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A nice little country cemetery with a roomy cache. Come Visit!
I married into a Norwegian family, with some English ties in their maternal history. My family is the caretakers of this little cemetery, and I thought it would make a great place for a Geocache. Please admire the freshly painted fence, the nice flags, the freshly planted flowers, the usually mowed grass (when it's not raining too much). My husband and his brothers do most of the grounds upkeep . . . with their mother's constant encouragement. It is highly unlikely there will be another funeral here, as despite the apparent lack of grave stones, a survey with a metal detector indicated it is pretty much filled up. Many graves are simply not marked. However, there may be some people who come to visit their ancestors, so if you see anyone here that is NOT doing yard work, please come back. If they are doing yard work . . . say "HI" . . . it is probably my relatives.
GZ is the cache location, but you will need the key to open the box. You can locate the key by solving the following, fairly easy puzzle.
Go to: N43 34.497 / W091 43.778
This is the oldest (known) grave in this cemetery, belonging to Silas Sherburne. You need to know the year Silas died and was buried.
Go to: N43 34.506 / W091 43.792
This is the newest grave in this cemetery, belonging to Lester Stroud. Lester was a veteran of WWII. You need to know the year Lester died and was buried.
The key is located at:
N43 34.(2356 minus oldest grave)
W091 43. (2769 minus newest grave)
Please be sure to lock everything back the way it was so the box cannot be opened unless the key is used.
***OK . . . Now a Little History ***
The Olde English Cemetery, sometimes also called the "Yankee Cemetery" or the Riceford public cemetery, was established in 1868 on land donated by Margaret "Meg" Randall. Meg took care of this cemetery, passing the duty along to her granddaughter Irma Allen, and Irma's husband Ervin. They continued to care for the cemetery until 1997, when it was taken over by my mother-in-law, Pat Hanson. Pat is a Sherburne, so that is the tie to some of the graves here. Pat has a census of the graves, somewhere, but we can't find it right now.
Some of the earliest residents of this area were of English descent, members of the Adventists Church who moved from the New England area, then originally from England. Then the Norwegians came to the Houston County area!! Norwegians are mostly Lutheran, and one of the local churches is right next to this little cemetery. Only citizens of "good standing" were allowed to be buried in the Lutheran graveyard, as well as the Lutherans, of course. It was decided that the Adventists wouldn't be buried with the Lutherans, so a separate cemetery was established.
The "Yankee Cemetery" has had some history of being forgotten . . . thus many of the poorly marked graves are unknown. We have many grave marker stones in the garden shed, but no idea where they belong. It was cleaned up in 1948, cleared of brush, and fenced to keep the cows out, which previously had free range on the graves. In 2000 my husband's family put up the nice chain link fence and gate and have maintained the landscaping since.
There are several graves from the Civil War, as well as WWI and WWII.
The cache is "English" themed.
Come visit and enjoy the peaceful country atmosphere. The cemetery has a very gentle slope, and the grass is usually mowed, but it really is not easily wheelchair accessible - unless you have a good pusher, or are really strong! Watch too . . . in the summer my brother-in-law might be trapping gophers so they don't dig everything up.
Additional Hints
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