I had the original Meneely Bell Company cache (GCT7A4) on my watch
list as I was born in "beautiful" post-industrial Troy New York.
When Bullit archived it, I decided to resurrect the interesting bit
of history.
The Meneely Bell Foundry was started in 1826 by Andrew Meneely
in West Troy (now Watervliet), New York.
A second Meneely bell company was formed in 1870 by relatives in
Troy, New York. Andrew Meneely was an apprentice to Julius Hanks,
who started the nation's first bell foundry in 1808 in West
Troy.
Meneely bells rang for President Franklin Roosevelt's and
President John Kennedy's funerals, and for President Lyndon
Johnson's inauguration. The replacement for the Liberty Bell in
Philadelphia, as well as many church bells in that city, were
Meneely bells.
Overall, the Meneely companies produced about 65,000 bells. The
Meneely companies eventually closed in 1952 owing to metal
shortages and the increasing popularity of electronic bells and
chimes.
Interested in more Troy history? All of the following have roots
in Troy history: the real Uncle Sam who was a meatpacker for the
Union Army, Uncle Tom's Cabin was first performed in Troy, the
Ferris Wheel was named for George Ferris, a local engineer, "Twas
the Night Before Christmas" was first written for "The Troy
Sentinel" newspaper, and a newfangled automated horseshoe factory
put thousands of blacksmiths out of business by cranking out a
million horseshoes a week!
From the starting point, which is the location of the old cache,
you will see the bell. There is a 4 digit date on the bell, which
correspond to "A", "B", "C" and "D" as follows: Final cache
coordinates are: N 37° 24.654 W 121° 56.ADC
This is my first multi-cache and it's intended to be EASY! Based
on my own experience and that of others, I thought it wise to move
the cache to less conspicuous location.