The Grid Starts Here Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

New York Admin: I regret to report that the cache owner has not responded to the prior note about this disabled cache. I'm archiving it opening the area up to others. Of course, the owner may respond at any time to get this cache back online providing it meets the current guidelines.

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Hidden : 3/22/2009
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

This is the place where the powers that be decided the Manhattan Grid should start. And to keep one of our favorite Urban micro cache containers in service, we have re-placed a Concrete Rat style geocache container here.

In 1807, this was the Northern boundary of New York City. The City was a patchwork of neighborhoods, with each landowner trying to layout streets as they saw fit. Some of these landowners argued that they had tried to be fair and rational as they had created new streets, and a number of them felt the city should follow existing grids when building new roads. One such plan, very popular in this neighborhood was Stuyvesant's Grid. The City however decided to adopt a different plan. They created a grid that could extend all the way to the Northern tip of Manhattan Island. It began here at the Northern edge of the city limits, and at the farthest point East where an uptown Avenue could be placed without ending in Stuyvesant Cove. Each avenue was to be one hundred feet (30 m) wide. The avenues in the center of the island were to be separated by 922 feet (281 m), and the avenues along the waterfront were to be slightly closer. The operating theory was that street frontage near the piers would be more valuable than the landlocked interior, the waterfront being the location of commerce and industry of the time, and so it would be to everyone's benefit to place avenues closer together at the island's edges.
The plan finally adopted in 1811 called for numbered streets running east-west are 60 feet (18 m) wide, with about 200 feet (61 m) between each pair of streets, resulting in a grid of approximately 2,000 long, narrow blocks. With each combined street and block adding up to about 260 feet (79 m), there are almost exactly 20 blocks per mile. Fifteen crosstown streets were designated as 100 feet (30 m) wide: 14th, 23rd, 34th, 42nd, 57th, 72nd, 86th, 96th, 106th, 116th, 125th, 135th, 145th and 155th Streets. Immediately, blocks were divided into standard 25' x 100' lots and settlers began to move uptown.
As Second and Third Avenue were built, Stuyvesant's Grid disappeared, all that is left now is Stuyvesant Street. This was not the first act of urban renewal to enrage those whose residency was uprooted by a new zoning plan, but that's another cache.
Now reach down and grab this cache. myspace profile visitor

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Zntargvp naq nyzbfg gb gur cbvag.

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)


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