The Secret Estate
If you've watched any Oak Island TV shows or YouTube videos over the years, you've more than likely seen the foundation that has been discovered at New Ross, located just 20 miles up Gold River from Oak Island.
The purpose or origin of this foundation has remained a mystery for a very long time. One thing that strikes me is that I have seen many castle ruins in Scotland and Ireland in much better shape, so to believe that this is just a manor or castle that has succumbed to the elements doesn't make sense. In fact, what would make more sense is that it was purposely destroyed. I don't speak for anyone but me on this website or in my books. What I do know is that Finders Keepers treasure hunters have claimed that they have found tunnels leading from these stone ruins, as well as many artifacts. Here is an excerpt from their website: "Finders Keepers is in New Ross, NS doing research at the New Ross Castle site just 14 miles from Oak Island. We've been tracking tunnels to and from the Castle site for years. One tunnel runs west from the Castle 996' up hill to a spot believed to be a round church site, just like at Rosslyn Castle. Everything they are looking for on Oak Island we have at the New Ross site: 2 Templar grave stones, 3 tunnels, bones, charcoal, many coins from the 1790's, a castle in the shape of the Tree of Life, many hand cut key stones, one we call The Hope Stone and a well and a lot more. On our last trip we located the Vault Room or Treasure Room, not sure if anything is in it." Below is a photo, from June of 2017, of me standing in the center of the Finders Keepers crew, along with the ever-popular Gary Drayton, a regular on the Oak Island TV show. A lot was discussed on the evening this photo was taken, some of it covered by non-disclosure agreements, and some of it that I will not mention simply out of respect for the work these folks are doing. In my books and on this website I have made reference to a part of the Alexander family living at what would become New Ross. The Alexanders were, of course, the founders of Nova Scotia in 1621. They tried a settlement there from 1629 to 1632.
What I've just discovered is that they appear, according to Alexander family tradition, to have had a "secret estate" at what became New Ross. One reason anyone would settle there is because of what they now call the Holy Well, which would have been a main source of fresh water in that area back in the day. In correspondence with the great Oak Island author Mark Finnan, he asked me to look further into this claim, so that we might all give it some credibility. Above is a photo of the castle site at New Ross. Joan Harris was first to bring notice to this foundation, and one of her theories involved the idea that the Alexanders may have been responsible. She cites the charter of 1621 given to Sir William Alexander, who first settled Scots in Nova Scotia. The words of interest from that charter are as follows. Keep in mind this is being written or at least presented by the first king of Great Britain, James I of England and Ireland, also considered James VI of Scotland –
"...it hath seemed meet to us, and we will that it shall be lawful to the said Sir William, and his aforesaid, to build, or to cause to be built, one or more strong holds, fortresses, castles, forts, towers, depots of arms, lie blokhousis, and other edifices..." This portion of the charter specifically allows Sir William Alexander to build such a dwelling as that whose foundation can be found at New Ross. Michael Bradley, author of "Grail Knights of North America," repeats Joan Harris' suggestion that the site was later occupied by Scottish royalty during the time of Cromwell, including the claim that the building was adorned with 12 pillars and a gold-colored dome, as well as a mosaic of the Lion of Scotland crest. Bradley writes that the Nauss family of Lunenburg claim they were brought to the area in 1623 to construct a mansion and that an anonymous Nauss descendant produced sketches of the building, based on family lore. He goes on to repeat Joan Harris' belief, suggesting that the structure was "purposely and efficiently" destroyed at some unspecified later date possibly by Cromwell's forces in 1654-56. This theory supports my contention that the ruins don't appear to have crumbled through the normal wear and tear of time. We have proof that Sir William Alexander was authorized to create such a manor or castle in Nova Scotia, and evidence that he might have. |
Due to Mark Finnan's request for more proof, I have unearthed new and startling information that may further prove this theory.
