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Western Cemetery Challenge Multi-cache

This cache has been archived.

lwa11: taking this one down. Thanks to those who visited it.

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Hidden : 4/30/2006
Difficulty:
4 out of 5
Terrain:
1 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

Western Promenade area of Portland. Not far from Maine Medical Center. The terrain is a hard packed sand/gravel path with some off the path walking on grass of varying length and flatness. Pretty easy walk with only a few tiny elevation changes.BRING YOUR OWN WRITING TOOL.

Western Cemetery Challenge

This cache is a challenge. You will need to be able to find a pico, a micro, do math, and use the clues to be able to log this one. BRING YOUR OWN WRITING TOOL.

Welcome to Portland’s second oldest Cemetery and probably its most controversial over the last decade. It was the cities active burial ground from 1829 until about 1852, but had a burial not too long ago in 1987. It has some very interesting residents and also has had to endure aging stones and disrepair to name a few things over the years. It was an “off-leash” dog park for awhile and then a battle brought it back to what it is today. A place with memories of Portland’s past and a place that is not desecrated by dogs droppings all over. A nice place for a stroll now where the most threatening thing might be an occasional transient taking a nap.

So begin your journey here….

N43 38.763 W 070 16.386

Take a stroll to the tombs where you will see some of Portland’s prominent citizens, including a Longfellow.

LONGFELLOW, Stephen, a Representative from Maine; born in Gorham, Cumberland County, Maine (then a district of Massachusetts), June 23, 1775; was graduated from Harvard University in 1798; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1801 and commenced practice in Portland, Maine; member of the general court of Massachusetts in 1814 and 1815; belonged to the Federalist Party and was a delegate to the Hartford convention in 1814 and 1815; Federalist presidential elector in 1816; elected to the Eighteenth Congress (March 4, 1823-March 3, 1825); was not a candidate for renomination in 1824; resumed the practice of his profession; member of the State house of representatives in 1826; overseer of Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, 1811-1817; a trustee of Bowdoin College 1817-1836; president of the Maine Historical Society in 1834; died in Portland, Maine, August 2, 1849.
At these tombs you will need to do a little math to get to the next part of your journey!! I will give you this to start…. N 43 38 _________ W 070 16 ________ but the rest depends on you. There are seven tombs that are connected. Multiply the 7 connected tombs by the number of those tombs that have the same year on them then double that number. Have that number? Subtract it from the last three numbers in Longfellow’s year of Birth from above. That gives you the last three for the North part of your co-ords.

For the West…. Take the last two digits in the date that three tombs share. Then multiply that number by the tomb that has a number in the name. Got it? Is your math good? Okay now add the letters in the two names from the tomb with even date on it plus Ingraham’s tombs letters… what is the number of all those letters? Double check it. Then subtract from the multiplied number to give you the last three of the West co-ord’s.

So enjoying your walk through this historic place? I sure hope so because now you are going to be looking for the 3 Reed’s near the new co-ords you have just figured out. One of them “Passed to higher life” to help you confirm you found the right Reed’s. Once you have found them, look for their friend George Henry and your next clue is near him. Once you open this, it leads you to the next part of your journey.

You found the name in the littlest of clues. Now find us. We lie just off of the outer walkway. There are 4 of us side by side but yet a 5th lies not to distant. So there are five!! When you find us…. More math is in store.

N 43 38. 6___ To get the last two digits take Georgiana’s total years of life and subtract the last digit of the partial N co-ord in this clue.

W 070 16._______ How many Reed’s where there? That is your first number. Take the last digit in the year of the last burial here at the Western Cemetery as your 2nd number. How many carvings in the stone for Chesley E Scott’s birth year and death? This is the last number.

And now you can breathe a sigh of relief as you head to the last part of the puzzle. The co-ords bring you close to a stone which has two meanings. One on each side of the stone.

Many of the Irish people who had to immigrate during the “Great Hunger” in Ireland in the mid 1800’s are buried in the Catholic Ground of the Western Cemetery. On Sunday August 15, 1999 Division 1 of the Ancient Order of Hibernians in Portland dedicated a stone marking the Catholic Ground on one side and remembering the Famine Irish on the other side. There are still some people who respect cemeteries.

Your final find is very near. Good luck!!!! BRING YOUR OWN WRITING TOOL.

Hints……….

Only hint if you log a dnf.... then I will help you.

Additional Hints (No hints available.)