2019-04-07: Geocaching Through Texas Independence History in Cemeteries, Memorials, and a Haunted House

Welcome back to AwayWeGo's Geocaching Adventures Blog. My geocaching name is AwayWeGo.US and these are stories about our travels around the United States. Like most weekends, today is another Sunday driving 360+ miles back to work day. I live in Killeen, Texas and drive down to Falcon Lake in the Rio Grande Valley where I work as a construction surveyor during the week.

After about 30 minutes of driving, my first stop was at an IHOP in Georgetown for breakfast. Before leaving, I grab the quick geocache just outside the parking lot (GC20T2K).

I decided to make a detour and attend this geocaching event in Victoria, TX. Heading down US-183, I made a stop at the San Pablo Cemetery in Lockhart for another quick geocache find (GC3QKN0). The San Pablo Cemetery has about 100 burials beginning in the late 1930's and is still in use today.

Stopping again at the Luling City Cemetery for another cache (GC3VCVD), you also get a view of a giant watermelon. In 1954, Hermon Allen, principal of the Luling Elementary School, proposed the idea of a celebration to honor the growers and promote the Luling watermelon market. The festival includes a watermelon contest for the largest grown. The biggest Black Diamond champion melon in the festival’s history weighed in 141 pounds. The event has grown so large that as many as 30,000 people have attended.

Arriving down in the town of Gonzales, TX, I stopped for a virtual geocache at the "Old Time Justice" (GCGB8Q). The jail was built in the 1880's and is now a museum. It wasn't open at this time. I'll have to return one day to take a tour myself. The photos of it look interesting.

There's a legend that while Albert Howard was waiting for the date of his hanging from his jail cell, he had a view of the clock tower on the courthouse to watch the time. Until the very end he swore of his innocents and said that the four faces of the clock tower would never keep the same time again as long as he was hanged. Over the years and several attempts to fix it, the clocks have never kept the same time.

Then there's also the "Immortal 32" virtual cache (GCG84Q). In February 1836, Colonel Travis sent a letter from the Alamo to all Texans and all Americans while under besiege by the Mexican Army. Only 32 men answered that call for Texas Independence and all 32 were from the town of Gonzales. This memorial and reflecting pond are dedicated to those brave 32 men who gave their lives in support of their brothers at the Alamo.

Well I made it down to Victoria, TX at the Ted B. Reed Park for the geocaching event (GC83TBD). There were eight in attendance and always good meeting other geocachers. I got to stay for a little while before hitting the road and continue south.

Just to the west outside of Victoria is my next geocache at the Coletoville Cemetery (GC4T8AB). Originally named Steiner's Settlement, after early German Carl Steiner. The settlement dates back to 1849. When an epidemic of diphtheria hit the German settlement, two of August and Thekla Spitzer's children died. Ten-year-old Henry and six-year-old Robert were buried by their parents in 1873 on this site. In May of 1873, the Spitzer's deeded the land to the trustees of the new school and evangelic German church of the German community of Steinerville. The community was later renamed Coletoville for the nearby Coleto Creek.

Continuing southwest into Goliad County, my next stop was at the La Bahia Cemetery (GC282ND). There you'll also find this significant memorial of the Texas Independence. After the battle of Coleto (March 19 - 20, 1836), where a Texas Army under Col. James Walker Fannin met defeat by Mexicans in superior numbers, the Texas soldiers were held in Presidio La Bahia, supposedly as war prisoners.

However, by order of Mexican Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, 370 of Fannin's men were marched out and massacred on Palm Sunday, March 27, 1836. The wounded were shot one by one in the fort compound. Col. Fannin was the last to die. Because of their profession, Drs. J. H. Barnard, J. E. Field and Jack Shackelford were spared; about 25 men were saved by a Mexican woman, "The Angel of Goliad". Approximately 30 escaped by feigning death or by swimming the San Antonio River. The Texans' corpses were stripped and partly burned, but left unburied.