Below are the three geni.com genealogy reports I used to originally come to my conclusion. These are reports given for John Alexander (a grandson of Sir William Alexander), his wife Elizabeth, and their son, Alexander Alexander, said to have been born at New Ross in 1650. This is where I started, but not where this story ends. After a lot of research over the last few days, I have added some tantalizing tales directly from Alexander family tradition. Of course, New Ross wasn't named as such when the castle or manor was built. The settlement was originally named Sherbrooke in honor of Lt. Governor Sir John Coape Sherbrooke. Confusion arose as there was already another area of the province with the same name, so the settlement was renamed New Ross in 1863 for Lord Mulgrave, whose second title came from the Irish town of New Ross and/or for Captain William Ross according to an article called "Place-names and Places of Nova Scotia."
Captain Ross settled Scots in Nova Scotia, and Mulgrave's real surname was Phipps. You may recall that one theory about Oak Island and New Ross involves and earlier man named Phips who, legend says, buried part of a treasure he had salvaged off a Spanish ship in this area, rather than return to England with all that he had found. Leaving the naming of New Ross behind, it is obvious that it was not known by this name when the castle or manor was built, or for that matter when Alexander Alexander was born there. I took this information from the Geni website. As I looked into it further, I found something amazing, which involves an Alexander family tradition that the early Alexanders in Nova Scotia had a secret estate at the area now known as New Ross. Their basic story is that this estate was left behind when the Alexanders left Nova Scotia, but was returned to in an equally secretive way. When the financially ruined William Alexander Sr. died in 1640, he being the perpetuator of the failed Nova Scotia Baronets scheme (which was part of the actual naming of Nova Scotia), his grandson, also named William, was to take the title of Lord of Stirling as just an infant, but oddly he died too, as had other sons of William Sr. at early ages. The Alexander tradition of those who ended up in Virginia is that John Alexander was next in line to inherit the title of Lord Alexander. However, Charles I demanded a fair amount of money from John and threatened him with debtor's prison. The official story goes that he died the following year, but the Alexander family in America says that Charles' wife, who was the sister of the French king, secreted him out of England to France. From there John went to Ireland until 1646, when the French king made arrangements for John and his family, including his son John, to move back to the secret estate in the area that is New Ross. John Jr. had the son Alexander, at New Ross, along with other sons named John, Robert, and Philip. Their descendants are given in Alexander genealogies. I am including below what I found, and also what might add credence to it in the form of a Geni page curator who is a college professor and a researcher and author, and who manages the page that mentions Alexander Alexander being born at the area that became New Ross. The parentheses are part of the quotes, the brackets are mine – "Due to the troubles of Charles I and the later Jacobite cause, much secrecy and confusion resulted in order to protect the family. Lord John fled to France on the overthrow of the monarchy, and King Louis (through the intercession of Queen Henrietta Maria of England {Louis' sister}) granted them permission to return to the Alexander's secret estate in Nova Scotia (at New Ross) now under French rule. However they were forced to leave their estate and hidden life when Cromwell's supporters in the American colonies attacked Nova Scotia in 1656. They then moved to Virginia which was a colony with more Royalist sympathies." "It would seem that after Lord John escaped from Scotland in 1641 he went with his son John to visit his mother at Mount Alexander in Ireland, at the home of her daughter Lady Montgomery. Later John and his son John fled to France and then to Nova Scotia as mentioned above. In 1656 they went to Virginia and in 1659 they bought an estate and called it Caledon after their Province of Caledonia where they were in Nova Scotia {William Alexander had split Nova Scotia into two provinces, one named Alexandria, mostly in New Brunswick, and one named Caledonia, covering most of Nova Scotia}. Lord John died in 1667 and his son Hon. John in 1677." |
"It seems that Lord John's Parliamentary protector Sir John McKenzie faked Lord John's death and helped him to escape to France or Ireland. Alexander, John, Robert and Philip were born in the Nova Scotia hideaway which was later called New Ross. Lady Agnes was the mother of Hon. Janet and Hon. John Alexander."
