very well be referring to that hotel in Montreal which looks like a cathedral. I suppose one interpretation of BP using this quote from Abroad in America, is that he NEVER intended that anyone find out where he got this quote from, and that he was just borrowing it because it was a very cryptic and clever way of referring to a hotel.

Minor Correction here.
The connection being made is as follows. When Sarmiento was in New Orleans he saw a structure that reminded him of St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome and thus his quote. It turned out to be the St. Charles Exchange Hotel in New Orelans.
The Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde (Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral), in Montreal on Dorchester Square, is a scale replica of St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome.
Another potential connection to the verse for Image 9 would be that “At the Place Where Jewels Abound” may be the Sun Life Building on Dorchester Square which housed the British Crown Jewels during World War II, or could be a cheeky reference to the fact that multiple statues in Dorchester Square feature the word “Diamond” on them. I can dig this up and repost if there’s interest in that angle.

Frisco

One thing I learned recently is that the Mayor of New Orleans when BP was burying treasure was Ernest “Dutch” Morial. Might the Gnomes (Dutch, according to Preiss’ mythology) admire something named after him? I wonder if anything had been named after him by 1980. Maybe too early.
Or maybe they would admire the New Orleans levees, which are very similar to the dikes of the Netherlands?

One thing I learned recently is that the Mayor of New Orleans when BP was burying treasure was Ernest “Dutch” Morial. Might the Gnomes (Dutch, according to Preiss’ mythology) admire something named after him? I wonder if anything had been named after him by 1980. Maybe too early.
Or maybe they would admire the New Orleans levees, which are very similar to the dikes of the Netherlands?

I cannot for the life of me figure out how
Too Close for Comfort
has anything to do with what I wrote.

Re: verse 2
« Reply #363 on: Today at 01:32:23 pm »
that just doesnt make sense…a different number of steps? Usining the ‘full resolution’ option from you link…it looks to me like all 3 sets include 16 steps.  It is really hard to tell though with the steps in the shadows behind the 3 gates.
yep your right, my bifocals do me in sometimes, always good to have better eyes
not to sure about bp, thinking the stands were up all the time, i wouldnt think that.
ive been to Mardi Gras several times, and the stands are put up in several places,
maybe one of the other buildings has 15 something to the ground, we would consider rows
the pavers seem like a good idea, excepet they seem to be in a circlular pattern
will try to find the pic with the statue of kids, that show some of the pavers.
i just cant belive bp would put it in the ground of the statue though.
does anyone have someone there to look see,or knew park before 1990, i think i read someplace
some work had been done then too

found the pics
maybe the pavers your talking about are the ones in this link in the slideshow tab
http://picasaweb.google.com/LafayetteSq … 9612893442
sorry none of these seem to get you there unless you cliick there try this hopefully the bricks i think cormac is talking about
http://picasaweb.google.com/LafayetteSq … 0684204242
i think same area as above, ie not sure where, maybe there are 15 rows of the
darker brick,  darker brick line like this  l    not like this  –  and 21 red bricks in between the darker line of brick
http://picasaweb.google.com/LafayetteSq … 4787156962
yea links works
statue kids
http://picasaweb.google.com/LafayetteSq … 9612893442

i found a good view of Gallier Hall from behind the kids,looks like the hall may have 15 steps
i think shecrab mention the parade, and the jewels that get thrown onto the steps
it looks like their may, have been more posts, around the statue area at one time
i counted the steps, came up with 15,one time and 16 2xs. need a better pic of steps
if the steps are 15, and their, were more posts at one time,id say the first four lines,
and the boy on the clock fit, and make this the casuqe site
At the place where jewels abound
Fifteen rows down to the ground
In the middle of twenty-one
From end to end
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= … 0%26sa%3DN

Does anyone know the name of the road that boarders the park on it’s south side? Google earth isn’t naming it for me. If it is named after anyone, then my gut instinct would be to go with the idea that where namesakes meet is an intersection of roads.

Go to the official website for Gallier Hall—and check out the PHOTO GALLERY—-there is a shot of the interior—we may have found our checkerboard pattern like the background on P. 7!!! I think you can count steps here, too.
BTW: I like the idea of the streets being the “namesakes!” They certainly ARE! and they DO meet at the intersections around the park! That fits seamlessly.

Here’s a closeup shot of the front of Gallier Hall—it certainly DOES look like there may be 15 steps–or rows. I think this is particularly important that these steps would be called “rows” because when the reviewing stands for the Mardi Gras parades are put here they utilize these as seating rows! Click on the image for a better view.

forest_blight

Note that SELOY is the only (we think!) acrostic clue.

Also note that besides the cryptic “First chapter” statement, there are no other confirming lines in Verse 9 for Saint Augustine. So in that particular one, we NEED the acrostic SELOY clue. Without that we have no real ties between that verse and the painting/location (that we know of). We already have ties between verse 2 and P7 without needing an acrostic clue. Maybe BP realized that when he was making the P6 puzzle…

here is a better shot of hall i count 15 steps, in the center and 16 on the ends
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= … 0%26sa%3DN
shecrab i think your right about the mis labeling of blog
i like the street idea too, good idea

Unknown

Unknown:
Does anyone know the name of the road that boarders the park on it’s south side?

South Maestri Place, probably named after this man:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Maestri
.

Shecrab, I really like your idea about the checkered pattern on the floor in Gallier Hall. Looks like a good confirmer to me. You know, I’m not saying that “jewels abound” doesn’t relate to Mardi Gras, but there are some beautiful crystal chandeliers in Gallier Hall… Any idea what that horse head in the lower right side of the pic could represent?
If only P6 and V9 would behave this way…

Unknown

Unknown:
Any idea what that horse head in the lower right side of the pic could represent?

Turned upside down it’s a half-good representation of the State of Louisiana. I’ll do some more research on this one though.
I did find this though:
Lafayette Park has been used as a race track,
a graveyard, a zoo, a slave market, an encampment for soldiers during the War of 1812, and many political protests and celebrations. The surrounding neighborhood became the city’s most fashionable 18th century residential area – home to a number of Washington personalities including Lincoln’s Secretary of State William Henry Seward and South Carolina Senator John C. Calhoun. Andrew Jackson Downing landscaped Lafayette Square in 1851 in the picturesque style. Today’s plan with its five large statues dates from the 1930’s. In the center stands Clark Mills’ equestrian statue of President Andrew Jackson, erected in 1853; in the four corners are statues of Revolutionary War heroes: France’s General Marquis Gilbert de Lafayette and Major General Comte Jean de Rochambeau; Poland’s General Thaddeus Kosciuszko; Prussia’s Major General Baron Frederich Wilhelm von Steuben.
(INFO TAKEN FROM:
www.nps.gov/nr/travel/wash/dc30.htm
)
But they aren’t talking about OUR Lafayette Square! They’re talking about the one in WASHINGTON DC. How odd is that? Talk about synchronicity!

Not to be taken too seriously… but…
When I was there I was looking for anything with 15 rows
The statue with the boy and girl…. there are 15 rows of pavers in the circle around the base of the statue…
14 large pavers then right up next to the wall of the garden bed at the base of the statue…the 15th row is a smaller paver…
I seriously doubt this is the 15 we’re looking for though…

Sarmiento’s original St. Charles Exchange Hotel was located just up St. Charles Ave between Common and Gravier, about 3 blocks from Lafayette Square.
The pink X marks the Hotel.
]

just curious, why not?

What do you mean by “rows” of pavers, and why wouldn’t these be it?

cw0909

here is a better shot of hall i count 15 steps, in the center and 16 on the ends
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= … 0%26sa%3DN

that just doesnt make sense…a different number of steps? Usining the ‘full resolution’ option from you link…it looks to me like all 3 sets include 16 steps.  It is really hard to tell though with the steps in the shadows behind the 3 gates.
This pic is a little lighter in the shadowed area and it still looks there are 16 steps.  It also even looks like there may be another set of steps before reaching the doorway.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chibeba/26 … 4/sizes/l/

Yeah, it looks to me like there’s more like 21 or 22 steps total.

Cormac

The statue with the boy and girl…. there are 15 rows of pavers in the circle around the base of the statue…
14 large pavers then right up next to the wall of the garden bed at the base of the statue…the 15th row is a smaller paver…

Can anyone find a clear pic showing this?  Remember, our clock in P9 not only shows the boy, it also shows it’s hands on 12 and {second hand} 3.  12 + 3 = 15.  I am convinced this is our boy.

i understand the original hotel was down the street, but if this parc st charles hotel was here in ’82 it would’ve been perfect for bp.

I’m not seeing any pavers—in rows. But check out the satellite pic of Lafayette Square and Gallier Hal where I marked the structure—those have to be the reviewing stands set up for Mardi Gras. I wonder if BP knew they come down after the parade, or just assumed they were up all the time? He has to mean those are the 15 rows down to the ground. I can’t think of anything else it
might
be!
I’ve been racking my brain to think of some word-play on the word ROWS this might mean–rose the flower, rose as in something that lifted up, rows as in fights, rows as in row houses, even the surname Row, Roze, Rose, or Reaux. Nothing has jumped out at me yet.