This atrocity three weeks after the fall of the Alamo gave Texans part of the battle cry -- "Remember the Alamo! Remember La Bahia!" -- under which decisive victory was won at San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. Gen. Thomas J. Rusk and the Texan Army afterwards marched here and gathered the bones of Fannin's men from the terrain. From Presidio La Bahia the remains were carried in procession to the grave, and there given a military funeral and burial on June 3, 1836.

Amid the cruelties of the Texas war for independence, one notable woman committed acts of bravery and compassion. Francisca Alavez ("The Angel of Goliad") accompanied Mexican Army Captain Telesforo Alavez to Texas in March 1836. In seven incidents between March and April, she intervened with Mexican troops under command of Gen. José de Urrea to help captured Texian prisoners at Agua Dulce, Copano, La Bahia, Victoria and Matamoros.

On March 20, Maj. William P. Miller and 75 men of his Nashville Battalion were captured as they unloaded their ship at Copano Bay. Alavez insisted that binding cords which cut off circulation be removed and food and water be provided. The men were moved to Presidio La Bahia at Goliad, where hundreds of Col. James Fannin's troops were already held after their capture at Coleto Creek. At least 342 men were taken out of the fort on March 27 and shot under orders of Gen. Santa Anna in what was termed the Goliad Massacre.

Alavez helped save the lives of many men, including 16-year-old Benjamin Hughes. Another Survivor, Dr. J.H. Barnard, recalled that she pleaded for their lives, helped sneak out some troops at night and hid some of the men. Her humanitarian acts included tending to wounds and sending messages and provisions to those still imprisoned.

Driving into Berclair, TX, I first arrive at the Berclair Cemetery for my next geocache (GC38VDX). Berclair was a ranching area when the railroad arrived in 1889. The name supposedly derived from the combination Bert and Clair Lucas, one of the ranchers. A hotel was built to provide housing for the railroad workers in 1887 and travelers once completed. A post office was established in 1889. The cemetery below covered in spring wildflowers.

One remaining attraction in Berclair is the haunted Berclair Mansion (GCYFCJ). This 10,000 square foot, 22-room mansion was built in 1936. Etta Terrell had the house constructed out of concrete and steel in an effort to "fireproof" it after her previous house burnt down. Etta and her four sisters lived in the house. Etta passed away in the house in 1956. The sisters remained living in the mansion until the last one passed away in 1968. The homes furnishings remain as the sisters left them with antiques dating back to the 1700's. Then in 1999, the heirs in the family donated the mansion as a museum to the Beeville Art Association.

The Art Association hired maintenance workers and landscapers to keep up the property. It was about this time when unexplained sightings and sounds started happening. Several reported seeing elderly women in the windows, waving to them. Volunteers for the museum say they’ve heard voices as well as doors closing in the otherwise empty house, for no apparent reason. And the Corpus Christi Spook Central’s supernatural investigation team has reportedly recorded at least 10 unexplained voices occurring in the mansion over the period of one night.

The house is open for tours the last Sunday of each month. We may have to come back for another visit one day.

Still having 3 hours of driving to go plus stopping at the grocery store and grabbing dinner, I made that the last geocache for the day. The was a lot of historical and interesting stops today that I didn't get to explore more. Just means I'll have to go back again one day.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you again soon.  

2017-07-01: Back in Florida for Two Weeks

Welcome back! So on Monday June 12, I finished my last day at work on Phase 1 of a solar power construction project. Spending another week hanging out in Texas, the plan was to fly to Orlando, Florida on Monday the 19th and stay there for a week seeing family and taking care of some doctors appointments. Then driving back to Texas in a U-Haul, bringing back a lot of our stuff since our stay is going on almost two years instead of the planned few months.

Well since when do things go as planned! First thing the plane was delayed a day due to weather. The flight was scheduled to leave Midland at 4:30 PM, a short stop in Dallas, then land in Orlando at 10:30 PM. Well correct that. It was first delayed a couple hours, so I still arrived at the airport, but then cancelled a day. I could have boarded a flight from Midland at 6:00 PM, to Dallas, to Los Angeles, to Charlotte, to Miami, then to Orlando at 2:30 PM the next day. If they'd have bumped me up to first class on every leg, sure. But no, so no I didn't.

