Adventure Seekers Flock to Ohio Town to Solve Clues, Discover Real Treasure

NEWTON FALLS, Ohio—Adventure seekers from across the country are flocking to a northeastern Ohio village where a real cache of gold, silver, cash, and jewelry is hidden.

Tom Colosimo is the proprietor of Fieldview Acres Mercantile, a vintage and antique shop in Newton Falls.

He crafted the idea for the Newton Falls Treasure Hunt after watching a TikTok video about Forrest Fenn, a New Mexico art dealer who hid gold and jewels in the Rocky Mountains in 2010 and wrote a book that included a poem offering hints of the jackpot’s location.

Fenn’s treasure was discovered a decade later by a medical school student.

“I thought I could do something on a smaller scale to bring people here and help the businesses,” Colosimo said.

Colosimo, 53, retired from the Air Force and opened “the Merc,” as it is known locally, in a 19th-century bank building.

“I search houses, barns, and attics all over looking for treasures to sell in my store. With the treasure hunt, people can experience that same type of adventure,” he said.

Originally, Colosimo envisioned a small event offering a stash of $1,000 in gold, silver, jewelry, and cash that he donated. The prize grew when local car dealer Sarchione Chevrolet added a gold coin to the pot valued at $5,500. Word spread, and dozens of other sponsors joined the contest. The current stash is worth more than $35,000 and keeps growing, Colosimo said.

Colosimo describes the village as “a town that would make the perfect set for a Hallmark movie.” It has a covered bridge, two waterfalls, and a water tower. Colosimo spearheaded a successful effort to get the downtown added to the National Register of Historic Places last year.

Newton Falls is like many small towns across America that are not located along bustling interstates, Colosimo said.

The village of 4,500 people is known for its 44444 ZIP code. It’s within an hour of Akron and Cleveland and a half-hour from Youngstown, not far from Interstate 76 and Interstate 80 but far enough that it’s tucked away from bustling traffic.

“Once people are here, they like the small town feel and all there is to see. It’s just a matter of getting people here,” Colosimo told The Epoch Times over a rain-drenched Memorial Day weekend.

Local entrepreneurs who don’t have storefronts are making T-shirts, keychains, maps, and other treasure hunt items.

Colosimo said he plans to make this an annual event and keep it evolving.

“This is a quiet town, and some people don’t want an influx of visitors. But businesses will not thrive unless that happens,” he said.

Colosimo said he received a call from Salem in eastern Ohio. The town’s chamber of commerce wants to organize a similar event next year.

David Hanson, 69, is the mayor of Newton Falls. He grew up in town, and his parents were merchants. His mother owned a women’s clothing store, and his father operated a drug store.

At the time, the area surrounding the village was the home of a General Motors plant, a Rockwell International plant that made chrome bumpers, and two General Electric factories. They shuttered, and the region suffered.

The treasure hunt, Hanson said, has breathed life into the community.

“I look out my office windows downtown and see cars with license plates from several states, and multiple Ohio counties, on a regular basis,” he said. “It’s created foot traffic here. Newton Falls is a destination again.”

Sarchione Chevrolet, in nearby Garrettsville, is donating $50 for every automobile sold through July, unless the treasure is found sooner. The tally had reached $4,100 as of May 26, the dealership’s general manager, Paul McEwuen, told The Epoch Times.

“It’s an adventure for people who come here, and it brings in revenue for the businesses,” Joe Sarchione said. “This shows what a small town can accomplish when people respond to something that benefits everyone.”

Since debuting the treasure hunt in March, Colosimo has released a new clue every other week on the Fieldview Acres Mercantile’s social media accounts. The final clue will be announced on July 7.

Colosimo watched the 2004 Nicholas Cage film “National Treasure” and its sequel for background research. He used the ChatGPT artificial intelligence chatbot to AI-proof the contest.

Everything related to the treasure hunt is in the village limits, Colosimo said, noting that clues are not at the covered bridge, the water tower, or his storefront.

“The clues are based on history, and described in riddles and poems,” Colosimo said.

The hunt is free and requires no purchases at businesses.

“Everything is out in public areas, so it is safe,” he said. “No trespassing. No going into water, climbing stuff, or anything like that.”

The winner must get a key and letter, which names the treasure’s location.

Cracking the mystery will likely require all 10 clues, and it cannot be done from behind a screen, Colosimo said.

“I was told that, after the final clue is released, there will be groups of people called super teams traveling here. They go to treasure hunts across the country and try to solve them,” Colosimo said.

“I think it’s going to take people a different amount of time to solve each one. I’ve only heard of, like, two clues from two different people being solved.”