Pocumtuck Ridge
Cache #3 - FLB
This is one of a
series of geocaches along or near the Pocumtuck Ridge.
The above coordinates
are for the headstone of Frank L. Boyden located in the Laurel Hill
Cemetery.
Using the date of
birth (as a decimal) add .2991, this will yield N 42
32.xxx
Using
the date of death add .7518, this yields W 72 35.yyy
The final cache
location where you will find a small lock-and-lock cammo
container.
Frank L. Boyden began
his headmastership of Deerfield Academy in 1902, taking over a
struggling country school of only fourteen students. Against
overwhelming odds, FLB gradually built this nearly-defunct school
into one of the premier boarding schools in the country. This
benevolent dictator created an environment which focused on
academic competence, athletics, sportsmanship, service to the
community, and citizenship. Throughout his sixty-six years as
headmaster, he expected much from his students and his faculty, yet
rarely felt compelled to dismiss a student from the Academy. Not
long after becoming headmaster, FLB married Helen Childs, a gifted
science and mathematics teacher whom many still regard as the best
instructor they have ever had. Their partnership forged a legacy
which still permeates the buildings and fields of Deerfield
Academy.
Deerfield Academy (www.deerfield.edu)
is located just across Routes 5 and 10 in "Old Deerfield." You may
find it interesting to walk around campus, visit many historic
houses owned by Historic Deerfield, or visit the Memorial Hall
Museum run by the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association. When you
learn a bit about the names found in the history of what was for
many years a colonial outpost, you may want to return to Laurel
Hill Cemetery to stroll by tombstones with important surnames like
Williams, Saxton, Hawks, Childs, Dickinson, Stebbins, Sheldon,
Arms, etc... The cemetery still inters those recently deceased, and
includes one veteran who died in the war in Iraq.
We hope this series of four Pocumtuck Ridge caches will encourage
people to explore the trails, vistas, and history which this little
village provides. It would be impossible to search for these caches
without doing what Frank Boyden used to encourage his students to
do: "look to the hills."
Perhaps the best
chronicle of Mr. and Mrs. Boyden's unparalleled gift to American
secondary education is John McPhee's book "The Headmaster". The
lucky person who is first-to-find this cache will be sent a copy of
this book.