So I called the hotel and the car rental and postponed my check-in. I flew out instead on Tuesday the 20th. By the time I touched down in Orlando, checked in with Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and got settled into the hotel, it was nearly midnight. And boy was I tired!

One last call to my lovely wife who had to stay behind in Texas and then time for sleep!

So my first day in Orlando and I'm already a day behind and I have to hit the ground running! I think I checked out of the hotel before 7AM. I've got the cardiologist at 1:00 and my sons for dinner after that. It wasn't long before I realized I was back in Orlando when I hit that traffic. I'm still down in southeast Orlando near the airport heading westbound when I spot a Walmart. That was my first stop to pickup deodorant, shampoo, toothpaste and all those essentials that I didn't want to hassle with in my carry-on luggage. Again, I hate flying.

As usual before leaving a Walmart, I check for Geocaches. There's one on the side of the parking lot. After a short search, I found the tiny cache container. However, I got nothing with me to help get the log sheet out of the container. So not being able to sign the log, I can't claim the find. Oh well, gotta move on.

Working my way west across south Orlando, I stopped by where I used to work before moving to Texas. Many of the faces have changed except for the two there working at that moment. There was a driver still around, but all the drivers had already taken off on their routes. It was good to catch up with my former coworkers. There's some customers I wouldn't mind seeing also, but I'm not going to go driving all over the state to do so.

Continuing west and heading into Ocoee, Winter Garden, and then Clermont, I spot a Jeep dealership. I still had to burn some time before my doctors appointment, so I pulled in for a quick look around. They didn't have any new ones in stock of interest, but a 2015 Wrangler Unlimited Artic Edition that was loaded with all the options. But it was this frost blue color and my preference is white. I talked to the salesman and got his card. I'd have to think about that one.

Turning north on US27, I start heading up towards the doctors in Mt Dora along the scenic route. After making the turn on Hwy 19 north and driving this country road for a few miles, I spotted this sign and got a chuckle. I just had to stop turn around and get a picture of it. Now being from Florida, I know it is the second home to a lot of snowbirds. As well as the permanent home to a lot of retirees! Well I didn't realize just how popular it REALLY was. I found the home of Dr Von Frankenstein! Florida truly is the retirement capital of the world!

A few miles further and I entered the small town of Howey-in-the-Hills, FL. Yes, there really is a town with that name in Florida. Checking my geocaching app, I noticed a couple of caches hidden since we were last here. They were on this nice boardwalk and trail leading down to Little Lake Harris. I took the short stroll, probably two miles round trip, and found both caches GC7785X & GC5QKH1.

Just around the corner from that park, I noticed a point of interest on the maps. It was the Howey Mansion and former home of the founder of this town. I'm just going to tell you of the very short version here, but I encourage you to follow this link (Howey Mansion) and read the full history and see the amazing photos of this historic mansion.

William John Howey was born on January 19, 1876 in Odin, Illinois. It was in 1908 when Howey found himself in Winter Haven, Florida where he perfected his citrus farming and sales program techniques. He believed that if he took raw land and controlled its development into mature citrus groves, he could guarantee investors a successful enterprise while making a profit on each step of citrus cultivation. In 1914, he began buying land for $8 to $10 per acre and later sold them at $800 to $2000 per acre, cleared and planted with 48 citrus trees per acre.
The Florida Land Boom tripled Howey’s enterprises and the “Town of Howey” was incorporated on May 8, 1925. In 1927, the name was officially changed to Howey-in-the-Hills to reflect the location of the town in an area of rolling hills which he dubbed “The Florida Alps”. In 1927, construction of his mansion was completed; a 20-room, 7,200 square foot mansion at the cost of $250,000, around $3.2 million after inflation. To celebrate, he hosted the entire New York Civic Opera Company of 100 artists, drawing a crowd of 15,000 arriving in 4,000 automobiles to the free outdoor performance.