Since this V has been tossed about as possibly linking to N.O. and more specifically, Storyland in City Park, i thought i would put this up.  Not sure if it is like this all year round or just during the holidays (when this pic was taken)..
“only three stand watch”
http://www.pbase.com/bre/image/36730174
nice little grassy area in center  lol

Hey fox, the picture you show is storyland at the time of Celebration in the Oaks.  During Christmas time all the oak trees and trees in the park are lit with Christmas lights.  Everything is the same the rest of the year except the lights in the trees. Hope this helps.

hi guys, i’m back
i had a new thought about “in the middle of twenty-one”
went something like this….21…blackjack….tree…………in the south we have these trees called blackjack oaks
(i won’t get into my thoughts on “blackjack game, first mentioned by cervantes in don quixote, cervantes- prince of wits, windmills)
anyway, maybe mother goose is hanging from a blackjack tree
http://www.flickr.com/photos/79761301@N00/3165618000/
so “only 3 stand watch”
still hoping to get my old notes back from dead computer

I extensively explored Tower Grove Park years ago.  In fact, it was my solution that I emailed to BP.  He said I was correct in thinking St. Louis, but I had the wrong location.  Did he mean the wrong park or the wrong spot in Tower Grove Park?  I don’t know.
I never counted the stones in the mock ruins, but perhaps I should try that.
I used to live down the street from the park and would go there often.

forest_blight

Hmm, I was about ready to write off St. Louis until you reminded me BP actually confirmed it for you. Do you think he might have been playing games with you? For example, he could have hidden it in Parc St.-Louis in Montreal, or near St. Louis St. in New Orleans, and that would technically qualify.
Can someone please explain how we got back to St. Louis, since we now know these 3 lines to be a New Orleans reference?
Here is a sovereign people
Who build palaces to shelter
Their heads for a night!
We know absolutely, positively, without a doubt that these lines are from Sarmiento, and that he is referring directly to New Orleans in the quote. Image 7 practically screams New Orleans. Why then must this P/V combination be St. Louis? I don’t get it.

Well, if you ignore the lon/lat combination, and the word ‘preservation’, and the moon/stars motif, and the fact that the verse refers directly to a hotel in New Orleans, then
of course
it’s St. Louis.

Unknown

Unknown:
Here is a sovereign people
Who build palaces to shelter
Their heads for a night!
We know absolutely, positively, without a doubt that these lines are from Sarmiento, and that he is referring directly to New Orleans in the quote. Image 7 practically screams New Orleans. Why then must this P/V combination be St. Louis? I don’t get it.

The writing referred NOT to New Orleans, but to a specific
HOTEL
in New Orleans: The St. Charles. St. Louis straddles two counties: St. Louis county and St. CHARLES county.
St. Louis also has a mardi gras. The Muny, the theatre in Forest Park, was founded to PRESERVE a MASQUE and PAGEANT. (quote from the website taken from the founder’s original charter.)
And “Preservation” could refer to many things–including the extensive PRESERVATION that St. Louis has done in its downtown areas, and most specifically in its parks. The “harlequin” in the clock face looks just like one of the vintage baseball players that regularly play in the parks. The scrollwork on the clock hands is found in the fence surrounding Lafayette Square. The arch is found in Forest Park, in the water fountain picture I posted, in many many many of the architectural details around St. Louis, especially in the Preserved areas! The moon/stars motif can just as easily represent a nearby planetarium, and there is more than one way to interpret the numbers–and more than one SET of numbers, as there are in all the images.
You guys thought the idea of Niagara Falls for Image 2 was bunk, but there are latitude and longitude numbers in THAT image that lead you
right to the spot
. (AS WELL as numbers that lead you CLOSE to Charleston SC.) So, you base that image interpretation entirely on the map in the mask–and IGNORE the other latitude and longitude–any reason I can’t do the same here?
I’m not saying its definitive. However, it might as EASILY be St. Louis as New Orleans. There are a lot of similiarities between the two cities…and as Johann says, he got confirmation from BP himself that there was a casque there.
I know that another verse and image were being explored for St. Louis–image 9 I believe. Yet, nothing ever came of that–nothind more definitive than seeing the outline of the jewel box in the figure’s collar. This image at least has more than just one or two items that seem to match. From studying the Cleveland and Chicago solves, I surmised that not every element in the pictures OR the verses matches perfectly with the actual solution. And after 20+ years, that might be more pronounced.
It was just alternative thoughts…but not unfounded ones.

Hmm, I was about ready to write off St. Louis until you reminded me BP actually confirmed it for you. Do you think he might have been playing games with you? For example, he could have hidden it in Parc St.-Louis in Montreal, or near St. Louis St. in New Orleans, and that would technically qualify.
Can someone please explain how we got back to St. Louis, since we now know these 3 lines to be a New Orleans reference?
Here is a sovereign people
Who build palaces to shelter
Their heads for a night!
We know absolutely, positively, without a doubt that these lines are from Sarmiento, and that he is referring directly to New Orleans in the quote. Image 7 practically screams New Orleans. Why then must this P/V combination be St. Louis? I don’t get it.

shecrab

The writing referred NOT to New Orleans, but to a specific HOTEL in New Orleans: The St. Charles. St. Louis straddles two counties: St. Louis county and St. CHARLES county.

shecrab

St. Louis also has a mardi gras. The Muny, the theatre in Forest Park, was founded to PRESERVE a MASQUE and PAGEANT. (quote from the website taken from the founder’s original charter.)
And “Preservation” could refer to many things–including the extensive PRESERVATION that St. Louis has done in its downtown areas, and most specifically in its parks. The “harlequin” in the clock face looks just like one of the vintage baseball players that regularly play in the parks. The scrollwork on the clock hands is found in the fence surrounding Lafayette Square. The arch is found in Forest Park, in the water fountain picture I posted, in many many many of the architectural details around St. Louis, especially in the Preserved areas! The moon/stars motif can just as easily represent a nearby planetarium, and there is more than one way to interpret the numbers–and more than one SET of numbers, as there are in all the images.

Unknown

Unknown:
You guys thought the idea of Niagara Falls for Image 2 was bunk, but there are latitude and longitude numbers in THAT image that lead you right to the spot. (AS WELL as numbers that lead you CLOSE to Charleston SC.) So, you base that image interpretation entirely on the map in the mask–and IGNORE the other latitude and longitude–any reason I can’t do the same here?

shecrab

I’m not saying its definitive. However, it might as EASILY be St. Louis as New Orleans. There are a lot of similiarities between the two cities…and as Johann says, he got confirmation from BP himself that there was a casque there.

I love a spirited debate.
It is true that Sarmiento was extolling the virtues of the St. Charles, but the
sovereign people
he was referring to are the people of New Orleans.
Let me explain why I think this is a stronger reference to New Orleans than to St. Louis. The subtext of
The Secret
has to do with immigration and visitors to the new world. We know BP had
Abroad in America
on his shelf, which is all about visitors to the new world. If I were in BP’s shoes and looking for obscure references to the locations where I’d just buried 12 casques, I might look up those locations in the index of
Abroad
, go to the relevant page, and extract something obscure from the text. He intended his riddles to be solved, so I can easily imagine him thinking, “I will put a veiled reference to New Orleans in the text. Eventually someone will track down the source of the quote, figure out what Sarmiento was talking about, put 2 and 2 together, and concentrate on New Orleans.” Furthermore, New Orleans is on the coast (along with all the other casque sites, known and strongly suspected) – points of entry for immigration, so it matches the theme. My point: If the true site is St. Louis, there is no easy way for BP to have found that quote. You can’t get to that page in
Abroad
by looking up St. Louis in the index. You CAN get to it by looking up New Orleans.
The latitudes and longitudes in P7 match New Orleans, not St. Louis. Attaching “Preservation” to St. Louis is tenuous (almost ANY city has a historic area that has been “preserved”). New Orleans, on the other hand, has the world-famous Preservation Hall, providing a strong link.
Yes, there are multiple potential explanations, but in weighing the evidence for New Orleans against that for St. Louis, I think New Orleans definitely wins here.
I can’t see how P2 could match anywhere *other* than Charleston. We have the map, which is undeniably Charleston, the African immigration theme from the book (which matches Charleston a lot more than Niagara). We have a quote in one of the verses that pertains to Charleston. The four numbers in P2 exactly match the latitudes and longitudes enclosing the Charleston quadrant:
It is possible for St. Louis AND New Orleans to be sites. It could be that P9 is the St. Louis image after all, and that P7 goes with New Orleans.

