Treasure at Long Point

Spinning a yarn of shipwrecks and lake monsters

Young adventurers Bella and Joey are on another quest for fabled treasure, this time from the mystical and mysterious Marysburgh Vortex, as County author Lynne Grist tells a tale of shipwrecks and lake monsters in Treasure at Long Point. This is her second book in the Key to Time series. The first book, Treasure at Sandbanks, is set in the area around West Lake and Outlet Beach and the young adventurers are transported back to 1758 in a quest for treasure buried by French soldiers at that time. Using a magic key, they travel to various time periods, meeting early settlers and Indigenous people in historically accurate settings. The new book continues on that theme, but now the setting is Long Point, sometimes known as Point Traverse, and the treasure is in the hold of a  ship that sank in the area known as the Graveyard of Lake Ontario.

The area at the eastern end of Lake Ontario is littered with shipwrecks, of which only a small fraction have been catalogued. Many vessels are schooners from the Age of Sail in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but there are shipwrecks from an earlier era when French explorers plied these waters. And the rumour of sunken treasure forms the premise of the new book. The story begins when Bella and Joey are exploring the remains of the fishing village at Long Point. [Sadly, those buildings have now been demolished.] They find an old key in an envelope, and it is none other than the magical Key to Time, allowing them to travel back to bygone eras. Ms. Grist has done extensive research, and as Bella and Joey travel back in time they meet actual sailors and witness real shipwrecks. They even meet Minerva McCrimmon. The book contains a treasure map—in French, as it would have been drawn by French sailors. And there’s also a message in a bottle, along with an encounter of a sea monster—of which there have been reported historical sightings. How the children find the treasure without having to dive for it is revealed in the book. Since the characters in the story really existed, parents of young readers can take their children to actual locations for a first-hand look at history. The book is illustrated by Teresa Westervelt, and the cover art is based on a painting by Thomas Harrison.

The book is available at Books & Company, and the Historical Society has purchased copies for the libraries, museums and County Kids Read. The book can also be obtained directly from Ms. Grist by sending an email to lgrist.author7@outlook.com