Howey died of a heart attack on June 7, 1938 at the age of 62. His wife, Mary Grace Hastings, lived in the Howey mansion until her death on December 18, 1981 and was laid to rest in the family mausoleum on the mansion grounds along with William and their daughter Lois.

Arriving now in Mt Dora, I still had about an hour until the doctors appointment. I did a quick Google maps search for a Great Clips and there was one about 10 minutes away. Hopefully they wouldn't be too busy. I check in and was seated with only about a 5 minute wait. The girl cut my hair and did a fantastic job! I hadn't been able to get a decent haircut in Texas. I wish they had Great Clips out there. And I still arrived at my doctors with about 5 minutes to spare.

After two tests at the cardiologist, I'm back on my way in about an hour.

Now to drive back down to Ocoee,  about 30 minutes away, to pick up my two sons for dinner. Because of our wide variety in taste for food and the younger being a vegetarian, I decided on Golden Corral. They have a great buffet and a large selection to accommodate any palate.

After dinner my sons couldn't agree on what to do for the rest of the evening. The older, working at and being a fanatic, wanted to go to Disney to see the fireworks. The younger wanted to go to the old mall and play ping pong. Yes, there are so many empty stores in this mall that one space is rented out to this guy who has ping pong tables setup where you can play ping pong for as long as you want for just $4.00. Neither wanted to go to the movies as a compromise. But by now we are at the mall and so I made the decision to go inside.

Inside the mall, all the power is out. Even the theater has been emptied and people all standing around waiting. So the movies are a no go. We continue past and go down towards the ping pong place. And of course with no movies to watch the ping pong tables were all taken. We even passed by the bowling alley, and they were packed. So I returned them to their house and we made plans to meet again one on one so that we could do what they wanted to do.

That evening and for the rest of the time in Florida, I stayed at my mothers house up in Umatilla which is about an hour NW of Orlando. The next morning I took this photo of the male peacock all dressed up with his tail trying to impress the ladies for mating season. Just some of the many animals she has on her property.

So over the past two weeks between doctors visits and other errands around Central Florida, I did manage to find a few Geocaches here and there. Nothing real interesting, just some some basic urban caches. I did get three First-to-Finds though!

While I was there, I did spend a lot of time at the Glendale Cemetery in Umatilla. It's a half block down the street from my mothers house. The cemetery dates back to the 1880's, but most of the burials begin in the 1940's. Because Geocaching takes me to a lot of cemeteries, I also use the Find-a-Grave website for history and research. I also contribute and try to keep it up to date. After walking through the cemetery twice, I think I added about 30-35 photos to existing listings as well as added a few internment myself.

While using the Find-a-Grave website, I discovered another very small old cemetery a few miles down the road. Now I have been coming up here to visit my mother for over 15 years and never knew this other small cemetery was even here. There's not even any signage here, but it's often referred to the Old Fort Mason Cemetery. But even that is suspect because there's not much information about Fort Mason.

In a December 5, 1919 interview by one of the early pioneers of Eustis, Charles T. Smith presented some apparently accurate facts to the Lake County Citizen newspaper of May 25, 1923. When Smith and Guilford D. Clifford arrived in what would become Eustis, a few settlers were already there homesteading before 1876.

Charles Smith wrote in 1919: "Fort Mason was located about 2 1/2 miles northeast of Lake Eustis on the homestead of Warren Smith. The line of depression formed by the moat or ditch that surrounded the stockade was quite easy to follow 40 years ago." He saw the remains of the fort when he visited in 1875.

It is generally stated that the fort was built under the command of Brig. Gen. Abraham Eustis and his 1,500 troops during the 1836 Second Seminole War campaign. Little else is known about the military Fort Mason. Regulations required the commanding officer at every post submit reports, usually every month, however no records were ever found for Fort Mason. No one is really sure of what it actually looked like.

