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Artifact Alley: The Musket Ramrod

In today’s “Artifact Alley”, we will be discussing a musket ramrod that was found in Season 6, Episode 7, “Rock Solid” while metal detecting on Oak Island.

Gary Drayton, Alex Lagina, and Peter Fornetti went to Lot 24 on the western side of Oak Island to do some metal detecting on recently cleared land. Gary had a hit on his metal detector and pulled out of the ground what he called a “ram rod from an Old Bess”. Pottery was also found in the general vicinity.

The Curse of Oak Island – The History Channel

The Old Bess was a standard issue musket for the British Military from the early 1700’s through the mid 1800’s. It’s interesting to note that other artifacts have been found on Lot 24 that indicate a British Military presence on Oak Island. These include lead musket balls, military buttons, British coins, and pottery from the 1700’s. More of these types of items have recently been found on the adjacent Lot 5.

National Museum of American History, Washington D.C.

This evidence indicates that sometime during the 1700’s, it’s likely that Oak Island was being used as a military encampment or fortification. “The Curse of Oak Island” hypothesized that this may have been during the American Revolution, but this is unlikely and would have been documented at that time and known by the locals. This is because there were more people living in the area at the time of the revolution.


The most likely time period for this activity would have been the early 1700’s to the early 1760’s, before Oak Island was divided into lots, and they were assigned to local residents. In looking at the history of the area, it appears that there was one specific time period that this activity likely occurred. This was a time of war that involved the British, French, and Indigenous peoples in Nova Scotia.

Payzant’s massacre – Wikimedia Commons

In 1756, A Maliseet war party, supported by the French, attacked the Lunenburg area including Mahone Bay. They raided Louis Payzant’s trading post on Covey Island, near Oak Island. Payzant and his son were killed, and his wife and four other children were taken away as prisoners and eventually went to Quebec. This brought a British Military presence to Mahone Bay.

In the mid to late 1750’s The British Military had a volatile situation on their hands trying to protect their settlers with frequent attacks that ended in killings and scalpings in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia and vicinity. This seems to be the most logical time in Oak Island’s history for a military encampment/fortification to have been built on the island by the British to try to secure the Mahone Bay area.

Fort Ligonier, PA. 1758-1766

It’s very possible that with the end of The Seven Year’s War (French and Indian War) the installation was no longer needed, and it was abandoned. There have been reports by old timers saying there was a fort on Oak Island at one time. Whether it was a fort or encampment, this is most likely the reason for all the British Military items, from that time, that have been found on the Island.

Good day from the Compendium!
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