Forest, you may love a debate, but you’re not debating as much as trying to convince me of something that in my way of thinking has
more than one
possibility.
Sure you can argue that the Sarmiento passage referred directly to New Orleans. That’s pretty direct, in fact–here’s a passage referring to a place in NEW ORLEANS, and the word “Preservation” is one closely associated with NEW ORLEANS and the mask looks a tiny bit like Louis Armstrong (and a lot more like Bill Maher,) and the arch in the clock looks like his park’s gate, which is in NEW ORLEANS. I agree, it’s pretty much screaming NEW ORLEANS. These are
very direct
references.
And that, my friend, is the most persuasive argument that it’s NOT NEW ORLEANS.  Was there ever any DIRECT reference to Cleveland OR Chicago? Has there been any DIRECT reference to St. Augustine Florida? Houston Texas? Nope. Not ONE.
In spite of the 29/90, there
can
be other numbers in that image–at least three places where I can see you make a 38 to go with that 90–which
would
put it in St. Louis. Look at the chin of the mask–I clearly see an 8–and the 3s could be in several places.
(See attachment)
St. Charles is a pretty broad reference–I realize that. It ISN’T a broad reference, however, to have BP tell one of us that yes, there is indeed a casque buried in St. Louis. There wasn’t any luck with Image 9–why
not
try another one?
I’m not even going to get into the Charleston/Niagara Falls debate. Really. I had enough matching information to make the verse 10 match the picture, inlcuding the map–but you all have your own ideas here. I was unable to go to NF to confirm any of mine, so until I can, I won’t hold to it, except to tell you that it matched as much as YOURS did. At this point, that’s not saying much.
And what makes you think BP took the route of finding the quote AFTER he chose the site? Maybe–MAYBE–it was the other way around. Maybe he found the quote, saw the name St. Charles, and thought about St. Louis–NOT N.O…I doubt you can pin his thoughts down here at this point.  Or the path he took to encode the riddle.
There’s really no need to debate anything. At this point, it’s anyone’s guess.

shecrab

Sure you can argue that the Sarmiento passage referred directly to New Orleans. That’s pretty direct, in fact–here’s a passage referring to a place in NEW ORLEANS, and the word “Preservation” is one closely associated with NEW ORLEANS and the mask looks a tiny bit like Louis Armstrong (and a lot more like Bill Maher,) and the arch in the clock looks like his park’s gate, which is in NEW ORLEANS. I agree, it’s pretty much screaming NEW ORLEANS. These are
very direct references
.

shecrab

And that, my friend, is the most persuasive argument that it’s NOT NEW ORLEANS.  Was there ever any DIRECT reference to Cleveland OR Chicago? Has there been any DIRECT reference to St. Augustine Florida? Houston Texas? Nope. Not ONE.

shecrab

In spite of the 29/90, there can be other numbers in that image–at least three places where I can see you make a 38 to go with that 90–which would put it in St. Louis. Look at the chin of the mask–I clearly see an 8–and the 3s could be in several places.

shecrab

St. Charles is a pretty broad reference–I realize that. It ISN’T a broad reference, however, to have BP tell one of us that yes, there is indeed a casque buried in St. Louis. There wasn’t any luck with Image 9–why not try another one?

shecrab

And what makes you think BP took the route of finding the quote AFTER he chose the site? Maybe–MAYBE–it was the other way around. Maybe he found the quote, saw the name St. Charles, and thought about St. Louis–NOT N.O…I doubt you can pin his thoughts down here at this point.  Or the path he took to encode the riddle.

I didn’t think of the Bill Maher resemblance, but you’re right!
For the record, I’m not too enthusiastic about the arch theory. One can find arches and circles everywhere, so they’re just not diagnostic unless some detail or other makes it an exact match.
So far as I can tell, the verses do not have direct references to locations. “Direct,” I guess, would entail including a phrase like “Incidentally, the casque is buried in New Orleans” into a verse. Anything short of that should perhaps be considered indirect. But some references are less indirect than others.
I like some of the evidence you’ve presented, I just don’t think it is as overwhelming as the evidence in favor of New Orleans. I like the baseball player reference, for instance. Were they doing this sort of thing c. 1981?
I think it is potentially fruitful to imagine ourselves in BP’s position, as he constructed the riddles. It is more likely that he wrote the riddles after burying the casques than before. Without having been there, he could not have known the layout of these locations in the detail necessary to write about them. Perhaps he already knew a couple of choice spots, but all 12?
So let’s say he buries the casque in St. Louis and wants to write a cryptic riddle. He notes that St. Louis is near St. Charles County, so he needs a veiled reference to something involving St. Charles. So far, I could go along with that, except that St. Louis isn’t in St. Charles County. One would have to exit St. Louis City, traverse St. Louis County, and then enter St. Charles County. Even granting that BP really means to refer to St. Charles County, I think it highly unlikely that he could come upon the St. Charles reference in
Abroad
in his search because the St. Charles Exchange Hotel is not in the index of
Abroad in America
. It would be a fantastic coincidence to have buried the casque in St. Charles County, then just happen to encounter the exact sort of phrase he needed to provide a cryptic reference to it. A more parsimonious explanation is that he buried it in New Orleans, then simply flipped through the index of
Abroad
until he found what he was looking for. This would not have been difficult, since there is only one page in the entire book that mentions New Orleans, p. 110.
So sure, I think it’s
possible
that V2 refers to St. Louis rather than New Orleans, but to say V2 could “as easily” be St. Louis as New Orleans is a tough sell. Maybe I am alone in thinking this.
Granted. If we try hard enough, we could get any numbers 0-9 out of P7. But you have to really try to squeeze a 38 out of it, when 29 is sitting right there. Parsimony.
I think our collective efforts would be wasted trying to make P7 to fit St. Louis, when there is much stronger evidence in favor of New Orleans for this one.
Of course not, but we can speculate, weigh probabilities, and try to imagine ourselves in his shoes. We know BP
took advantage of trips he already had planned for other reasons
for purposes of economy, so it is unlikely that he was inspired by the quote to visit St. Louis, then planned a “business trip” to St. Louis as a cover for his real purpose.

shecrab

That’s not a large area. AP, I don’t see how the area around Harlequin is “perfect”
since it’s all private houses–please explain. Are you talking about the park itself? Or outside of the park?

Shecrab,
I am referring to the entire area around that section of parks and streets.
The Jewel names and other clues make this out-of-the-way neighborhood,
a place to easily bury a box.
The boulevard of trees is very interesting and offers “rows” and objects to count.
Remember that one of the essential clues in the Chicago-find depended on trees in a row.
(some of which no longer existed at the time of discovery).
The object the harlequin is carrying, could be outlining a section of the area…with the
semi-circular “notch” being the  “X” marking the spot…(unless someone recognizes the shape as something else.)
By the way, Shecrab…finding all of the jewel-streets was a very good piece of work!
AP

No, you are looking at some flimsy business in this latest installment.  If you pose the problem the right way you limit the possibilities.  The line about building roofs over heads for a night certainly seems like a good reference to sleeping or death.  A fadt association to the use of the word ‘keep’ and ‘stone’ in the LotJ brings the bedtime prayer easily to mind.  Inspecting that with some interest and constraint brings the word ‘wake’ into consideration.  If it may apply then maybe this is a score.  It one of the other words apply then please point that out.  I find the word ‘wake’ lands well only because it and none of the others fits the profile of having to do with a funeral or some other strong association in the image or verse.
This is hypothesis no matter how you look at it.  Its flaw may be that I’m working hard to make it fit or it may be wrong in any case.  I’d like to enter something into consideration just ad long as it applies in a fun way and doesn’t come from an inaccessible or too obscure source.  I think the bedtime prayer and When the Saints Go Marching In are both largely accessible.
I have other ideas to add.  The jockey seen as a “floating” figure might be a clue about the parades of Mardi Gras but also something which floats, as in water, would have a ‘wake’ associated with it.

erexere

The next line “rare as a blue mindsummer’s day” may be using the word ‘rare’ to mean ‘unique’ or “only one”.

Unknown

Unknown:
The Ides were supposed to be determined by the full moon, reflecting the lunar origin of the Roman calendar

Once in a blue moon?
Gnomes admire -> Roman Ides gem
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ides_of_March
Seriously, looking back at this, I have to admit Lafayette looks like a good bet. Wish I could understand that stuff about Gnomes though…

Whiterabbit, that’s cool.  Best anagram I’ve seen in awhile.

WhiteRabbit

Like, who cares what the Milwaukee compass or the Houston fortress are; it doesn’t matter.
Maybe in a more contained area like Roanoke, FOY or Hermann Park you could take that approach. But New Orleans, SF, NY, Boston; it’s a wide area. We don’t know what the parks are yet.

This is an interesting statement. I would agree fully.

Okay, now it’s my turn to brainstorm.
I was answering a post on the 12 bbs today, and something occurred to me that may clinch the location for the N.O. casque.
Verse 2 (IMHO) points directly to New Orleans, but I’m going to take this out of order somewhat:
At the place where jewels abound
there is an entire section of the city of NO where the streets and parks are named after jewels. I’d say that qualifies as “abounding”.
Only three stand watch
has been said to represent the three great institutions that are represented on Jackson Square: education, government and justice OR could simply mean the three spires on the St. Louis cathedral in the same place. It’s a famous landmark, giving a very notable visual “three” for this city. Works for me either way.
As the sound of friends fills the afternoon hours
many many many of the parks in NO are gathering places for music, meetings, parades, etc.
Here is a sovereign people etc.
quote from Sarmiento
directly
pointing to the city of New Orleans, in particular, the
St. Charles
hotel.
Now here’s the connecting thoughts:
…
stand watch
…
equestrian statue
of A. Jackson, Jackson Sq….where there are …3…may pair up with the
equestrian statue
of R. E. LEE in LEE CIRCLE, which is on
St. Charles Ave
. and where the bleachers are erected to watch the Mardi Gras parade…bleachers…rows…
15 rows down to the ground….
and which is on the streetcar line called…the St. Charles Streetcar Line…which has numbered stops…and stop 21 would appear to be somewhere near Antonine St. (the stops are all numbered)….or perhaps they mean “Louisiana Street” which is a couple streets further on…?
Well, perhaps.
Now the next lines can confirm the location even more:
gnomes amire, fays delight
gnomes are “little people”. CHILDREN are “little people.” (a namesake)  “Admiring” children (little people/gnomes) gave $$ to erect the statue of John McDonogh in Lafayette Square–the statue that has the figure of a boy that is exactly like the figure on the clock face in Image 7. I’d say that qualified as namesakes “meeting” near the site. What site? Lafayette Square. It’s off of St. Charles Ave. On the Streetcar line.  I think the casque was buried in Lafayette Square,, where the ‘gnomes’ admired and the laFAYette fays met up.