As for the nearby cemetery, all that's left is just a few headstones dating back to the 1880's. Looking at the first photo below, you can see a tall thin headstone by the oak and another smaller to the left. Further to the left is an overgrown iron fence plot with three headstones in it. Behind that is an open field with a dirt driveway along the treeline leading to that white building in the distance. About halfway back under the trees are a couple more headstones and all that remain in the African-American cemetery. In the last photo below, are whats left of two large above ground graves in very poor condition.

More doctors appointments meant delaying my drive back to Texas another week. On the bright side, I did get to spend more time with my sons, my mother and aunt, and catch up with some friends.

One day with my oldest son, I got to spend the day with him and meeting his girlfriend at Disney. We started out at Disney's Hollywood Studios. I hadn't been there since it was called MGM Studios. While there I finally had the chance to grab a Virtual Geocache (GC3338). You can't hide any actual cache container on Disney property, but there are 6 Virtual Geocaches created back when they were still allowed. Now I have 4 of the 6 in the find column.

Anyway, we finished the night at the Magic Kingdom and got to see the new fireworks show which also transforms the castle into a giant screen to play various scenes. The best fireworks show I've ever seen! Overall a very fun day and add the fact the it was raining for the first half of it, that didn't stop us from being kids again playing in the rain. During the summer months, that's the best time to go to Disney. When there's a chance of rain! Most visitors tend to hid out in covered walkways and stores trying not to get wet. As long as you don't mind getting wet, it makes for shorter ride lines and being cooler.

The next day I spent with my younger son. We had lunch and then went to the mall to try and play ping pong again. I think we waited for an hour but the guy never showed up to open the place. So we settled on a movie. Afterwards passing by the bowling alley and noticing an empty parking lot, we sought to play a few games. No luck. The league teams were arriving soon and the lanes were booked. Instead we played three rounds of billiards. It was a fun afternoon.

On Saturday July 1st, TeamFelixG stopped by my mother's house to pick me up and we drove north into the Ocala National Forest at Salt Springs for a Geocaching Event. Here I got a chance to meet up with some cachers I hadn't seen in a long time.
After about an hour we were joined up with framptoncomesalive and headed out to grab some caches. We started out finishing up the Lighthouse GeoArt caches which they had already completed about half of it. Now I have half a lighthouse myself. Next trip to Florida...

Along with some other caches and off-road trails, we ended the very hot day with 35 cache finds.

Tomorrow I return the rental car and pickup a U-Haul truck to bring our stuff back to Texas. What started out as a short temporary work stop in Texas has turned into 1 1/2 years and counting. Before we had to fit everything into two little Toyota's as work moved us from place to place. Now that we're set in one place, having more of our personal items and photos on the wall make it seem more like home.

On this drive back, I'm taking the scenic route. No long boring I-10 halfway across the country. I'll be going up to Georgia before heading west on US-84 stopping for caches along the way.

See you soon.

2016-07-24: West Texas Ghost Towns, Cemeteries, an Old Church, and a War Memorial

Hello again. Today's Geocaching Adventure takes us to several cemeteries, ghost towns, a Vietnam war memorial, and some more sights around West Texas. So we're glad you stopped by. So buckle up and let's begin.

After a Starbucks stop in Odessa, we head just north to a small town called Gardendale for our next two caches GC4KKDB and GC34VGJ. The second one brought us to this Mystery Mansion. According to the cache page, a man began building this house in 1950 but never finished it. For a long time he lived in a small travel trailer along side it. Inside the house are stairs that lead up to nowhere, doors that open to brick walls. Kinda reminds me of the Winchester Mansion in California. A mystery for sure.

Heading back down between Odessa and Midland near the airport is a virtual cache. For those of you reading about our adventures who are not familiar with Geocaching, a virtual cache is one that doesn't have an actual container with a log sheet. In order to claim a find you must visit the cache location and find the required answers listed within the cache description.

This particular virtual Geocache (GCE131) brings us to a Vietnam War Memorial honoring the Odessa and Midland residences who gave all for the freedom of others.

