Not every tavern founder has a real pirate treasure story behind them. Mickey Salloway does.
The Whydah Gally
In 1717, the pirate ship Whydah Gally — captained by "Black Sam" Bellamy and loaded with plundered treasure — wrecked off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, during a storm. For more than 260 years, its exact location was lost to history.
In 1984, an expedition team rediscovered the wreck, making it the first authenticated pirate shipwreck ever found in the Americas — a discovery that rewrote what treasure hunters and historians alike thought was possible.
Tomboy Tavern's Own Connection
Mickey Salloway, a founder of that real Whydah Pirate Ship treasure expedition, later brought that same spirit of discovery to the mountains of Colorado, conceiving Tomboy Tavern in the shadow of another legendary find — the Tomboy Mine. Mickey can still be spotted at the tavern from time to time, and the connection between a sunken pirate ship off Cape Cod and a gold mine at 11,509 feet is, admittedly, an unusual one — but it's a real one.
Two Treasure Stories, One Tavern
It's a fitting pairing. The Tomboy Mine produced roughly $360 million in gold during its operating years. The Whydah carried a king's ransom in plundered gold and silver to the bottom of the Atlantic. Tomboy Tavern sits at the crossroads of both stories — a mountain lodge built by someone who spent his career chasing real treasure, named for a mine that was treasure itself.
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