Huntress Gets To The Point
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Welcome ye friends to a peek into Portsmouth’s past! This multi-cache takes place in and around Point of Graves Burying Ground. The final cache location is not inside the burying ground, but you will have to visit some of Portsmouth’s historical figures to reach your “final resting place”. The magnetic nano multi-cache is located near Prescott Park in the middle of the old South End of Portsmouth. There is plenty of local parking on the street, at Strawbery Banke and on Pierce Island.
Point of Graves Burying Ground is Portsmouth’s oldest established cemetery. It gets its name from a point of land it sat on in 1671 overlooking the Piscataqua River. The area still offers a peaceful sea breeze and spectacular views of Portsmouth Harbor. In 1671, Captain John Pickering gave a half-acre of land to the city to bury their dead, but retained the right to graze his cattle on the burying ground. Gravestones dated before 1682 are missing and others believed to be damaged by the grazing cattle. This burying ground is cherished by locals and tourists for its variety of Colonial-era gravestone styles and that is what you, the geocacher, get to explore. As you explore, please be respectful of the area and its permanent residents. Please only geocache at Point of Graves from sunrise to sunset, night caching here is not recommended. Also, keep in mind that Point of Graves is quite an old burying ground and is known to be haunted. Visitors have heard footfalls following closely behind them and a feeling of some unearthly presence while visiting Point of Graves. So, respect is of the utmost importance or you may end up with a new transparent friend following you home! Have fun and enjoy some local history!
P.S. The ghosts of the cemetery like to play with your GPS on occasion. Take your time and let the coordinates settle. You also have all the information you need to complete this cache. Happy Haunting!
Waypoint 1: The original waypoint will take you to the grave of Captain Tobias Lear. Lear was a mariner of Portsmouth whose home, now a historic site, is a few blocks from Point of Graves on Hunking Street. The home is within walking distance for those of you who would like to visit. The coordinates will be provided in the additional waypoints section.
Fun Fact: Captain Lear’s son, Tobias Jr., served as President George Washington’s private secretary. Tobias Jr. was born in the house in 1762, was raised in the house, and returned, a beloved and successful son of Portsmouth, with President Washington in 1789. Washington visited Madame Lear, Tobias’ mother, in the front parlor while a crowd watched the audience from the street. The story is well documented and a celebrated piece of the city’s history.
When you look at Captain Lear’s headstone you’ll see the urn-and-willow design which was a very popular design beginning in the 1770’s. This design was influenced by the Greek Revival in Europe and discoveries in Egypt. Finally, this headstone was carved by Capt. John Homer of Boston in slate and he left his signature style of skull and cross bones at the top. If you continue exploring the burying ground you’ll find other headstones he carved leaving his signature mark.
To get to your next waypoint, keep N 43° 04.527. Then subtract the year Captain Lear died from 1794. Then add your answer to the last two digits of W 070° 45.062.
Waypoint 2: You should now be standing in front of the grave of William Button. It is not known who carved his gravestone, but it was probably carved about 100 years after his death. The gravestone is made of slate and you can see the urn and floral garlands which became popular on gravestones from about 1770-1830’s.
Fun Fact: William Button was one of the wealthiest men in New Hampshire hailing from Jersey Island. He drowned after falling overboard from his ship, the Lyon, in Portsmouth Harbor. At the bottom of his gravestone, you’ll see he was buried by Clement Lempriere. It is believed that Clement was possibly kin to William.
Now onto your next waypoint. For your first coordinate, you must count the number of letters in the second word of the third line on William’s gravestone. Subtract the total number of letters from the last number of N 43° 04.527. For the second coordinate, subtract the day he died from his age of death, then add the last number of the year of his death. Take your solution and subtract it from the last two digits of W 070° 45.0XX.
Example
(Age of death) - (Day of death) + (last number of year of death) = solution
(XX) – (Solution) = New coordinates (W 070° 45.0YY)
Waypoint 3: If your math is correct, you are now at my favorite grave site. Daniel Huntress Jr. was the son of Captain Joshua Lang Huntress. Captain Huntress was the Master of Arms on the first cruise of the Ranger under Captain John Paul Jones during the Revolutionary War. Both he and his wife are buried to the left of Daniel. Not much is known about Daniel, but he has the most interesting epitaph on his gravestone. Make sure to read it and let me know what you think of it in your log post. Just don’t post the actual epitaph for future geocachers.
For your final coordinates, you must add the second digit of the day he died to the last digit of N 43° 04.52X. Then add the second digit of his age of death to the last digit of 070° 45.0YY.
These coordinates will take you to the cache’s “final resting place”. I hope you had fun and enjoyed some local history. Feel free to explore the rest of the burying ground, the historical “residents” and the stories they tell from the grave.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Zntargvpnyyl ubyqvat arkg gb tenavgr.