How to Do Secret Note 19 in Stardew Valley (Original & Mod)

Secret Note 19 in Stardew Valley is one of those puzzles that looks mysterious for about ten seconds, then turns into a full-on “why am I walking into every fence in Pelican Town?” situation. The note shows a house, a green starting square, and a series of arrows. No words. No helpful villager commentary. Not even a passive-aggressive letter from Mayor Lewisat least, not yet.

The good news is that Secret Note 19 is actually simple once you understand the rule: start at the correct house, move in each arrow direction until you hit an obstacle, then follow the next arrow. Do that correctly and you will uncover one of the funniest hidden rewards in the game: the Solid Gold Lewis statue. Yes, Mayor Lewis has a secret gold statue of himself. No, he does not want to talk about it. Please respect his privacy while absolutely not respecting it.

This guide explains how to do Secret Note 19 in the original version of Stardew Valley, how it works in modded games such as Stardew Valley Expanded, where to find the statue, what to do if the puzzle seems broken, and how to trigger the extra secret after you collect it.

What Is Secret Note 19 in Stardew Valley?

Secret Note 19 is a treasure-map-style note found after you unlock Secret Notes through the A Winter Mystery quest. Once you have the Magnifying Glass, Secret Notes can appear from normal activities such as mining, fishing, chopping trees, digging artifact spots, killing monsters, and clearing weeds. The note itself shows 1 Willow Lane, the home of Jodi, Kent, Sam, and Vincent, along with a trail of arrows.

Unlike gift-list notes, Secret Note 19 is a movement puzzle. The arrows are not asking you to count exact tiles. Instead, each arrow tells you to walk in that direction until your character cannot move any farther. Then you move in the next arrow direction, again until blocked. Think of it like sliding across an ice puzzle, except the ice is Pelican Town and your dignity is slowly leaving your body.

How to Unlock Secret Note 19

Step 1: Trigger A Winter Mystery

Before Secret Note 19 can appear, you need the Magnifying Glass. To get it, enter the Bus Stop area from your farm during Winter between 6:00 AM and 4:00 PM. A cutscene will play where a mysterious Shadow Guy runs away. This starts the quest A Winter Mystery.

Step 2: Follow the Footprints

After the cutscene, follow the footprints in the snow toward the playground near the Community Center. Interact with the bush near the playground, and the Shadow Guy will pop out, apologize, and give you the Magnifying Glass. From that point forward, your farmer can find Secret Notes.

Step 3: Find Secret Note 19 Naturally

There is no guaranteed “go here and pick up Note 19” location. You find it randomly through normal gameplay after unlocking Secret Notes. The fastest practical approach is to keep doing activities that generate lots of item checks: mining rocks, fishing, chopping trees, clearing weeds, and digging artifact spots. Eventually, Secret Note 19 will drop. When it does, select it in your inventory and use it like an item to add it to your collection.

Secret Note 19 Original Solution: Step-by-Step

In the original, unmodded game, Secret Note 19 begins at 1 Willow Lane. That is Jodi’s house, located in the southwest part of Pelican Town. The starting point shown on the note is directly in front of the house’s front door.

Original Route Instructions

1. Go to 1 Willow Lane, Jodi’s house.
2. Stand directly in front of the front door, matching the green square shown on the note.
3. Follow the arrows one at a time.
4. For each arrow, keep walking in that direction until your farmer hits a permanent obstacle.
5. When blocked, immediately follow the next arrow.
6. Continue until the route leads you behind Mayor Lewis’ house.
7. Stand on the final hidden tile and interact with the ground.
8. Pick up the Solid Gold Lewis statue.

The most important thing to remember is that you do not tap one tile per arrow. You walk as far as possible in the direction shown. Many players get stuck because they treat the note like a step-counting map. It is not. It is more like the game saying, “Walk left until the fence personally tells you to stop.”

The Shortcut: Go Straight to the Final Location

If you already have Secret Note 19 in your collection and do not care about role-playing as a confused postal worker, you can skip the arrow route. The reward is hidden behind Mayor Lewis’ house. Go to Lewis’ house in Pelican Town, move behind it, and interact with the hidden ground area until you pick up the Solid Gold Lewis statue.

