Treasure Tales and Treasure Stories About Maryland from the Archives of Lost Treasure Magazine

Frenchman's hoard

In order to avoid having his ships seized by the citizens of the French Revolution, wealthy French merchant Jean DeRoyer Champlaigne sold his ships and immigrated to America. He bought what was known as the Old DeVere estate on the Old Frederick Road at DeVere Lane near Cantonsville, Md. With the assistance of his personal servant, Champlaigne secretly buried most of the proceeds from the sale of his ships (about $100,000 in gold) somewhere on the grounds of his estate. He never told his family the exact location, and when Champlaigne later lost his mind and eventually died, the only thing his servant could remember was that he had helped Champlaigne drag the chest into the woods after dark. He had no idea what direction they had taken or what landmarks indicated the cache site. This cache has been searched for several times but has never been found.