This is the third of ten in the Boxborough-Centric geocache series.
This is a mystery geocache. The cache is not at the listed coordinates. You need to determine the cache location using the information provided below, plus some careful research. You will want to have a calculator with you at the initial WP in order to complete the calculations for the cache coordinates. It is a very short hike to the cache from the initial WP. The container is a small lock & lock with a log and a requisite clue for the tenth cache in the series, BC#10 Boxborough Centroid GC2DDCR.
The listed coordinates will bring you to the site of the original meetinghouse around which Boxborough was founded. This is the site of the Old Town Center, located on Hill Road at the top of Middle Road. The houses nearby are some of the oldest in Boxborough. The listed WP is at an old burned bronze bell that is all that was left when the meetinghouse burned to the ground in 1953.
On the left side of the site is the foundation of the Old Meetinghouse, which has been turned into an herb garden by the Boxborough Garden Club who lovingly maintains it. Beyond, to the right, is North Cemetery, with some of the oldest graves in Boxborough. Wander around and see if you recognize any of the surnames. We have many of their descendants still in town today.
The Boxborough-Centric series is a collection of nine individual caches, each with a clue to the tenth. All are located in Boxborough, Mass. They will take you to some of the more interesting places in the town. Several of these caches will rely on information that can be found in a book called Boxborough: Portrait of a Town, published by a group of Town residents in 1983. A special copy of this book, reserved just for this cache series, can be found in Boxborough's Sargent Memorial Library. The librarians will show you where it is. Please do not mark it up. Bring a pen and paper with which to make notes because you cannot take this copy out. Or, for a cost, you may make copies of a few pages at a time in the library if you prefer. The library’s hours can be found on its website here. You need to find ALL the first nine caches with their respective clues to find BC#10 Boxborough Centroid GC2DDCR. You do not need to find them in order.
G-o-cashers was the First-To-Find on the BC#10 Boxborough Centroid geocache (he did it the hard way, without waiting for the full series to be published, which some others have now also done). He is making the copy of Boxborough: Portrait of a Town he won for the FTF prize in that cache available to anyone who wants to borrow it for this series by placing it in his The Other Boxborough Library (GC2GJ21) geocache.
Find the following information in Ch 1 of Boxborough: Portrait of a Town
before proceeding to the site:
- The date Boxborough became a town (mm/dd/yyyy): X1 = dd, X2 = mm, X3 = yyyy
- The year the original meetinghouse was moved from Harvard to its location at
Boxborough’s first town center: X4 = yyyy
- The area of Boxborough in square miles, to two decimal digits = X5
- The population of Boxborough, according to the 1790 census = X6
- The number of the correct answer to the question below = X7
According to popular theory, Boxborough attributes its name to:
1. The name of its founder
2. The object on which its very vocal preacher liked to stand
3. Its square shape
4. The shape of its first meetinghouse
5. None of the above
You can then get this answer at the site of GZ:
- The year the time capsule is to be opened: X8 = yyyy
Calculate the coordinates for the geocache as follows:
N 42° (((X3*X8)/X6)/X4)+((X6-X7)/1,000)+X1
W 71° (((X4*X3)/X6)/X3) +((X6)/1,000)-((X1*X2)/10,000)+X7+X1
You can check your answers for this puzzle on Geochecker.com.
Cache is NOT snow friendly.