Back on the I-20 highway westbound, we make it down the road to Stanton, TX and our next Geocache (GC1MZF0). With the purpose of founding a monastery and a German Catholic Colony, Carmelite Monks, in 1881, began the first catholic church between Fort Worth and El Paso. The adobe and brick monastery was completed in 1884, and St. Joseph's Church in 1885. Sisters of divine providence opened a short-lived school, 1887; reopened, 1894, by Sisters of Mercy. In 1897, Carmelite Monks disbanded and sold property to Sisters of Mercy, who operated a convent and academy until abandonment after a tornado severely damaged the facilities on June 11, 1938. All that remains are a dormitory, ruins of other buildings, and the cemetery.

While passing through the center of Stanton, we passed by what looked like an old Ford dealership. I didn't see a parking lot full of cars for sale, just an old building which appeared to be a showroom and offices. Because of the glare on the plate glass windows it was hard to get any decent photos, but there was an old Model A sedan and a 49 Ford along with a new model.

Driving south out of Stanton, we head to Evergreen Cemetery on the southern end of town for our next couple of caches. (GC2V38B & GC31QVK) I don't know much on the history of this cemetery, but one of the oldest headstones I saw was that of Pvt Julius F Leisering who died on September 14, 1890.

A few more caches later and we're driving south from Big Spring, TX on US-87 to our next Geocache (GC1JHNM). Another cool thing about Geocaching is even though you've found a great spot to hide a cache, you may not know its history. But eventually you may come across another Geocacher who does know the story behind your mystery.

That's the case with our next cache. The CO had driven by this place several times and even stopped to look for clues. But could not find out what this place was. However it was still interesting enough to hide a cache here and called it "History's Mysteries." Well five years later another cacher was here to make the find and had the story from a cousin who grew up and still lives down the road. At one time this road and Overton road were the San Angelo highway. The building was a gas station.

A few miles further south and east we find our next two Geocaches (GC3QB8Z & GC1JHMN) for another Texas ghost town. Hyman was on Farm Road 2183 twenty-seven miles southwest of Colorado City in southwestern Mitchell County. It was the site of the last school district to be organized in the county, in 1923 and was named after Mr. and Mrs. Harry Hyman, who donated the school lot. By 1930 eighty students were enrolled from the district, which covered eighty-four square miles. A post office was established at the community in September 1924 with Sarah M. Hyman as postmistress; it stayed open until around 1947, when the town reported two businesses and fifty residents. In 1945 the local school district was broken up and divided by the Colorado City, Westbrook, and Forsan schools. Hyman was the site of a radio navigation station for military aviation. The station was decommissioned with the closing of Webb Air Force Base in Big Spring. In 2000 three families still lived in the community, and the abandoned navigation station, a cemetery, and the ruins of a church remained at the Hyman townsite.

While the last cemetery may be somewhat forgotten and neglected, this next one has an interesting story behind it. Our next Geocache (GC29137) took us to an unknown cemetery of unknown graves. Not too many feet to the right of this photo is an oil well and many more in the surrounding field. The oil field workers discovered these graves, took some of their piping and created a makeshift fence. They try to keep the site maintained as they come to inspect the oil pumps and pipelines.

The story of the graves is that an old stagecoach trail passed through this area. The two theories are a woman and three children or a woman, two children and a dog. Also unknown is how they died. Could it have been Comanche Indians, stagecoach robbers, or perhaps they tried a homestead but failed. We may never know.

Just some sunflowers along the way.

Our final two Geocaches (GC1J0D5 & GC1H3ZW) for the day brought us to the Coahoma Cemetery. Coahoma, Texas, on I-20 ten miles northeast of Big Spring in east central Howard County, probably took its name from Coahoma County, Mississippi, which in turn derived its name from an Indian word meaning "red panther." Early names for the community included Signal Mountain and Signal Mountain Station, after a nearby hill. 