On another site, an Alexander family descendant writes, "Many of us who are descendants of Clan Alexander believe John Alexander of Ireland was actually Lord John Alexander, son of Sir William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling, Viscount of Canada, Baronet of Nova Scotia. I believe King Charles 'hoodooed' Lord John into abdicating his titles and his rightful claim to 10,000 pounds sterling or face debtors prison. We believe he was forced to fade away into Ireland as John "of Eredy" Alexander, a man seemingly without any parental history, unless he wished to face debtors prison." Another part to their story is that William Alexander Jr., who was said officially to have died at Stirling, also actually returned to Nova Scotia and died there. With all the activity, war, apparent assassinations, and piling up of debt, it would actually be the most logical thing for these men to do. In William Jr.'s case, he also had a son in Nova Scotia named Daniel LaBlanc, which was recently proven through DNA research carried out by Family Tree DNA, the best in the business. The page with the record of Alexander Alexander is managed by a Geni Curator named Pam Wilson, who describes herself as "a college professor at Reinhardt University (media and cultural studies), a writer/researcher, a photographer, a family history researcher..." Geni explains their Curators as such: "Geni management appoints Curators to help maintain and improve the World Family Tree, merge duplicates, and assist users. Curators are volunteer users granted special privileges by Geni. They are specially selected based on their integrity and the quality of their work on Geni." So it at least seems that this information has been vetted to some degree by a qualified historian. And I know from personal experience that family traditions are very often correct, even if some details are obscured. Though the Alexander Scots, under the Baronets of Nova Scotia, settled Port Royal, NS in 1629, we know that Sir William sent an exploratory ship there in 1623. In that year, they could not have been at Port Royal because of the French presence, and so, if they spent time in that land, it would have had to have been at somewhere else like perhaps New Ross, which would support the Nauss family claim. If the French allowed the Alexanders to return to their secret estate at what is now New Ross, in 1646, that suggests the French knew about it. This could explain a French sailor's good luck medallion from the early 1630s, found at New Ross, if they were up there scouting around. I hope to have more on this medallion and another find made at New Ross, once I get full permission. I had previously reported that the Alexanders left by 1659 when Cromwell's troops were in full control of Nova Scotia. I based this on the fact that this is when they appear in Virginia. However, the above Alexander tradition states that they actually left by 1656, which would make more sense, since Cromwell's troops were potentially arriving there there as early as 1654. If the Alexanders knew they were leaving for good about 1656, they may have destroyed the estate to keep it out of the hands of Cromwell's troops and this might explain the "castle" ruins there that have been so mystifying. Cromwell's troops may have even destroyed it to make sure the Alexanders didn't come back, as conjectured by Joan Harris. As I said, I've seen a lot of old castle and manor ruins in Scotland and Ireland in much better shape so it may be that this building, whatever it was, was purposely destroyed. Consider these points: • We can be sure that there is a foundation at New Ross, as yet unexplained, and that a special find was made there, of which I was able to identify not only what it was, but who it was originally given to. • We can be certain that Sir William Alexander was allowed to build such a building by a charter given to him by King James I of Great Britain. • We have the claim by a member of the Nauss family that this family did participate in building an estate there for the Alexanders back in 1623. • We can be certain that Sir William Alexander did send an exploratory crew to Nova Scotia in 1623, which could not have settled at Port Royal due to the French presence there. • We can be sure that the Alexander family that settled in Virginia, in 1659, carries the tradition that their family, under John Alexander, son of Sir William, did, in fact, live at New Ross from 1646 until 1656. They claim that four sons were born there, and certainly 10 years would be plenty of time for this many children to be born. • It seems reasonable to believe that Finders Keepers, and others before them, have found inexplicable items and structures at this site, which could easily point to the conclusion that Scots built the castle or manor at New Ross. I firmly believe that this is very, very significant information concerning a presence of this family, with its Templar and Freemason ties, to a "secret estate" just 20 miles or less from Oak Island. This may explain the presence of the foundation at New Ross, and it may explain who was watching over activity on Oak Island, especially if the world's first Freemason, William Alexander Jr., was living nearby. |