And the
3 that stand watch
could actually simply refer to the three statues IN Lafayette square: Henry Clay, Benjamin Franklin and John McDonogh.
That’s even simpler and more direct.

I noticed a connecting theme for “crowns” for this verse accompanied with image 7.
At the place where jewels abound,
The kind of jewels this may refer to is “crown jewels”.  Crown jewels are collectively the crown and accessories adorning a sovereign.  The plurality of jewels abound suggests many sovereigns and such fits well given that the many Krewes of Mardi Gras each choose Kings and Queens to accompany their parades.
The image features a clock with architectural elements referred to as ogee curves otherwise known as “crown” molding.  The moon in it’s display looks like a good representation of the large white circular feature known as the Superdome sports arena which on many occasion is referenced as the crown jewel of the city of New Orleans.

What about the flower bed across from jackson square?
15 rows = 15 steps from the middle level to the ground.
21 from end to end may just refer to a unit of measure like feet.
Was this structure even in place around 1981?

a friend has plans for mardi gras 2015, we were discussing v2 & img 7
anyway he pointed out this not sure it was ever discussed, kind of obvious
when you think about it, im trying to talk him into at least probing
i tried to do an img of the clock in img 7 and Gstreet map and building img, sorry didnt do well
maybe you can see the alignment
Fays delight
The namesakes meeting
Near this site.
La FAY ette S quare
La FAY ette S treet
https://goo.gl/maps/EJVRx
behind us at other end of square is the boy
https://www.google.com/maps/@29.948027, … e5!6m1!1e1

I like this!!! The bit in the previous mail about Fay = LaFAYette….very near there is Lafayette Square!!
Here are somem links about the Square:
http://www.nps.gov/archive/jazz/Walking … ur%206.pdf
This is a link to a postcard of the place offered on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Postcard-Post-Offic … dZViewItem
http://www.neworleansonline.com/neworle … quare.html
Also…could “the place where jewels abound” mean
N. and S. Diamond Streets,
about three blocks away from there?

There might be a lot of interpretations of “where jewels abound.”  Here’s one:
In 1987 the United States Congress, through
Concurrent Resolution 57, designated Jazz “a rare
and valuable national
American treasure
to which
we should devote our attention, support and
resources to make certain it is preserved,
understood and promulgated.
A treasure=jewels.  This square and the Lafayette district in general would have many “jewels” of our national treasure, Jazz.
Here’s another interesting tie-in with the theme of the book in general:
14. FAIRMONT HOTEL 123 Baronne St.
Built in 1908 and designed by Toledano and Wogan,
the Grunewald Hotel later became the Roosevelt Hotel,
then the Fairmont Hotel. A major music policy has
prevailed since its inception;
the Grunewald Cave
showcased Johnny Dedroit’s Band dressed as elves;
Thought that was rather interesting….
c

Has anyone been able to find any Pics of the Hotels in the area that may have our  Leg Eater Lampost ?  I was so excited to see this find and Hope you all get this Jewel

You know, there are a lot of enticing lampposts in the area….it wouldn’t surprise me a bit if it was there. But what makes you think it’s I9? Maybe it’s I7?
More about Lafayette park that may or may not be relevant:

It has to be Image 7. With items like “Preservation,” a Mardi Gras mask, and the proper latitude and longitude on the clock face, it could hardly be any other picture.

I went back over all our Verse 2 material today to see what might still be salvageable after Squid’s discovery.
First, remember that there is that neighborhood in New Orleans, NNW of Jackson Square on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain, where all the streets are named after jewels/gemstones. I would say that is a place where jewels abound.
Also, CMSCHUT said, “This I Take as  A reference to an Elaborate Hotel.” How right she was!
Finally, read my post of May 7. Do we have any hunters in the N.O. area? Wilhouse, isn’t Houston sorta close to N.O.??

forest_blight

It has to be Image 7. With items like “Preservation,” a Mardi Gras mask, and the proper latitude and longitude on the clock face, it could hardly be any other picture.

One would think.

it really depends on what image I’m pairing the Verse with
my original solution was
friends = France
France PM / Prime minister
but I couldn’t find a single visual confirmer for that so….

In accordance with the golfing idea, most golf club heads have grooves in them.  Can this be the 15 rows down to the ground?  The thing is that the number of grooves changes with he club chosen and coresponding loft of the club.  Not only can it be read in the middle of twen “t” yone, but it could also be ready , in the middle of twenty, one.  T is the twentieth letter.

An idea to consider, Spinner.  Where is this casque?  Aarrgghh.

Hi everyone, don’t know if this has been put out there yet, but Audubon Park has a fountain that is at the end of 15 rows of trees (at least per the map) called Hyams Fountain. The inscription says that the lady left her jewels to the park for the benefit of children. Just throwing that out there.
Also, I was thinking that the sovereign peoples line would most easily fit with a hotel named navajo manor, or cherokee castle, or something like that. A sovereign people of some kind, paired with a synonym for palace. That would not necessarily have anything to do with new orleans, but I think the obscure quote is not necessarily telling us to pair the quote to new orleans. There’s no way Preiss could have expected people to track down that book pre-internet. I think he just had some obscure books that he chose to borrow from in crafting the riddles.

fox

That is exactly what I meant  :app) .  Not really the openess of it but the fact that it is Churchill Downs.  Give me a shovel and I will dig in the center of (out in plain site) Central Park any day of the week but you will NEVER find me digging in center field of Yankee Stadium.  NEVER
And yes, I do feel there is a huge difference between FOY “PARK” and a major sporting event site such as Churchill Downs (which I think is similar to matt’s Yankee Stadium).

‘Here is a soverign people who build palaces to shelter their heads for a night’
I did hide it there but that facts remain that that is where it is.

fox

Dont get me wrong Trohn, the reasoning is great.  I just think the location is too (for lack of better words) famous.  Even if there was NO security back then, I just dont think it reasonable to go to the infield of Churchill Downs and dig.  I would be more at ease finding an out of the way corner of Disneyland and digging (which of course I would never do).  Quick question…during off season, are the grounds of Churchill Downs, including the infield, open for the public to just wander around in?

Back then.. more likely…  In the current climate, prob would need a ‘chaperone’.  But with riders, exercisers, trainers, club members,
if you look the part – not too many people would turn an eye.
Fox – is Churchill Downs anymore famous than the Fountain of Youth – and we know there is a casque there – as well as
an archelogocial site from the early American settlers.
The casque being there versus someone being able to retrieve it are two entirely different arguments.

It’s just so exposed, though!  It’d be kind of like burying it behind second base at Yankee Stadium.

bigmattyh

It’s just so exposed, though!  It’d be kind of like burying it behind second base at Yankee Stadium.

Back in the early eighties, Churchill Downs was near disrepair and not well kept
except for the one big day.  The infield is a giant garden that needs to be
kept up by gardeners and groundkeepers.  Its not out of the question.
That being that.
lining up the verses with the images helps narro down the others ones and
their locations.
Just because it seems unreachable now, does not exclude the possibility or likelihood.
Nearly six years ago, I was corresponding with the head of the stables to help
get me some traction into a dig there – he has since retired.
I haven’t had the time or the motivation to continue afresh batch of contacts.
The image with the jewel in the derby and this verse I have work hard on and
am satisfied that I have it all reasoned out.
If its there, its not moving any time soon.  Maybe spring will give me an urge
to write a few more letters.  we’ll see.

We really missed out on capitalizing on the Occupy protests.  People were setting up tents all over the place.  We could’ve gotten someone to set up a tent on any exposed spot as a protest and then shoveled to our hearts content while inside our fabric fortress…*sigh*

bigmattyh

It’s just so exposed, though!  It’d be kind of like burying it behind second base at Yankee Stadium.

That is exactly what I meant  :app) .  Not really the openess of it but the fact that it is Churchill Downs.  Give me a shovel and I will dig in the center of (out in plain site) Central Park any day of the week but you will NEVER find me digging in center field of Yankee Stadium.  NEVER
And yes, I do feel there is a huge difference between FOY “PARK” and a major sporting event site such as Churchill Downs (which I think is similar to matt’s Yankee Stadium).

I don’t object to the literal truth of what you say, WR, but the same could be said of virtually every street, couldn’t it? Every road is the namesake of *something,* and the something after which every street is named is also the namesake of something. Once the scope is broadened like that, the clue ceases to be useful.

There’s plenty clues in this book that aren’t very useful.

Unknown

Unknown:
…these definitions agree that the “namesakes” share the same name…If the two roads are named after different people, they are NOT namesakes unless their names happen to be the same.

The namesakes meeting
Near this site.
Hang on though, there’s two different pairs here…
1) A thing and its namesake
2) Two namesakes that meet
St Charles is the namesake of St Charles, Maestri is the namesake of Maestri, and they meet at the corner of Lafayette. They are both “namesakes” by your definition (2) above; just not of each other.