After the 1881 arrival of the Texas and Pacific Railway in the area, Coahoma grew into a retail trade center and shipping point. Its residents built their first school in 1891, and Gertrude McIntyre was the first teacher. By the time its second school was built in 1904, the town had a post office. Machinery and oilfield supplies became the most important goods distributed from Coahoma after the major oil strike of 1926. In 1928 the town had 600 residents, and its school district served 205 pupils. Between 1936 and 1956 the community's population rose from 620 to 802 and the number of commercially rated businesses went from eighteen to twenty-three. In 1960 the population was reported as 1,239, and in 1970 it was 2,000. In 1980 Coahoma had 1,069 residents. At that time the community also had twenty-four businesses, a bank, and a post office. In the early 1990s it was an incorporated community with a population of 1,157 and forty-eight rated businesses. In 2000 Coahoma had forty-eight businesses and a population of 932.

If you spend time looking through this small cemetary you might run accross one of its notorious residents. Texas outlaw Rube Boyce. He was well known in the region as a rustler and robber and was known to have killed at least three men. The El Paso stage followed the Northern San Antonio to El Paso National Road through Fredericksburg, Mason, Menard, and on to El Paso. The route crossed the San Saba River at Peg Leg Crossing, a few miles north of' London. Rube Boyce was adept, as well as habitual, at stopping and robbing the stage in a gap just west of Peg Leg Crossing. A stage driver on that run suggested that a scheduled stop be established in the gap to allow for Boyce's robberies so that the driver could keep the stage on schedule. As mentioned, stage robbing was not his only vice.

Well that was our Geocaching Adventure for today. Lot's of interesting sites and history learned for today. We hope you're enjoying our stories and will see you back soon.

2014-06-10: Road Trip Day #4 New Hampshire, Vermont, New York and Pennsylvania

Day four of our 2014 summer road trip and we picked up 12 caches in New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York. One of the reasons for driving up this way was to go Geocaching in NH and VT. Now we have found Geocaches in 49 of the 50 states! The only one left is Hawaii. But that's for another adventure...

Our first stop and cache for the day was just down the road in West Burying Ground 1772, located in West Chesterfield, NH. Not much is known about this cemetery, but we did find a couple of headstones dating back to the late 1700's.

From there we continued westbound on Hwy 9 across Vermont. We grabbed a couple of quick caches during gas or food stops, but nothing worth noting. But just before we crossed the VT/NY border, we saw this huge structure sticking out above the trees and had to investigate. It turned out to be the Bennington Battle Monument. It is the tallest structure in all of Vermont and commemorates the Battle of Bennington that lead to the turning point in the Revolutionary War. Turns out there was also a Geocache hidden here as well.

OK, so here's another great story and reason for Geocaching. After leaving the monument, we crossed over the border into New York. Several miles down the road, that probably millions of people have passed by without even noticing that it's there, was a virtual Geocache. The reason was to give notice to this single headstone / monument for Mike Kane. "Killed here by unknown assassin July 26, 1930."

Further investigation by other Geocachers have found that Mike Kane was a Bennington taxi driver and was murdered along Route 7 near the Stone School House. His murderers were not caught until 1936. A Mr. Pencus and a Mr. Franco were arrested, convicted and sentenced. A Miss Mark was also arrested and charged. She turned state evidence and was not prosecuted.

Going further west, we arrive in Albany, NY, the state capital to view some of the sites and find 3 virtual Geocaches. The first was the King Memorial Fountain, designed by Scottish sculpter J. Massey Rhind. Second was the Women Veterans Memorial, followed by a geometric sculpture near the Empire State Plaza. We also took some time to walk around and admire some of the architecture in the area.

 

By now time was against us and it was getting late in the afternoon. I wanted to make it down into western Pennsylvania for the night, but I also wanted to make a few quick stops by some historical mansions along the Hudson River. Because it was late, we didn't have the opportunity to tour the inside. We did get to view the grounds around the outside. They were the Ogden & Ruth Livingston Mills Home, the Vanderbuilt Mansion, and the FDR mansion.

Now it was time to drive off into the sunset and into the evening to get halfway across Pennsylvania. It was a full, fun, and adventurous day, full of beauty and history! And we're only halfway in our road trip. Time for sleep!