In the summer of 1956 a father and his two sons took a week long boat trip to explore some of the smaller islands just northwest of the San Juan Islands in the Puget Sound. On the third day of their expedition the oldest son was hiking along the high ridge of one of these islands and the ground suddenly gave way. Falling about fifteen feet he hit the bottom hard. Seeing his eldest son disappear 30 yards ahead of him the father dashed to the opening. His silhouette and that of the boy’s younger brother was soon seen peering over the edge. Much to their relief, the boy was a little shaken but unharmed. As the dust began to settle, and light filtered down from above, he soon saw that he had not fallen into a cave, but a room.

Lowering a fallen tree into the hole in the ground the father descended to make sure he was ok. After the tears dried up and the initial fear wore off, they began to look around. They stood in a room about fifteen feet long and ten feet wide. At either end of the room were two doorways. The doorway to the east was blocked with fallen debris, but the doorway to the west was filled with an imposing, yet inviting, darkness.

The next four days were spent exploring the room as well as many passage ways and rooms that branched off from it. Each room was filled with the remains of an ancient civilization. Wood and other organic material used for tables, chairs, cloth, and paper had long since rotten away, but small bits of gold, silver, and iron used for the framework of some of these fixtures still remained. Wealth was not in abundance. The real treasure for them during those first few days was in the adventure of it all. Truly a dream come true for a father on expedition with his young boys.

A total of ten rooms and four hallways were carefully explored on that first trip to the island. Flashlights in hand, the father always went first into each new space rhythmically preaching to the boys over and over that they must use extreme caution. Each step pounded the drums of their hearts with fear and excitement. While they did not know it at the time, each new space they conquered started to germinate an interest in ancient things that would shape the course of each of their lives.

Almost from the start the father made up his mind that they would not tell a soul about this place. They would take no trinket back or tell no tale. It would be their own little world.

Covering the walls and objects that lay about was a strange script. It seemed to flow top to bottom like a waterfall (Exhibit A). The father, who taught high school English and French back in Seattle, knew a little of ancient languages but could not place it. Grabbing the leather bound sketch pad in his well worn backpack he began to make some rough drawings of the symbols. On display in several places of honor was a repeated symbol (Exhibit B). While making notes on the placement of each symbol he scribbled in the margins, “We are having the time of our lives!”

He also began to detail the layout of the structure in which they found themselves, documenting each room and hallway (Exhibit C). The deeper they went, the more they began to realize the structure was not only quite large, but probably also part of a larger city. It would take a lot more than four days to explore this ancient wonder.

Deep in the recesses of that wondrous world they made a pack between father and sons. No one would know of this place and they would return at the end of the summer. Several large trees were dragged over the hole to conceal it from other prying eyes that might visit the island and every care was taken to remove any other signs of their time there. The boys glanced this way and that has they shoved off from the shore to see if anyone was to be seen. Their secret was safe.

During that first week back the father visited the Seattle Library with notes in hand to research what civilization they had found. Scouring book after book he could not seem to find anything that resembled the language he had written down. From Arabic to Venetic, there was nothing that came close. Troubled by his lack of results, he made some notes of men and women of renowned in the field and thought he might mail them some of his questions one day.

This was how things started on what they came to call Ancien Merveille (enne mèrvèï: Ancient Wonder). The boys slept soundly that first summer with dreams of dark rooms and bright swords. Little did they know of the wonders lay ahead of them in rooms yet unseen and how that island would shape the course of their lives forever.

Exhibit A

Exhibit C