This shortcut works because the puzzle’s path is only a clue. The real reward is tied to the hidden final location. You still need to have found and read Secret Note 19 first, but you do not need to perfectly walk the arrow trail every time.

How to Do Secret Note 19 in Stardew Valley Expanded

In Stardew Valley Expanded, also known as SVE, Secret Note 19 can look different because the mod changes parts of the Pelican Town map. Since the original note’s route was designed around vanilla Pelican Town, the mod adjusts the note image and route so the puzzle still makes sense on the expanded map.

Here is the key detail: the reward and final location do not change. The note may use a modified route, but it still leads to the hidden Solid Gold Lewis statue behind Mayor Lewis’ house. In other words, the mayor’s questionable interior decorating choices survive the modding process. Truly, art is eternal.

SVE Mod Solution

1. Make sure Secret Note 19 has been found and read in your modded save.
2. Start at the location shown in the SVE version of the note.
3. Follow each arrow until your character hits an obstacle.
4. Continue through the changed town route.
5. End behind Mayor Lewis’ house.
6. Interact with the hidden tile to collect the Solid Gold Lewis statue.

If the changed SVE route frustrates you, use the reliable shortcut: go behind Mayor Lewis’ house and interact with the ground. Since the item and final location remain the same, this is the simplest solution for most players using the mod.

Original vs. Modded Secret Note 19

What Is the Solid Gold Lewis Statue?

The Solid Gold Lewis statue is a secret decorative item obtained only by solving Secret Note 19. It cannot be sold, but it can be placed like furniture or outdoor decoration. The item description calls it Mayor Lewis’ secret project, which is a polite way of saying “the man commissioned a golden statue of himself and hid it behind his house.”

You can keep the statue on your farm, display it indoors, or use it to trigger an extra secret. Naturally, most players choose chaos.

The Extra Secret: Place the Statue in Pelican Town

After collecting the Solid Gold Lewis statue, place it somewhere outdoors in Pelican Town. If a villager does not destroy it by walking through it, something funny happens overnight. The next day, the statue will be replaced by a Rotten Plant, and you will receive an unsigned letter in the mail containing 750g.

The letter is clearly from someone who is very displeased that his private belongings were displayed in public. Is it signed? No. Is it obviously Lewis? Also yes. Pelican Town may not have a formal justice system, but it does have gossip, and that is apparently enough.

Can You Repeat the Statue Trick?

You can place the statue in town again after retrieving it from its new location, but the money letter is only sent once. After the prank, the statue may reappear in Lewis’ bedroom or, rarely, in Marnie’s bedroom. That second possibility has launched approximately one million player theories, smirks, and “hmm” noises.

Why Secret Note 19 Might Not Work

You Have Not Read the Note Yet

Finding the note is not always enough. You need to use it from your inventory so it gets added to your Secret Notes collection. If you try interacting behind Lewis’ house before reading Secret Note 19, the statue may not appear.

You Are Standing on the Wrong Tile

The statue is hidden behind Lewis’ house, not inside it and not beside the front steps. Walk behind the building and interact with the ground in the hidden area. On PC, right-click. On controller or console, use the interact button. On mobile, tap carefully around the hidden tile.

You Are Following the Arrows Incorrectly

Do not move one tile per arrow. Move in the arrow direction until you hit an obstacle. Then follow the next arrow. This one mistake causes most Secret Note 19 confusion.

A Mod Changed the Town Layout

Map-changing mods can alter the path. If you use Stardew Valley Expanded, the note route is adjusted. If you use other town overhaul mods, the arrow path may be confusing or partially blocked. In that case, go directly behind Mayor Lewis’ house and interact with the hidden tile after reading the note.

Your Mod Load Order or Version Is Broken

If you are playing modded Stardew Valley, make sure SMAPI, Content Patcher, Stardew Valley Expanded, and any required dependencies are updated. Also check that you are launching the game through SMAPI, not the vanilla executable. A modded save launched incorrectly can behave like a farmer trying to milk a fence: technically active, emotionally disappointing.

