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P. T. Barnum, the great showman and mayor, made Bridgeport his home in the 1800's. The last of Barnum's houses faces the 370 acre Seaside Park, which he was instrumental in founding. The Park was his front yard. Elias Howe invented the sewing machine, many of which were built in Bridgeport under the Singer and other brand names. These two gentleman hold the clues to the cache location.
First Stage Elias Howe - His likeness, cast in bronze, is located at the coordinates
N 41° 09.660; W 073° 11.390.
There is a single date on the front of his statue. Take the last two digits of the date and add it to the minutes in the longitude: W 071° 59.932 in order to obtain the longitude of the cache. As an example, if the date were 1962, the resulting longitude would be W 073° 01.932.
Second Stage P.T. Barnum - Now pay homage to P.T. himself. I'm sure he would be happy to know you are playing in his front yard. His likeness is found at
N 41° 09.640; W 073° 11.619.
There are two dates on the front of his statue. Take the last two digits of the earliest date and add it to the minutes in the latitude: N 40° 58.654 in order to obtain the latitude of the cache.
Solve for the Final Stage Location - Remember what happens when the number of minutes exceeds 60? Better brush up on your trigonometry before you try this one! (See the example under Howe above.) The cache is located in the area of Seaside Park shown in green on the map below. The cache isn't in the water, but some maps (Garmin for instance) don't show what is really there.
W 071° 59.932 + yz .00 = cache longitude, where yz = last two digits of the Howe date
(longitude checksum = 27 = sum of the individual digits)
N 40° 58.654 + wx.00 = cache latitude, where wx = last two digits of earliest Barnum date
(latitude checksum = 28 = sum of the individual digits)
While pursuing the cache you may observe the remainders of the gate to P.T.'s house (#9 on map below), although the house itself is long gone, you will observe that Seaside Park was his front yard. As you head for the cache you will pass the restored bathhouse (#13), a neat skate park, and numerous interesting sculptures. Of course, there is also the excellent beach (#14). If you take the road to the end you will view Fayerweather Island (#17) and the brownstone lighthouse (#18), constructed in 1823. If you go to the island, see if you can find the two stone foundations that were probably once the location of the lighthouse keeper's home.
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Getting There and Other Useful Information - The only sensible way to enter the park is to head south on Park Ave to the twin arch entrance (#8). Other routes may lead you through neighborhoods where you could get lost even with your GPS.
Your quest for the cache requires bug spray in the summer. You will be along the shoreline in areas where salt-water mosquitoes and perhaps ticks will be prevalent.
After paying homage to P.T., just follow Barnum Boulevard to the vicinity of the cache. You will drive past a guard house where there is a $20.00 non-Bridgeport resident charge (more for out-of-state) during the Memorial Day-Labor Day summer season. There is a fee on weekends after Labor Day, and that will only last until some unspecified time. Call (203) 576-7233 to make sure since the policy is apparently changing. For the fee you can picnic, use the beach and have access to the skate park.
The park closes at dusk all year round and the gates are locked, so leave two hours to find the cache. Besides getting locked in, you don't want to search for it in the dark. The footing on the path to the cache is no problem in the daylight, but could bring misfortune at night. Kids under six might have trouble even during the day.
 Wait, there's more - This cache is part of the Bridgeport Geoathlon series which consists of three geocaches. The others are “90 Acres That Isn't” (GCTPXK) and “Welcome to the Zoo” (GCTPYF). Complete all three and you will receive a personalized 5 x 7-inch certificate indicating that you have explored Bridgeport with your GPS in hand. Just inform CTGeoHam by e-mail that you achieved the goal and please indicate the name or handle you want on the certificate and your e-mail address. A JPEG version will be e-mailed to you.
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