The Scoop | so & so •
By Megan Monte
Finders Keepers A treasure hunt for glass orbs keeps the focus on the natural beauty of Block Island
There are few adventures more exciting than a treasure hunt – and not all of them are reserved for the plots of movies and books. Block Island is home to its very own type of finders-keepers quest, thanks to a local glassblower. When Eben Horton was 19, he hid his glass creations on nearby beaches. “I just thought it’d be a fun thing to do that would blow peoples’ minds when they found these things,” Horton says. Fast forward to today – his fun and casual practice has been transformed into The Glass Float
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SO Rhode Island Summer • July 2022
Project, an epic, nationally known scavenger hunt on Block Island. Horton, who owns The Glass Station Studio and Gallery in Wakefield with his wife, Jennifer Nauck, conceived of The Glass Float Project in 2011. “As an artist, I was definitely a victim of the great recession, being a glass blower,” Horton states, explaining how he had an abundance of free time on his hands. Itching for something to do, he decided to hide glass, just like he’d done when he was a teenager, but on a much larger scale. With a grant from the Rhode Island Council on the
Arts, Horton created 150 blown glass orbs, and, with permission from the Block Island Town Council, hid his floats on the island’s paths and beaches. Thus, The Glass Float Project was born. Now, 11 years later, the project has grown and expanded into a well-known opportunity for locals and travelers alike, even garnering attention from CBS News and The New York Times. With the help of their studio team, Horton and Nauck create over 550 glass floats each year that they and their volunteers hide on
SORhodeIsland.com
Photo courtesy of Eben Horton
Float hunters are encouraged to register finds at BlockIslandInfo.com to help keep track of how many remain in the wild
