FOUND! World's oldest weather stone

Three rousing cheers, hooray, yippee and wacky-doo! We've found the world's oldest weather stone! In last month's edition, we described weather stones in New Zealand, Iceland, Germany, Bermuda, Canada and Ireland, and wondered where those comical tourist attractions originated.

Now we've found a stone that may well be the daddy of them all - it's said to be more than 500,000 years old!

Discovered in the British Virgin Islands, it's now proudly displayed at St. Michaels Marina, a fishing and boating resort on Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, U.S.A., "only a leisurely drive from Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Richmond and New York."

It's a smooth grey stone seemingly the size of a football, hanging from a notice-board that proclaims:

Be sure to read Captain Frank's hilarious account of the stone's discovery at Tortola (not Tortolla), in the British Virgin Islands, by visiting his website (shown below).

Last month, we mentioned the weather stone notice in tropical Bermuda, that says "If it's white on top, believe it or not, it's snowing." Corey Butterfield, who lives in Bermuda, has kindly sent us a photo of the stone, which he saw displayed at Fort Scaur historical park.

"This sign had me cracking up," he said. "It typifies the Bermudan spirit. I'm surprised that tourism officials had enough of a sense of humour to produce it.

"In addition to observing the weather stone, Bermudians of old used to hang shark oil outside (mainly on their clothes lines) in glass bottles, to tell the weather. If it was cloudy it would be stormy; clear oil meant a fine day, etc."

Fort Scaur was built by British colonial authorities in the late 1860s and early 70s to defend the island's dockyard from attack. American forces were stationed there in WWII.

Our global search for the original weather stone began in New Zealand, and ends there too. We've discovered a second New Zealand weather stone hanging outside a store in Russell, Bay of Islands. It's called an Early Polynesian Weather Stone.

Russell, like Captain Frank's St. Michaels and Corey's Bermuda, is a great fishing and boating centre. Anglers and boaties always want accurate weather forecasts. That must be why they put so much faith in those weather stones.

POSTSCRIPT. We sent a draft copy of this story to St. Michael's Marina, Maryland, seeking permission to copy Captain Frank's photos. In reply, we received this email from Ilene Morgan & Capt. Frank:

Frank is delighted that you like his weather stone. He got the idea during a Bermuda holiday where we found the weather stone at Fort Scaur. A later holiday in the BVI further gave birth to Capt. Frank's Weather Stone.

With the help of friends we were on holiday with, we gathered up about a dozen potential weather stones, scavenged for boxes and duct tape, and were amazed when security actually let us through.In response to their puzzled inquiries about our cargo, we said they were landscaping stones.

The weather stone story and legend then became fully developed after an evening spent with several friends and much good cheer, and is a much enjoyed attraction at the marina.

St. Michaels isn't really a fishing resort. Once a ship building town, St. Michaels is now one of the premier visitor destinations for our mid-atlantic region, and is THE premier destination on the Chesapeake Bay for cruising boaters. Should you be interested, you can find more info. at www.stmichaelsmd.org.