Tips for Finding Secret Note 19 Faster

Because Secret Note 19 drops randomly, the best method is to do high-volume activities. Mining is excellent because you break many rocks and fight monsters. Fishing is also strong, especially if you fish for long sessions. Artifact spots are useful when you see them, and chopping trees or clearing weeds can help while cleaning the farm.

Do not stress if Secret Note 19 does not appear immediately. Secret Notes are collectible, and the game expects you to find them gradually. Keep playing normally, and the note will eventually show up. Stardew Valley is patient. Too patient, sometimes. It will let you spend three years looking for one scrap of paper while your ancient fruit empire becomes more profitable than Joja.

Is Secret Note 19 Worth Doing?

Yes, absolutely. Secret Note 19 is worth doing because it gives you a unique hidden item, unlocks one of the funniest small secrets in the game, and adds flavor to Mayor Lewis’ character. The reward is not powerful in the traditional sense. It will not help you defeat Skull Cavern monsters, automate your farm, or convince Pierre to stop taking credit for your crops. But it is memorable, silly, and very Stardew.

For completionists, it is also part of filling out the Secret Notes collection. For decorators, the statue is a rare conversation piece. For mischief-makers, placing it in the middle of town is basically performance art.

Player Experience: Doing Secret Note 19 Without Losing Your Mind

The first time many players open Secret Note 19, they stare at it like it is an ancient farming prophecy. The drawing is clear enough to be interesting but vague enough to make you question whether you are supposed to start at Jodi’s house, Lewis’ house, or some emotional metaphor for municipal corruption. The trick is to slow down and treat the note as a route puzzle, not a treasure map with exact coordinates.

In the original game, the cleanest experience is to go to 1 Willow Lane during the day, stand directly in front of the door, and follow the arrows exactly as the game intends. Do not rush. Move in one direction until the environment stops you. When you hit a wall, fence, bush, building, or other permanent obstacle, pause and check the next arrow. This rhythm makes the puzzle much easier. It feels strange at first, but after two or three turns, you understand the logic.

On PC, the puzzle is usually easier because keyboard movement is precise. On controller, it can be slightly more awkward because diagonal nudges or accidental turns may throw off your position. If you feel lost, simply reset by returning to the front of 1 Willow Lane and starting again. There is no penalty for restarting, except the quiet judgment of your horse if you brought one.

For modded players, the experience depends heavily on the mods installed. Stardew Valley Expanded handles Secret Note 19 thoughtfully by changing the route clue to match its altered town layout. Still, many players who install SVE after hundreds of vanilla hours instinctively try the original path and then wonder why Pelican Town suddenly feels like it hired an urban planner with a grudge. When in doubt, remember the final destination: behind Mayor Lewis’ house.

One useful habit in modded saves is to test puzzle rewards with minimal assumptions. If the note route feels wrong, check whether the mod changes town geometry. If the final tile does not respond, confirm the note has been read, not just collected. If nothing works, update your mods and reload the save. Most Secret Note 19 problems come from either user error, outdated dependencies, or trying to follow a vanilla route on a map that is no longer vanilla.

The funniest part of the whole quest is what happens after you find the statue. You can quietly keep it on your farm like a normal person, or you can put it in town and let Mayor Lewis panic through the mail. That little follow-up gag is why Secret Note 19 remains one of the most beloved secrets in Stardew Valley. It rewards curiosity, makes players laugh, and turns a simple arrow puzzle into a tiny scandal. In a game full of crops, friendship, and cozy routines, sometimes the real harvest is embarrassing the mayor.

Conclusion

Secret Note 19 in Stardew Valley is solved by starting at 1 Willow Lane, following each arrow until you hit an obstacle, and continuing the route until you reach the hidden tile behind Mayor Lewis’ house. In the original game, the clue uses the vanilla Pelican Town layout. In Stardew Valley Expanded, the route image changes because the town map changes, but the reward stays the same: the Solid Gold Lewis statue.

If you want the fastest solution, read Secret Note 19, go behind Mayor Lewis’ house, and interact with the hidden ground tile. Then decide whether to keep the statue or place it in Pelican Town for the extra secret. Either way, you have solved one of Stardew’s best little mysteriesand possibly learned more about Lewis than he ever wanted you to know.