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Is this Washington, D.C.? Mystery Cache

This cache has been archived.

Keystone: As the owner has not responded to my prior note, I am archiving this cache page. Please note, cache pages that are archived by a Reviewer due to maintenance issues cannot be unarchived.

Regards,
Keystone
Geocaching.com Community Volunteer Reviewer

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Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size:   regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:

The coordinates above are for the location of grave pictured below which will be needed to solve the puzzle. Just a few feet from the cemetery road.


This cache is in honor of Thomas Scott (born circa 1739, died 3/2/1796) who was born in Chester County in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As he grew up and matured, he opted law as his subject of study which led to his role in the fledgling United States. At about the year 1770, after admission to the bar and subsequent practice of law, he moved to and settled on Dunlaps Creek at Redstone Old Fort (now modern day Brownsville in Fayette County).

When the County of Washington was organized on March 28, 1781, he was made the first Prothonotary (Prothonotary = glorified title for 'Clerk of Courts' -- basically Civil Court records nowadays including divorce, custody, abuse, car accidents, malpractice, and property dispute records as well as appeals to taxes, rent, etc.).

He served in this capacity until March 28, 1789. In addition to this first honor of Washington County, he previously served as a Justice of the Peace in 1773, and was a member of the first Pennsylvania Assembly in 1776.

However, he later made his move to bigger and better things when he resigned--having been elected to the U.S. House of Representatives--in the fact that he purportedly had the honor of presenting to the Congress of the new nation a resolution that established the capital city on the banks of the Potomac River now known as Washington, D.C.


Mr. Scott was a genuine Scotsman by blood. Shortly after his death, he was buried at the old Washington graveyard on Walnut street which is now the location of present day Washington & Jefferson College. In the early 1900s, he was re-interred in what is now Washington Cemetery at the south end of the city on PA Route 18.

This cache is a puzzle requiring some simple math by obtaining some grave stone information and solving for the final location. The cache is a .30 caliber ammo can hidden in a small wooded area. In addition, near the final location, the cemetery provides for a panoramic vista of the city of Washington and surrounding countryside. One can either find a place to park, or drive between stages due to the immense area of Washington Cemetery.

Upon arriving and locating the grave of Mr. Scott, stand facing it from a few feet away. Perform a ninety degree turn to the left and locate a marker which looks like a bed about 10-15 feet away. This is a duplex plot featuring a man and his wife. Locate the date of birth for the wife of James Reed. Perform the following calculations for the coordinates of the final cache location.

Obtain her date of birth. Convert it to the simple format of MM/DD/YYYY—e.g., 03/21/2008.



Please calculate the following operations and substitute:

MM minus 3

DD plus (-16)

YYYY minus 1653


N 40° 0MM.259 W 80° DD.YYYY


You never know, you may even see a deer or two....

Click here!


After doing research for this cache, I've now been able to edit the stub entry on Wikipedia.org

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Svany fgntr - haqre n ybt

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)