Great picture, Jambone. Do you have more? What are the 26 stories?
I look forward to hearing more!

slappybuns

are the 3 little pigs in storyland? for only 3 stand watch? night-knight, gnomes and dwarfs or trolls? surely there’s a fairy or ogre.
i really feel it’s right there at Storyland.

I was just in NO and had about 20 minutes to visit City Park.  Storyland was closed, but I took some pics through the fence.  I also took a look around the Peristyle, stone arch bridge, and the Popp bandstand.  Focusing on Storyland a little:
“In the middle of twenty-one”
There are 26 separate stories depicted there.  Maybe we need to stop at the 21st one?
“Only three stand watch”
Yes, the 3 little pigs are there in Storyland.  I will get a picture on here soon to show that.

Just a thought for verse 2…and Montreal
Here is a sovereign people
Who build palaces to shelter
Their heads for a night!
Montreal used to offer accomodations for one night…in the Ice Palace Hotel
built every winter.
http://www.infohub.com/vacation_packages/1785.html
Their sovereignty was accomplished on April 18,1982,
The Constitution Act of 1982 ended British legislative control of Canada,
and established the country’s fundamental laws and civil rights.
Queen Elizabeth II It signed it on April 18, 1982, at Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
Hmmmm…
AP

erexere

I’m not saying verse 2 should be paired with image 1.  However I do think the line
Only three stand watch
has a crossover to image 1 with the watch piece on the small tablestand.  Call it crossover or cameo, there is a track record of these one liners at play.

… yes, but 7’s is standing at 3. i just blew my mind.

However, I am with you on the notion that a verse will link itself to an image based on the previous solves.
What does y’all think?
Do
all
verses contain definite links to the images, aside from being clues to the location?

“The namesakes meeting
Near this site.”
Kentucky Derby: Churchill Downs
Track: Churchill Downs Louisville, KY
Distance: 1 1/4 miles
Purse: $1 million
Record: 1:59 2/5 (Secretariat, 1973)
There’s no way possible that could have envisioned that their
family name would go down in infamy back in 1874
. All they did was unload a piece of land that was part of Kentucky’s declining stock farms to Col. M. Lewis Clark. Only a year after this acquisition, Clark’s brand-new Louisville Jockey Club served as host to an estimated 10,000 spectators for the first Kentucky Derby on May 17, 1875, when Aristides ran to glory.
It wasn’t until the Louisville Commercial newspaper used the name “Churchill Downs”
on a recap of the ninth Derby that . Churchill,
taken from Clark’s uncles’ name who sold him the land, and Downs, from an English-term for an expanse of grassy upland used for grazing and racing. It’s been the name associated with the place to be on the first Saturday in May ever since.
Clark, who studied racing in Europe for two years before settling in Louisville, wisely fashioned his club after the
great races of England
. He modeled the Clark Handicap after the English St. Leger, the Kentucky Oaks after the Epsom Oaks for three-year-old fillies and the Kentucky Derby after the Epsom (or English) Derby. At first the Derby was set at one mile 880 yards compared to the Epsom’s one mile 881 yards, but was later changed to the 1 ¼ mile distance that remains today.
*1 1/4 miles = 10 lengths*
*a set of races is called a meet*

“At the place where jewels abound
15 rows down to the ground”
http://www.churchilldowns.com/visit_the … 12003.html
So you all can review the changes here….
Gate 15 is located between gates 10 and gates 17 (duh)Along where the new steel cover
walkway is seen being built.  It puts you behind the paddock.  For orientation purposes,
sitting at one of the bench tables, your back to the paddock,
you would be facing the clubhouse with the spires and the race track beyond that.

FWIW-
I would love to have someone explain this verse to me
without using this site AND making it a coherent progression.
While being very helpful and very interested, the people at
CHD are looking at a nearly one hundred percent certainty to
lift up newly placed bricks.
“As the sound of friends fills the afternoon hours,
here is a place where a sourveign people
build palaces to shelter their heads for a night”
I would be happy to shift my attention.

Johann,
Sounds good. I actually have a few Vacations coming up. Let’s here from anyone else in St. Louie. Alt?

Hmmmmm .  . .  St. Louis again?  Who else is in the St. Louis area.  Let’s get together.

Hello again everyone. I just picked up the book again after a brief recess.
I am close to St. Louis and could possibly meet everyone. Just let me know when.
Johann, I thought sure you would have this one by now.
It has been awhile since i have been to the city but i think Grant’s Farm is on Hwy. 30 (Gravois). I think Hwy. 21 (Tesson Ferry) is to the south.
Happy hunting!!

davinci4

These are all great possible tie-ins for “gnomes admire.” The idea of a bank (?royal bank of Canada) being near the casque site would fit nicely with the verses. …If only we knew where to start at ‘the place where jewels abound,’

I think where jewels abound equates to where the casque is buried.

I REALLY like the geodesic gnome tie to Montreal and Buckmister’s Biosphere. This has to be the gnome reference. It also fits BP kind of thinking. Geodesic domes was huge in the 70’s. Great work guys.

Howardjthomas

I REALLY like the geodesic gnome tie to Montreal and Buckmister’s Biosphere. This has to be the gnome reference. It also fits BP kind of thinking. Geodesic domes was huge in the 70’s. Great work guys.

Not finding that theory. Please elaborate.

drunknerds

Not finding that theory. Please elaborate.

(…just means the Field Guide entry,
here
…)

Good luck Trohn….make sure to take lots of pix and keep us all updated!
Is casque #3 close to falling?  wheeee

Soon to be confirmed by digging.
Ties to image nine.
Both French and English connections
to immigration.

That playground was NOT there in the early eightites, and I will tell you why– Because the common building material for playgrounds up until the nineties, was wood and steel pipes.  And I know this because my preschool and my elementary school had such fixtures until WELL after I went to middle school.  Arguements against may include funding, resources, or any other reason why a public school might NOT have gigantic plastic slides and such…  But little rock-climbing wall was not popular until recently, and all of that plastic is too shiny to have been much more than five at the most.

Louis Armstrong – When the Saints Go Marching In, 1961 – YouTube
Oh, when the saints go marching in
Oh, when the saints go marching in
I want to be in that number
When the saints go marching in
In the middle of twenty-one…

I enjoyed reading Abroad in America.  It ends with a perspective from H.G. Wells on his spiritual loyalty to the America’s aquiline character.
It seems more likely, proof rather, that BP read and drew inspiration from this publication.  The Sarmiento quote comes in a context of his expectation that Saint Charles would be a spectacle like that of Saint Peter’s in Rome, but alas, itnwas just a hotel.  The application of the exclaimation in grandeous architecture leads us to expect to find something similar or exact.  Perhaps we are to look more closely at the St. Charles hotel in NO…there was a St. charles Hotel in Portland, Oregon as well…(not that I’m going there..lol) or we are being compelled to look for some “Saint” connections like what we have when pairing the Louis Armstrong to form a “St. Louis” (street and cemetery in NO) conclusion.  It could be just a NO pointer, but that seems like a weak conclusion based on the somewhat obscure quote and given also the other NO relevant clues like “jewels abound” and the image 7 pointers.  Could be we are looking for a simple architectural similarity with a Romanesque facade and dome, whichnseems somewhat generic given that thenstyle pervades all kinds of historically significant sites.
In support of my “in the middle of Basin Street” theory, I find that the #21 tomb of then Rouelle familyndoes indeed match the architecture from the photo for which the Sarmiento quote is attached.  I also like the St. Louis CEMETERY on St. Louis STREET at the Basin Street intersection looking diagonally at the St. Jude’s Church’s rear facade.  I think latin architectural influence is nicely supported by the Sarmiento reference.  I really think we have discovered something special here.

Why is that a problem?
In other words, its the same general area…3 miles or so. So why is it a problem to match one thing in one area, and others in another area?
We have that in Cleveland and Chicago.

I mean the problem is with “the middle of 21”. There’s a good possibility that there weren’t 21 bollards on the St. Charles side of Lafayette Square in 1980. I haven’t seen any good pictures of the park back then, though–only the Google Maps from 2007. In 2007, it doesn’t really look like there are 21, though it’s blurry. The current 21 iron ones are a compelling clue, and I’ve seen them referred to as “historically accurate” (though the source doesn’t mention if it’s accurate with regard to placement or style), but unless there’s a picture of the old ones in 1980 somewhere that I’ve missed, the closest I’ve seen are the old wooden ones in 2007, which are not in the same locations as the iron ones placed in 2008.
As for the clock hands being a cannon 3 miles away: I know that sometimes the clues are spread out, but it seems like most of the ones found further from casque sites are generally bigger things that can be considered “city clues”. I don’t think something small and subtle and not at all obvious would be a city clue, or far from the dig site. I feel like the smaller the clues, the closer to the casque.
I suppose the puzzle could have us start at the cannon, head up past Preservation Hall on St. Peters, hang a left on Bourbon for some reason, and then end up in the general vicinity of Lafayette Square, but there’s not much in the verse or image that would lead us from Artillery Park to LS, in my opinion. A more likely path to LS would be 15 steps down Gallier Hall to the middle of 21 blocks/bollards/clock boy’s buttocks. If that’s the case, the match for the clock hands would be something like the LS sidewalks combined with lamp posts around the square:
http://i.imgur.com/C1eSawm.jpg

Frisco

As for the clock hands being a cannon 3 miles away: I know that sometimes the clues are spread out, but it seems like most of the ones found further from casque sites are generally bigger things that can be considered “city clues”.

