General rules: Anyone may log the caches in this series, but kids (12 years old and under) can earn special awards. Kids logging any 4 of the 6 caches in either the Long Ago But Not Far Away – Fairview series or the Long Ago But Not Far Away - Spring Mountain series and emailing the answers to the Kids' Answer Sheet will receive a certificate and a special prize for each series.
Kids earning both the Fairview and the Spring Mountain certificates will receive a special geocoin. Cachers over 12 years old will not receive a prize, certificate, or geocoin. Multiple children in a family may each receive their own awards, but each child requesting an award must have been present during all the cache hunts. Make sure you print out the Kids' Answer Sheet for Fairview before beginning this project!
To claim your award(s), click “Spring Mountain Community Club” just below the cache title and send an email including:
(1) the names of the caches you found along with the answers to their questions,
(2) your name and caching name, and
(3) your age.
(Information will be used to verify your qualification and print your certificate and will then be deleted. Parents, please contact us if you prefer not to share this information.)
Other caches in this series:
Adam Cooper
Cane Creek Church
Soapstone
The Lord's Acre
Where Is Fairview?
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Sherrill's Inn
Beginning in the early 1800s, the road from Rutherfordton through Hickory Nut Gorge and on to Asheville was both a stagecoach and mail route and the passageway along which farmers sometimes drove their animals (including cattle, horses, mules, hogs, geese, and turkeys) to market. It was known first as the “Great Western Stageline” or “Hickory Nut Turnpike,” and later as one of the several “Drovers’ Roads” in western North Carolina. Along the way, inns provided rest and refreshment both for weary travelers and for their livestock.
Bedford Sherrill’s inn was originally a three-room log cabin with an addition that provided small rooms for guests and communal sleeping for drovers. There was also a very solid log smokehouse which reportedly had been used as a fort against Indian attack when necessary.
Sherrill's daughter, Molly, prepared meals for travelers in the cabin kitchen, which had an eight-foot wide stone fireplace, large enough to roast a whole calf. As the stagecoach from Asheville would approach the inn area, the driver would toot a horn to let the innkeepers know how many guests to expect for supper.
Sherrill’s Inn was also used by Union troops during a short occupation of the Fairview area near the end of the Civil War. The historical marker at the posted coordinates tells the story. Read it carefully and record the following information to solve the puzzle.
N 35º 30. A B 2, W 82º 22. 2 C D
A= Number of dogs in the picture of the mural.
B= One of Stoneman’s brigades was headquartered at Sherrill’s Inn on April ? 7, 1865. ?=B
C= Yankees mistakenly thought they were eating something. Number of “p’s” in that word.
D= In the paragraph about the “underground railroad,” how many Union-controlled states are named?
You can check your answers for this puzzle on Geochecker.com.
Alternatively, use this checksum: A + B + C + D = 7
Parents, please watch your children carefully. Both stages of this cache on along the roadside.
There is no clue card for the Fairview Bonus cache in this cache. If you are working toward the kids' Fairview prizes, be sure to write down what you think the container once held and what the connection is with the Civil War history of Sherrill's Inn.