The Curses of History

Posted on April 30, 2019 by vanbraman

Tonight was the season finale of The Curse of Oak Island.

Curse of Oak Island, History Channel, Did they find anything?I was looking forward to two hours of talk about the search as they wound down the season. However, as the first hour drew to a close you could tell that they were wrapping it up.

Oak Island, Money Pit, National Geographic, Curse of Oak IslandThere were some new findings in the Smith’s Cove area of additional structures and a lot of talk about the significance of the dating results from the dendrochronology of some of wood that was tested. The structures they have found this season have a date of around 1769.

Nova Scotia, Oak Island, AcadiansThis is interesting as I had ancestors that were living within 50 miles of Oak Island at that time. My 6th Great Grandfather Stephen Chapman died in Newport, Nova Scotia in 1770.

Chapman was part of a group called the New England Planters who had migrated to Nova Scotia from New England after the Acadians had been kicked out of the area. There has been some speculation in the past that they may have been involved in the works at Oak Island. Tonight there was talk about how perhaps the Founding Fathers (Franklin, Jefferson and Washington) had some connection to Oak Island. I do know from past research that Franklin had some involvement with the New England Planters in persuading them to take up the abandoned farms in the area.

It will be interesting to see what is found out as there were definitely signs that there will be another season of The Curse of Oak Island.

Curse of Oak Island, Mahone Bay, Nova ScotiaI mentioned above that it seemed that things were wrapping up at the end of the first hour. I knew that there was to be a preview of the new season of their sister show, The Curse of the Civil War Gold, but I figured maybe it would be a five minute preview. This turned out to be the entire second hour.

At the end of the ‘preview’ there was a mention that the gold they were looking for may have been part of a bigger plot. Images of Lincoln, his assassination and a flier showing The Knights of the Golden Cross were shown. This may make for an interesting show and I may find out a lot about something that I have been wanting to research.

Cochran, Knights of the Golden Circle, Iowa, CopperheadsMy 3rd Great Grandfather may have had a local leadership role in The Knights of the Golden Circle. I have a lot of research to do, but it does look like he was involved with the Copperheads and the KGC in Iowa and even had a warrant out for his arrest because of an incident in 1863. More on this later….

So, even though I was disappointed that there was not two full hours of The Curse of Oak Island, I am glad that I saw that The Curse of the Civil War Gold would possibly be looking into the Knights of the Golden Circle.

I will definitely be watching the episodes that I miss over the next couple weeks once I am back from my next trip.

Steven

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Food in Argentina

Posted on April 29, 2019 by vanbraman

This evening I ran across a folder of pictures from a trip to Argentina 14 years ago. What really caught my eye were some pictures that I took of some of the food I ate on the trip.

Tonight you get to see some of these images.

Argentina, steak and fries, Argentine Beef, Food, friesOne of the things that I remember about Argentina is all the good beef that I had. The food was also usually presented very well.

Here was a nice plate of steak and fries. I remember the fries as being very good, and the steak even better. Nice grass fed beef with lots of flavor.

Steak and sides, argentina, beef, potatoesThis was a typical lunch during the training course I taught in Buenos Aires. We would walk to a restaurant about 4-5 blocks away and have a big lunch. Luckily I was getting some good exercise.

steak, argentina, buenos aires, dinnerOf course steak and potatoes two different ways was not out of the question. I remember this steak, especially as I have some pictures of it after I sliced into it. A nice perfect medium rare that was so full of taste.

argentina, chips, fries, sausage, ribsThis was another lunch dish of sausage and ribs. Just thinking about the restaurant where we would eat lunch makes me want to go back. However, our office there is in a different area of the city now so it would not be easy to go back for a lunch. Also, I would not have the same company, which was really part of the experience. So many memories wandered through my thoughts as I looked through the pictures tonight.

ribs, sheep, argentina, buenos aires, bbq ribsOne of my most memorable meals from the trip was when my host took me to eat ribs at his favorite restaurant Posta Recoleta. The lamb ribs were absolutely delicious and the meal was a wonderful experience.

When I went to Antarctica ten years ago with my sister we spent our first night in Buenos Aires and my colleague met up with us and took us there for dinner. The meal again was a wonderful experience. I may have to share more pictures from the two meals in a future post.

Now I am hungry. I may need a snack before bed.

Steven

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