City Clues are things like long/lat numbers, in Milwaukee there happens to be a Rebus code, but in general, city clues would be something like a map, or a building…certainly not a cannon, those are in MANY cities. We have a map of Louisiana, and we have Lake Pontchartrain on the image, and we have 29 and 90 for coordinates.
In Milwaukee we have an obvious image match on the Pabst Theater, but the treasure ground is 4 miles away from it, and it’s not a building or anything like that…so that should give you some clue as to whats going on

That’s exactly what I said. It sounds like you’re arguing against your own points. I said it was unlikely that the cannon was a city clue, and I also said that things that aren’t city clues are typically in the vicinity of the casque. Meaning that the cannon is not a likely clue for Lafayette Square.
Or are there examples of minor clues in the solved images that are 3 miles away from the burial site?
[edit: sorry, I see that the clue you’re referring to that is 4 miles away is the Pabst theater. Of course, the Milwaukee casque hasn’t been located, and a harp is not a harpsichord, so the Pabst may not be a clue, or the casque may not be far away at all.
]
(for the record, I’ve read almost every thread on the forum, so I already have at least some clue as to what’s going on)

Frisco

Or are there examples of minor clues in the solved images that are 3 miles away from the burial site?

Frisco

Of course, the Milwaukee casque hasn’t been located, and a harp is not a harpsichord, so the Pabst may not be a clue, or the casque may not be far away at all.
]

Frisco

(for the record, I’ve read almost every thread on the forum, so I already have at least some clue as to what’s going on)

There are no minor clues, every clue has a direct purpose. Some people see things that aren’t there, the clues he gives are pretty unmistakable tho, and they all serve a purpose. The bigger thing to remember is the Image won’t take you to a casque…the verse will.
This is true, but we know the park where it is located, also the visual is not a harp, it’s this….
That’s cool. I never accused you of not having a clue, also I’m not making arguments, only raising points for discussion. As far as the theory about Lafayette Square, I only did what I could to show how that Monument could be what he is talking about in the verse, and showed some similarities to the image. Do I think it’s there….nope, I just did the best work I could on the area. Everything made sense except a dig spot. The statue, although in the middle of those 21 bumpers and having 15 rows of brickwork surrounding it, still didn’t give a precise location enough to dig. So I left it at that…. Maybe there was something I missed.

decibalnyc

There are no minor clues, every clue has a direct purpose. Some people see things that aren’t there, the clues he gives are pretty unmistakable tho, and they all serve a purpose.

decibalnyc

The bigger thing to remember is the Image won’t take you to a casque…the verse will.

decibalnyc

This is true, but we know the park where it is located, also the visual is not a harp, it’s this….
image

decibalnyc

Everything made sense except a dig spot. The statue, although in the middle of those 21 bumpers and having 15 rows of brickwork surrounding it, still didn’t give a precise location enough to dig. So I left it at that…. Maybe there was something I missed.

By “minor”, I mean smaller and getting you to a more precise location. It makes sense to have the more prominent clues be more about the general area and smaller clues being more pinpointed.
I don’t think that’s necessarily the case with all of the casques. Getting trapped into thinking that every one of these is identical in methodology is a mistake, in my opinion. Some verses have more things that can be considered “directions”, but image 7 has a lot of detail that could make it a much better map than the short verse 2 could hope to be.
Maybe it’s a match, and maybe the casque is close. Or maybe that’s just a common pattern. I typed “square door pattern” into Google and the second match was
this image
. Four of those very common designs could be a match for the collar, and they could be anywhere, really.
At the risk of angering the Methodology Gods, maybe that “something” is that it’s not the verse that’s going to get us to a precise dig spot–it’s the image.
But where I’m going with all of this is that unless either the verse or image somehow puts us on a path that takes us by Artillery Park on the way to Lafayette Square (directions which I have so far missed), it’s unlikely that BP would have included such a strong image match to a site so far away.
I’m only focusing on the cannon because it’s causing me to doubt my own pet theory, which is closer to Lafayette than Jackson. It’s annoying. I’m making a trip to NOLA in a couple weeks to see friends, and I feel like at least poking around with a soil probe. :p

Isn’t
fifteen rows down to the ground
just another way of saying “15 columns”?

I’ve misplaced my notes, but i remember finding a story about an ice palace, i think it was in Montreal, a palace made of ice and built to last for only one night. (Whether or not people rested their heads there was not in my notes.)

Hello, I posted here over 24 hours ago and it never showed up. My apologies if this is an epic repeat.
Again and again Image 9 takes me to Montreal, Dorchester Park specifically. I applied Verse 2 instead of Verse 5 and finally got somewhere.
Here’s my album regarding Image 9:
http://imgur.com/a/6V7Xb
At the place where jewels abound
– Refers to the Sunlife Building which borders Dorchester Sq on Metcalfe St. It is well known that during WWII the British Crown Jewels as well as gold reserves for several European countries were stored here for safekeeping.
Fifteen rows down to the ground
– While the Sunlife Building is in fact 26 stories tall, you can only count 15 rows down to the ground, where you would be standing. See pic:
http://imgur.com/W3RPt2v
In the middle of twenty-one
From end to end
– Again, Sunlife. When you stand at the entrance to the building (facing Dorchester Sq), you are standing in the middle 21 columns of windows. (There are actual Romanesque columns on the building, but they do not run “from end to end”).
The columns of windows do run from end to end. (Notice we are counting rows of squares when counting the 15 rows and 21 columns. This may be why checkerboards are stressed in Image 9).
Only three stand watch
– There are only three human statues in Dorchester Square: Prime Minister Laurier, Scottish poet Robbie Burns, and the soldier restraining his horse on the Boer War Monument.
As the sound of friends
Fills the afternoon hours
-People enjoying Dorchester/Dominion Sq.
Here is a sovereign people
Who build palaces to shelter
Their heads for a night!
– Windsor Hotel, located on Peel St. opposite the Sunlife Building, which also borders Dorchester Sq. The name of Windsor is sovereign as the House of Windsor is the royal house of the UK as well as the Commonwealth (including Canada). The Windsor Hotel itself was lavish and enormous (palatial) before 1957 when it was extensively damaged. It was literally a host to royalty, King George VI and Elizabeth famously stayed here on their royal tour in 1939. The term “sovereign people” can also signify the Square’s former name of Dominion Square, as dominion means “sovereignty or the territory of a sovereign or government”
Gnomes admire
Fays delight
– General knowledge says gnomes live in gardens, fairies live in trees. This is not a specific statement.
There are trees and a flower bed in Dorchester Sq. Old pictures show there has always been a large ring shaped flower bed around the Boer War Monument.
The namesakes meeting
Near this site
– Namesakes of Windsor? There is a Victoria fountain in Dorchester Sq.
Queen Victoria was a member of the House of Windsor. She had the name before the Hotel Windsor was built, so is the hotel her namesake? Again, Dorchester was called Dominion Square in 1980. Possibly he is referring to how Windsor is a namesake of Dominion. It might not be important.
The poem seems to point to Dorchester Sq, and even gives a general line to follow (the front entrance of the Sunlife).
If you follow that line across the park, it will lead you across the Boer War Monument and on to the Windsor.
The precise location on where to dig may be given by the “X” diagram at H7 on Image 9, as that symbol has not led to a physical location thus far. It seems to read PX7. This may refer to the shape of the paths in Dorchester Sq., the “P” may stand for pillar (on the Sunlife building). “P” may stand for Peel Street. It may mean 7 Paces.

Hello, I posted here over 24 hours ago and it never showed up. My apologies if this is an epic repeat.
Again and again Image 9 takes me to Montreal, Dorchester Park specifically. I applied Verse 2 instead of Verse 5 and finally got somewhere.
Here’s my album regarding Image 9:
http://imgur.com/a/6V7Xb
At the place where jewels abound
– Refers to the Sunlife Building which borders Dorchester Sq on Metcalfe St. It is well known that during WWII the British Crown Jewels as well as gold reserves for several European countries were stored here for safekeeping.
Fifteen rows down to the ground
– While the Sunlife Building is in fact 26 stories tall, you can only count 15 rows down to the ground, where you would be standing. See pic:
http://imgur.com/W3RPt2v
In the middle of twenty-one
From end to end
– Again, Sunlife. When you stand at the entrance to the building (facing Dorchester Sq), you are standing in the middle 21 columns of windows. (There are actual Romanesque columns on the building, but they do not run “from end to end”).
The columns of windows do run from end to end. (Notice we are counting rows of squares when counting the 15 rows and 21 columns. This may be why checkerboards are stressed in Image 9).
Only three stand watch
– There are only three human statues in Dorchester Square: Prime Minister Laurier, Scottish poet Robbie Burns, and the soldier restraining his horse on the Boer War Monument.
As the sound of friends
Fills the afternoon hours
-People enjoying Dorchester/Dominion Sq.
Here is a
sovereign
people
Who build palaces to shelter
Their heads for a night!
– Windsor Hotel, located on Peel St. opposite the Sunlife Building, which also borders Dorchester Sq. The name of Windsor is
sovereign
as the House of Windsor is the royal house of the UK as well as the Commonwealth (including Canada). The Windsor Hotel itself was lavish and enormous (palatial) before 1957 when it was extensively damaged. It was literally a host to royalty, King George VI and Elizabeth famously stayed here on their royal tour in 1939. The term “
sovereign
people” can also signify the Square’s former name of Dominion Square, as dominion means “sovereignty or the territory of a
sovereign
or government”
Gnomes admire
Fays delight
– General knowledge says gnomes live in gardens, fairies live in trees. This is not a specific statement.
There are trees and a flower bed in Dorchester Sq. Old pictures show there has always been a large ring shaped flower bed around the Boer War Monument.
The namesakes meeting
Near this site
– Namesakes of Windsor? There is a Victoria fountain in Dorchester Sq.
Queen Victoria was a member of the House of Windsor. She had the name before the Hotel Windsor was built, so is the hotel her namesake? Again, Dorchester was called Dominion Square in 1980. Possibly he is referring to how Windsor is a namesake of Dominion. It might not be important.
The poem seems to point to Dorchester Sq, and even gives a general line to follow (the front entrance of the Sunlife).
If you follow that line across the park, it will lead you across the Boer War Monument and on to the Windsor.
The precise location on where to dig may be given by the “X” diagram at H7 on Image 9, as that symbol has not led to a physical location thus far. It seems to read PX7. This may refer to the shape of the paths in Dorchester Sq., the “P” may stand for pillar (on the Sunlife building). “P” may stand for Peel Street. It may mean 7 Paces.

