This cache takes you to the general area where the Lexington
Park stop on the Lexington-Bedford trolley line was located in the
early 1900's. In this area, John T. Benson ran a zoo as the
featured attraction of Lexington Park (this is the same Benson who
later ran Benson's Wild Animal Farm in New Hampshire, see Benson Park - Reborn).
The cache location overlooks a curious low round building,
surrounded by water. Rumor has it that this building served as the
"monkey house" in Benson's zoo (and was surrounded by a moat to
prevent the monkeys from escaping). It is more likely that the
building functioned as a cistern or pump-house later when the pond
was used as a town reservoir -- but "monkey house" makes a better
story so, for the purposes of this cache, I'm going with that!
The cache container is a small (will probably hold 1 or 2 travel
bugs if they are small) and quite well-camouflaged -- the container
itself is not visible, per se, so you'll have to do a bit of
searching. Please search gently, as the
camouflage may be a bit fragile. Searching for the cache is not
recommended when there is snow or heavily frozen
conditions.
Replacing the cache:
- Use the string as a "safety belt" so that the container does
not drop out the bottom.
- Replace carefully and add camouflage items as needed -- do not
leave the container visible at all.
Location info:
[Congrats to Cook01821 on FTF!]
This cache is more fun than a barrel of you-know-what's -- be
on the lookout for a few who may have escaped!
A History of Lexington Park (from an article in
the Colonial Times)
In 1902, the Lexington & Boston Street Railway purchased a
picnic grove and opened it as Lexington Park: a combination "picnic
destination, restaurant, casino, performance area, and the perfect
place for fresh air outings". The idea was to draw more people out
to this part of the Lexington-Bedford trolley line.
A 1911 booklet, The Sunday American Summer Outing Trips,
comforts the common man:
"Don't feel envious or sad because you can't afford an
automobile, or long expensive trips over the steam railroad lines
to distant points. You have the people's auto - the trolley car -
which will take you to as fine scenery as you can find on the most
expensive trips."
The Street Railway took on John T. Benson as manager for the
operation and it was he who brought the animals and birds for a
"zoological garden" which he opened on the grounds. This zoo
quickly became the feature attraction of the park.
Animals on display included camels, elk, Virginia deer, white
deer, buffaloes, bears, zebus and yaks. There were also wolves kept
here for a short time, though they escaped through an attendant's
error and caused much worry in the neighboring towns for months.
Separate buildings included the Monkey House and Aviary, where
there was an extensive bird collection.
In its heyday, the park generated so much traffic on the Street
Railway, especially on Sunday afternoons, that barely enough
trolleys could be brought out to accomodate the people.
By about 1920 or 1921, however, the park's business had so
dwindled, it was forced to close.
Benson is buried in the nearby Westview Cemetery -- from this
vantage point, J.T. Benson looks across Bedford Street and keeps
watch over his former domain.