A Connecticut boy became a treasure hunter at just 9 years old.
For Granby’s Matthew Collins, now 11, it seemed to come quite naturally.
The Collins’ family loves history: Matthew’s mother Jenna is an eighth grade social studies teacher at Granby Memorial Middle School and she and her husband, Dave, take educational trips with their two sons.
During one of those trips, while camping in the summer of 2022 in Salem, Massachusetts, Matthew discovered a big yellow object on the shore. It was dirty and rusty, but he wanted to keep it.
“He uncovered a blob,” Jenna Collins said. “It was kind of in a bone shape. He showed it to us, and Matthew was convinced it was treasure, so we took it to the museum. His mind was made up. They were so gracious and kind to us…They had no idea what it was either.”
The family brought the discovery at the nearby Real Salem Pirate Museum. The museum was interested and asked to keep it to work on it to take off the many layers on concretion on it.
Jenna Collins said the item was initially examined in Salem and eventually shipped to Florida to be checked out by archaeologists. Eventually, it was identified as a long iron spike that was used in ships going back to the 1700s.
“He was right. It ended up being a cool historic find,” Jenna Collins said.
Matthew decided to donate the spike to the museum. Last summer, the Collins’ family was invited back to Salem for a ceremony. The spike is now housed in the museum, with credit to Matthew.
“They made it a big deal and showed him the spike,” Jenna Collins said. “With the little historian he is – he donated it so other people could see the artifact and look for more on their own.”
Matthew was also awarded the first annual Bold Explorer Award by the museum and was gifted a $1,000 scholarship.
Now almost two full years later, Matthew hopes to inspire more treasure hunters. He used the $1,000 to buy a metal detector.
“He is a little nervous but he’s very excited,” Jenna Collins said. “Last April, the museum invited him to come back to share his story and the Salem chamber of commerce had a ceremony for him. They wanted him to share his story.”
Matthew is entering sixth grade and will be entering Granby Memorial Middle School. His big brother Ryan, 14, will be a freshman at Granby Memorial High School in the fall.
Jenna Collins, 43, is a native New Yorker. She said both of her boys are Boy Scouts and participate in football and lacrosse and are both also active in their church.
Dave Collins grew up in Windsor and is a lifelong state resident.
“We do a lot of hiking as a family and we always like being on the move,” Jenna Collins said.
“This summer we are going to go away again and who knows what kind of adventures we are going to find. We also hope to get back to Salem in August because there is so much great history there. We weren’t necessarily looking for treasure but everything just kind of fell together.”
Carolyn Shapiro, the co-founder and managing director of the Real Salem Pirate Museum, said Matthew was a perfect example of the museums mission to inspire bold explorers.
“The family was inspired by our museum and when he found this artifact on Winter Island, he was curious about it,” Shapiro said. “Matthew is such a cutie, and his mom and dad were so proud. The whole thing came together very nicely, and we ended up making him the recipient of our first Bold Explorer Award.”
“We were inspired by him bringing this artifact to us,” she added. “We were also curious to find out what it was and after a month’s our conservator told he believed it was some kind of ship spike and there were a lot of shipwrecks throughout the Salem and Beverly area… It was my pleasure to work with Matthew and his family.”
Shapiro said the museum has been open for three years and has gotten good feedback form its customers.
“We entertain a lot of groups,” Shapiro said.” Teachers that bring kids to learn more about history and learn about history in different ways. People can bring their groups to us, and we will take good care of them. That’s how Matthew and his family found us.”
Farmington Library Information Services Librarian Christine Edgar has been a friend of the Collins family for years and is excited to have Matthew tell his story at the Farmington Library on June 27 at 6 p.m. in the Jay Johnston Community Room.
“We’re very excited for this event, we think it will have wide appeal to various age groups,” Edgar said.