The internet tells us that the St. Louis Cemetery No.1 was the replacement for the previous St. Peter Cemetery (c.1780), which was located in the area bound by N. Rampart, Burgundy, Toulouse and St. Peter streets. Other than the Sarmiento quote, things relating to St. Peter would be the location of Preservation Hall and the mention of a midsummer’s day in the LotJ (St. Peters day is June 29th).

MrBackstop

I’m still curious as to what the members think the “PRES” clue in the wood below the clock face means. You know my reason, what is yours?

I don’t keep track of individual theories — there are too many! Are you looking to start a poll?
If you are asking about a visual clue in an image, it’s best to ask about it in the appropriate image thread.

MrBackstop

I’m still curious as to what the members think the “PRES” clue in the wood below the clock face means. You know my reason, what is yours?

I think there might be an E and maybe an S but the rest isn’t really actually there. and the E and S could simply be brushstrokes…

Fifteen rows down to the ground
In the middle of twenty-one
From end to end
To me, this sounds like the specific directions to the dig site.  We just seem to be having troubles finding it.  Instead of trying to find ‘something’ that has 15 rows & ‘something’ of 21, I started looking for ‘something’ containing both the 15 & 21.  This is what I found.
http://flickr.com/photos/samuelnbarnett/100968502/
it can also be seen here during the cleanup after Katrina so it did survive the storm.
Unfortunately, in each picture, it doesn’t look like there are 15 rows to the ground.  I measured the brick wall of my house and 15 rows of my bricks were 3 1/2 feet high or slightly higher than waist high, which the above picture appears to be…but it only looks like 8 or so rows.  21 bricks across {lengthwise..at my house} measured 14 feet..which this wall does not appear to be…but, notice the top row of bricks are not set lengthwise so there could easily be 21 of them.  A wall like this would be a perfect location marker…and…would supply a little secrecy while burying or digging up a casque.  Are there any more of these since this one is pretty darn close?

I like this…and it just reinforces my idea that Lafayette is the place.
Consider this though….
There are 15 ROWS….
brick, mortar, brick, mortar, brick, mortar
…etc.  DOWN TO THE GROUND.
Not 15 rows of BRICKS, but 15 ROWS.
Count from the top row of mortar, under the horizontal bricks
.

Nice… I like how that works.  I just think that a wall like this is a perfect marker.  The only way to misinterpret this location is to dig on the opposite side of the wall.  There are no steps/paces that vary…no being off by an inch when digging in the center of 21 trees…nothing!  Just a wall.  Trees and plants come and go..be it by dying or hurricane…but a brick wall is pretty darn solid.  Only serious relandscaping of a park will destroy this.

Jackson Square is worthy of attention, but I don’t think BP would have been daft enough to bury a casque in soil temporarily exposed by renovation work. There’s no sign of earth around the old fountain.
I like the 15 steps.

The historic St. Charles streetcar starts very near the location of the Old St. Charles Hotel, runs past Lafayette park and beyond. ” From end to end” made me think of this line.
Forrest, do you know if there are 21 specifically numbered stops along the way?  The route seems pretty long, so it probably has more stops than that, but it could tie in to the verse somehow.

maskit

The historic St. Charles streetcar starts very near the location of the Old St. Charles Hotel, runs past Lafayette park and beyond. ” From end to end” made me think of this line.
Forrest, do you know if there are 21 specifically numbered stops along the way?  The route seems pretty long, so it probably has more stops than that, but it could tie in to the verse somehow.

That is a neat idea, but I don’t really see how to match it to the verse. This map shows 46 stops, and it’s only part of the route.
http://www.bigeasy.com/maps/map-uptown.html

forest_blight

malted – that building is the Fulton Place Parking Center. Can you find out when it was built? It looks like it may be newer than 1981.

No problem it also works for other buildings right there I just picked one.

Just to insert some perspective here, remember that in the Chicago solution “ten by thirteen” referred to prominent trees arranged in lines. Only a couple of those 23 trees remain to the present day. We are having similar problems with birches in Milwaukee. 26 years is a long time! Old photos may be the key.

That’s what the Lafayette conservancy website and plan states–that all the trees were replaced exactly as the park looked in 1974.
On that streetcar map–there are not 46 stops shown–if you look at them, they don’t go from 1-46. They skip numbers on the yellow indicators–
and there are only 21 actual indicators shown.
“in the middle of 21” (of those indicators) would be roughly where the NUMBER 21 INDICATOR is….but there is no park or other public land there that I can see on a real map. It’s just about in front of the St. Charles Hospital about where Peniston St. crosses St. Charles.

Forrest

That is a neat idea, but I don’t really see how to match it to the verse. This map shows 46 stops, and it’s only part of the route.
http://www.bigeasy.com/maps/map-uptown.html

Great map, thanks!  I looked but couldn’t find a good one. I hoped to find it had fewer stops.
The only Quaker Meeting place (“sound of friends”) iin New Orleans is also along the St. Charles line at the point where it ends in Carrollton. I  thought I was on to something, but the Quakers meet in someone else’s church.  They don’t seem to have an established building of their own, so it didn’t seem like a very solid match.
Maltedfalcon, yiour fairy-gnome match to the Ferry is genius.

forest_blight

Just to insert some perspective here, remember that in the Chicago solution “ten by thirteen” referred to prominent trees arranged in lines. Only a couple of those 23 trees remain to the present day. We are having similar problems with birches in Milwaukee. 26 years is a long time! Old photos may be the key.

Good point, and the Lafayette Sq Conservancy has several pictures of them replacing many trees that were blown down during the hurricane.  I think it was shecrab that learned that they were supposedly replanting trees in the same locations as the destroyed trees so we would still be in luck.  If this isn’t the case however….

The Giant Squid

Let me try this again.
1) Jackson Square was just as busy in 1981-1982 as it was today.
2) It’s been teeming with people since the 1850s, and even more so since 1974 when the entire area became a pedestrian mall
3) Jackson Square has a large iron fence around it (always has), and is open only during the day when security personnel open it
So, even if BP did bury it there in 1980-1982, conditions were only slightly more favorable then to what they are now. So, yes, the place was inaccessible then. Moreover, it’s inaccessible today. Which means, simply, we need to rule this location out.
Cleveland’s casque was hidden in, basically, a parkway in the burbs:
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&c … &encType=1
And, if you’re about to say Chicago’s casque was hidden in a public park in the center of town, you’d be right, but keep in mind Grant Park is huge, with lots of spots where you could hide/dig. The casque site here was in a corner, behind a wall, next to a railroad track, and obscured by two rows of 10 or more tree.
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&c … &encType=1
For comparison, let’s look at Jackson Square:
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&c … &encType=1
So, in comparison:
Cleveland’s Rockefeller Park and Cultural Gardens:  254 acres.
Chicago’s Grant Park: 319 acres.
New Orleans’ Jackson Square: Less than 1 acre, and in the middle of one of the busiest plazas in the United States.
Please, everyone, give up this belief in Jackson Square. It’s causing for lots of wasted effort.

I was making a general statement not to rule out any particular spot just because it may be busy now.  I wasn’t speaking of just Jackson Square.  That is why the quote had the reference to Jackson Square purposely missing.
I don’t think you can rule out any particular area based on size either.  One of the casques seems to be nailed down as being in FOY Park, which is a resounding 15 acres.  The area in Milwaukee being search currently is probably around the same size as well.  Just because the two that have been found were in 200+ acre parks doesn’t mean you can rule out anything less.  Who’s to say there aren’t some out there buried in areas only a city block in size.  Once again, I’m not arguing for Jackson Square, simply making a point.

2fast4u2c

You’ve got to remember that we are looking for items that were buried over 26 years ago.  Plenty can happen in that time period.  some of the casques could be buried under asphalt or excavated (spelling?) unknowingly by now.  Markers that the author used may have been moved.  Just because it may be wide open and well patrolled now, doesn’t mean that the author didn’t have the opportunity to hide one there back then.  Not saying he did, just that you can’t rule a place out just because it inaccessable today.

