How a Bucks County filmmaker found the secret hideout of America's original outlaws

Once said to be a danger to the American cause as they worked to foil George Washington’s plans to overthrow the British government, the story of the Doan Gang is one that has been dominated by myths and mystery for centuries.

The tale of the infamous Revolutionary War outlaws, led by five brothers and a cousin from Central Bucks who served as spies for England, has captivated Mark McNutt since he was a child.

“What makes the Doan Gang story exciting is the myth of war. It’s the idea that this is the greatest American story never told,” said McNutt, a self-described history buff and Doylestown native.

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McNutt grew up hearing the legend of the Doan Gang. He was enthralled by the timeline of events that turned the once quiet Quaker family into notorious outlaws who robbed the Bucks County treasury of all its funds in 1781.

As an adult, McNutt’s fascination with the Doans hasn't waivered — but now he’s set out to tell an authentic story that goes beyond the group’s lore.

Currently, McNutt is developing two Doan Gang projects: a documentary series titled “Outlaw Treasure,” and a scripted drama series, “America's Original Outlaws” that will use actors to film on location.

McNutt’s work has led him to rethink the hearsay that surrounds the outlaws and appreciate their significance in American history.

“It's an important American story. This is something that happened at a time when we were just kind of figuring out who we are as an independent country,” said McNutt.

The Doan Gang's mysterious cave

The documentary’s central narrative follows the discovery and excavation of one of the gang’s secret hideouts. McNutt is filming the uncovering of an 18-foot deep cave in Buckingham that is believed to have been used by the Doan brothers to spy.

Located on private property and surrounded by trees, the cave is not visible to those who drive by. Instead, the hideout can only be accessed using a rope to propel oneself down a massive hole in the ground.

McNutt agreed to let a reporter and photographer view the site, so long as its exact location was not revealed.

“When you think about a cave you think of a hillside and there's a cave you can go into. This is not the case. This is more like a giant hole in the ground where you go down and it opens up into a cavern. That hole had been filled in over 150 years and no one has been in there,” said McNutt.

Leading the excavation while McNutt films is Clint Flack, an exhibit specialist for the Mercer Museum. Since 2019 Flack has worked to dig up the hideout — inch by inch through solid rock — and he said there is still more of the cave to find.

Flack too is a long-time Doan researcher. At 8 years old he read a republished account from Joseph Fell, an 1850s school teacher, who encountered the hideout and revealed its location. From then on Flack was obsessed with finding the cave.

“My mom would read me these history books on Bucks County. As a kid who was interested in pirates and dinosaurs, all of a sudden you're reading about these loyalist outlaws who are stealing money. There could be a treasure and there are caves. For an 8-year-old kid it was amazing because it all happened right here,” said Flack, who is also helping develop a 2024 Doan exhibit at the Mercer Museum.

On his journeys down into the narrow cave, Flack has found several relics of the past including musket balls, a shoe buckle and a lock that appear to date back to the 1800s.

For the time being Flack and McNutt have chosen not to disclose the location of the cave to the public, citing large crowds could be a safety hazard during the excavation process.

Rethinking the Doan Gang's place in history

Throughout McNutt and Flack's time researching the Doan Gang, they have begun to see the story from a new perspective they said is absent in many history books.

While the Doans were working against the patriots, they were part of a greater resistance to the revolution.

The Doans were active at a time of great uncertainty in trusting the newly forming American government.

“You're taught in school that everybody kind of bands together and goes off and fights the evil British. But the reality of the Revolutionary War, especially here in Bucks County, is that it was a civil war. There was a majority of people actually loyal to the British or who didn't want to fight at all,” said Flack, explaining that in the beginning, the Doans primarily targeted tax collectors for their robberies in an attempt to block funds that would support the war.

With the Doan Gang consisting of men in their early 20s, McNutt said he feels like he has begun to know the group personally through his time studying them.

While he recognizes their crimes, he said he can relate to the sense of restlessness the Doan Gang experienced during the time period.

“I don't think that they're good guys," McNutt said. "But I do think they're products of their time. This was at a time when the United States really didn't exist. We know it as a sort of foundational thing now, but then there was no history of it at all.

"I think these guys were just restless young men at a time of great uncertainty. They had to sort of figure out where their loyalties were going to lie. And for whatever reason, they chose a different path.”

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Bucks County filmmaker uncovers Revolutionary War outlaws' secret cave