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St. John's at Coulson Hill Multi-Cache

This cache has been archived.

youthpoint: Retired due to lack of visits

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Hidden : 3/29/2008
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size:   regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:

This cache is located in the historic graveyard of St. John's Presbyterian Church, Coulson Hill. This is no longer an active church but the graveyard is still in use.

This is a simple 3 stage multi all contained inside the graveyard. The provided coordinates will bring you to the first stage. There you will find a grave stone with the family name of Neilly.

There are several people on this stone - you will need to use the birth year and the death year of Sgt. Pilot A. Scott Neilly to determine the coordinates for the second stage.

Stage 2 Coordinates
N 44° 09.[year of birth - 1140]
W 079° 34.[year of death - 1167]

At stage 2 you will be looking for a magnetic micro capsule. Inside this capsule you will find the coordinates for the final stage where the cache is hidden. The cache container is a peanut butter jar with cammo tape.
Area History
In 1857 Permission was given for the building of a frame church to the north of Bradford at St. John's Hill — a location now known as Coulson Hill. Its members were supporters of the Church of Scotland and shared a minister with the Auld Kirk Church. (see: "The Settlement of Auld Kirk" Cache).

In 1859 the land grant paper work was completed. The new church was to be known as St. John's Presbyterian Church. In time it was referred to as St. John's Presbyterian Church, Coulson Hill. A frame building was erected on that land a few years later.

In 1889 a service was held to dedicate the newly renovated church. The frame church had a new basement, a new roof, new furnishings — and it was brick clad. It has been reported that a Mr. McAfee was killed in the raising of the vestibule.

On September 20th 1966, St. John's Presbyterian Church, Coulson's Hill closed and the congregation was asked to join Bradford Presbyterian Church. At this time, the Bradford building became known as St. John's Bradford Presbyterian Church.

After the closing of the church — and up until about ten years ago — the church basement was used in the winter to store dead bodies. At the time it was too difficult to dig in the frozen ground. The bodies of those passed away after the ground froze were put in the basement through a trolley system until the thaw. Once the ground was soft enough to dig, someone had the job of retrieving the bodies for proper burial.
keychainsThere are two hand-made, limited edition cammo key chains for the first two to find.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Fgntr gjb: trg gur srry sbe vg Svany: vg'f abg zntargvp

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)