Let me try this again.
1) Jackson Square was just as busy in 1981-1982 as it was today.
2) It’s been teeming with people since the 1850s, and even more so since 1974 when the entire area became a pedestrian mall
3) Jackson Square has a large iron fence around it (always has), and is open only during the day when security personnel open it
So, even if BP did bury it there in 1980-1982, conditions were only slightly more favorable then to what they are now. So, yes, the place was inaccessible then. Moreover, it’s inaccessible today. Which means, simply, we need to rule this location out.
Cleveland’s casque was hidden in, basically, a parkway in the burbs:
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&c … &encType=1
And, if you’re about to say Chicago’s casque was hidden in a public park in the center of town, you’d be right, but keep in mind Grant Park is huge, with lots of spots where you could hide/dig. The casque site here was in a corner, behind a wall, next to a railroad track, and obscured by two rows of 10 or more tree.
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&c … &encType=1
For comparison, let’s look at Jackson Square:
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&c … &encType=1
So, in comparison:
Cleveland’s Rockefeller Park and Cultural Gardens:  254 acres.
Chicago’s Grant Park: 319 acres.
New Orleans’ Jackson Square: Less than 1 acre, and in the middle of one of the busiest plazas in the United States.
Please, everyone, give up this belief in Jackson Square. It’s causing for lots of wasted effort.

shecrab

If the actual “jewel” parks are a bust, then perhaps Lakeshore park, where the fountain is, is a viable option–though from what I understand, the area sustained a lot of damage from K.
However, in researching the location, I found this:
The Orleans Levee District is committed to the restoration of all properties owned and operated by the District and especially the lakefront.  The current plan is to bring back the lakefront area to its pre-Katrina splendor.  The District has received responses to an RFQ for Architects and Engineers to begin the design phase for repairs.  The funds for the restoration will come from FEMA (90% federal and 10% local) and insurance reimbursements.  The District has submitted damage claims to FEMA totaling almost $100 million dollars.  The roadway, seawall area, boat launch and fishing pier will be reimbursed by FEMA. The four shelter houses,
fifteen pavilions
, and the Mardi Gras Fountain will be covered by insurance.
There are 15 pavilions…though I don’t know how these might be considered “rows” of anything.
I discovered that “Jewel Street” connects the two halves of the park.
Also, does anyone know what the seawall looks like? Is it made of blocks or bricks or stone that can be counted?  Is it perhaps engraved with numbers of any kind?
Also: the ‘namesakes’ might meet at Elysian fields, another part of this area.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elysium

I’ll head up to the Mardi Gras Fountain and see what it yields. I don’t believe there’s much to look at from the levees. There’s mainly dirt/stone slabs/huge rocks.
As for Elysian Fields, I’ve given a bit of thought to that. There’s a quote by William Blake talking about the poems of Cowper, saying that Cowper’s work should be read in “Heaven, Havillah, Eden, and all of the places where jewels abound”. Elysian Fields evokes the previously named places, to be sure.
There are a couple of tiny parks on Elysian Fields, and there are the ones in/around UNO. I’ll look next time.

More on Jackson Square:
To its left of St. Louis Cathedral is the Cabildo, the old city hall, now a museum, where the finalization of the Louisiana Purchase was signed…Namesakes meeting near this sight?
The windows on the upper section of the Cabildo are teired and shaped like the top of the clock in P7:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/smwarnke4/509210884/

shecrab

i don’t recall, and can’t really find the answer…has the West end been explored? The area where Harlequin Park, Tiara Park, Tourmaline Park and Peridot park are? Also…West end Park, Breakwater Park and Lakeshore park?  (Jewels abound…all the streets are named after jewels)
Also–the ‘fifteen rows down to the ground
must
be a wall.

Perhaps the author is playing with French/English translations?  A ‘row’ can be a term for Street — Like Ave, or Lane — and “ground” in French translates to “Terre” . . . so, 15 streets until you get to something with “Terre” in the name?  (Also, a ‘down’ is a land discription as well . . .)
I’m trying to remember what I know of the French Quarter, since my father’s side of the family is from that area.  All I do know currently is that New Orleans is not the city it once was, and crime and prices are on the rise.  If anyone goes treasure hunting in the city, they should best go with friends.

Actually, the Mardi Gras Fountain looks rather interesting. I won’t have time for a few weeks to head out and check it out, but even if it doesn’t have any further clues, it’s a hell of a great piece of New Orleans history. It looks like it was under renovation before the storm, and the pre-storm renovation looks …. terrible. I hated eighties public architecture, and nineties public architecture wasn’t much of an improvement either.
But, anyway, I’ll put that at the top of the list for next time.
Other things I found out today.
From Armstrong Park:
1) There are three rows of fifteen trees in Armstrong Park. I cannot, however, for the life of me, find anything that resembles 21.
2) The New Orleans Municipal Auditorium (now defunct, but a splendid piece of architecture) faces Congo Square. The front of the building has the words: “Commerce, Art, Music, Theater, Athletics, Industry’ written across the front. Also, in a very digging-friendly area, there’s a grove of 20 live oaks, secluded, just to the west of it. (Not good enough)
3) Several of the buildings on site were so damaged by the storm, that they are unexplorable. The Mahalia Jackson Center is in use as temporary police headquarters, the Reimann, Rabassa, and Caretaker’s Houses (along with Perseverance Hall No 4) are all off limits to the public, after the storm (giant razor-wire topped fences defend them).
4) Armstrong is even worse of a dump post-storm than it was pre-storm.
From Harlequin and Tourmaline Parks:
1) Give it up. There ain’t nothing there but two empty fields (not even a sign marking the park). Some kids were playing rugby.
2) Maybe it points north, to the Mardi Gras fountain. We’ll see.
From Jackson Square:
1) Give it up. Please folks. There are literally thousands of people walking by and through there every single hour. It’s like digging in Times Square.
2) Lots and lots of police.
3) And, not many places to dig. Several patches of dirt, sure. 4 statues in the corner, plus Andrew Jackson in the middle.
4) There no visual cues from the image anywhere in the common environment to point me to that spot.
From the Riverfront/Moonwalk:
1) Well, again, cops all over the place.
2) And, the Riverfront is under perpetual renovation, if it was ever hidden there, it’s sure as hell gone by now.
3) No visual cues, again.
From Audubon Park:
1) Maybe.
2) It does touch St. Charles
3) There’s not a lot of architecture out there, however. A small sculpture/fountain at the front. Not much else
4) I’ll do some exploring to see.
From City Park:
1) Maybe
2) Not really ‘feeling’ Storyland. You’ve just got to go there to understand.
3) In late 1982, they gated off the entire botanical garden, so, we’ll have to see.
So, in summary.
1) Feeling still ‘okay’ about Armstrong
2) Willing to give City Park another peek
3) Willing to give Audubon Park another peek
4) Very curious about Mardi Gras Park
5) Ruling out Riverfront, Jackson Square for logistical reasons

2fast4u2c

More on Jackson Square:
To its left of St. Louis Cathedral is the Cabildo, the old city hall, now a museum, where the finalization of the Louisiana Purchase was signed…Namesakes meeting near this sight?
The windows on the upper section of the Cabildo are teired and shaped like the top of the clock in P7:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/smwarnke4/509210884/

Hey guys,
I am a friend of The Giant Squid’s and spent a while this weekend looking through some of the parks in N.O.
I sincerely doubt that Jackson Square is the park.
For one thing, it’s small and in the open. I really doubt he’d pick a park so hard to dig in.
The architecture mentioned is definitely a good visual reference. Unfortunately, the construct (quoted above) and the arches in the picture are ALL OVER new orleans. I saw literally hundreds of matches while we were there.
The horsehead in the picture is definitely the outline of Louisiana. If it’s supposed to also point to something else, I don’t think it’s the horse statue in Jackson square, as there is not much similarity with the actual statue.
Other than that, what do we have in -the picture- to match it to Jackson? There are 5 statues in the park, and the surrounding buildings, but nothing really matches anything in the image.
I don’t like Lafayette park for the same reason. The main thing it has going for it is that boy on the McDonough monument, which definitely looks like the harlequin in the clock face. Other than that, we have no visual matches, it’s small, out in the open, and in front of a Federal building.
Storyland in city park…the clock there is not that close of a match, just the metal flowers. Definitely no way you’re going to be able to dig up that kids park or get in after dark. I haven’t seen the gardens behind storyland, but they’re gated off now (weren’t in 1982.) So I -hope- that’s not it.
Armstrong Park – we have the arch in the clock face, with many circles and half circles inside the arch – definitely a good match for the moon and star arch in the pictures. We have the Armstrong Mask, great match. The park is big enough to have plenty of places to dig out of view and it’s not well traveled. The only problems are that it’s been hard to match many of the verse 2 clues to anything in the park. Since I almost got arrested on first attempt I’ll have to hold off judgment until I can go back.
Mardi Gras park – I hope not that much was changed in the renovation. I see a sun in one of the pictures that matches the arch, but not much else. Definitely need to check it out in person.
Visual clues I would like to see a match for:
checkers under water
III
harlequin
outline of the sleeve or cuff
-> P, -> N
I agree, though, that verse 2 is definitely N.O.. I can’t imagine a quote about a famous N.O. hotel being used for a different city if N.O. is one of the sites.
Anyway, I think we’ve made some progress. Also nice to meet you guys, since this is my first post. I’m glad there are people still trying to figure out the puzzles.
-Forrest