Old Washington Stage Road Multi-Cache
Old Washington Stage Road
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(micro)
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We had some problems with the coordinates for this cache, and it put a couple of people way off of the final cache. We apologize for their inconvenience, and have fixed and verified the final coordinates, and simplified how they are computed.
FTF goes to StickyNickle!!! Thanks to her, also, for helping us troubleshoot the third stage coordinate finding process.
This three step cache traces the route of the historic Washington Road through an abandoned section. This is the first of three routes the road took, the most recent being present day Rutledge Pike. It is rated a four because of its three stages.
Those who travel Rutledge Pike (RP) are familiar with the series of diversions of Old Rutledge Pike (ORP) from the present day RP. One such place where ORP leaves RP is just after one crosses the rail yards bridge outbound from Knoxville, very close to our Take a Pea geocache. It rejoins RP at the Exxon station about four miles later. The next point at which ORP leaves RP is at Three Points, just before the Conoco station, again diverging to the right. Today, RP is four laned through Blaine. ORP parallels the present route almost the entire distance from just northeast of the second stage of this cache to Blaine. It is not unlikely that RP will get at least a third lane all the way to Bean Station during the spending of the Stimulus Package.
Before the original Rutledge Pike was paved, there was the original Washington Road, also called Washington Stage Road, parts of which run where ORP runs, and parts of it which run where RP runs today. But there was another branch of WSR that ran on the northwest side of RP. This multi-stage cache will take you to both ends of a nearly forgotten section of that historic road, on which, during the Civil War, at least one minor skirmish took place. It is likely that the original road dates to Indian trails that preceded European settlement. This road connected through this area to Kingston Pike to the southwest. Rule (1900), says of Kingston Pike,
“In 1792 Charles McClung, from whom the numerous and honorable McClung family of Knoxville have descended, came from the vicinity of Philadelphia, Pa., and by the first county court held in Knox county was engaged to locate a public highway from Knoxville west to Campbell's station, and thence to the western boundary of Knox county…Before the beginning of the present century the road reached Kingston, and later on it formed a part of the great national highway from Washington to Knoxville, to Nashville, to Montgomery and to New Orleans.
Along this national highway the means and methods of travel were wonderfully different from those at present in vogue. On that part of it between Knoxville and Washington, in 1842, there was a line of stages, called "The Great Western Line," and in the advertisement of the company owning and operating this line they said that the trip between the two cities could be made in six days and six hours. The line ran by the way of Warm Springs, Asheville, Rutherfordton, Salisbury and Greensboro to Raleigh, a distance of 385 Miles, the fare between Knoxville and Raleigh being $25. From Raleigh to Washington the traveler went by rail and steamboat, a distance of 288 miles, making the entire distance 673 miles.” (Rule, 1900. Standard History of Knoxville, Tennessee, with Full Outline of the Natural Advantages, Early Settlement, Territorial Government, Indian Troubles and General and Particular History of the City Down to the Present Time. Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company. Retrieved from (visit link) )
The stage followed the route you will be tracing for this cache.
In 1830, a bill was introduced to the House of Representatives that would have constructed a road from Buffalo, N.Y., through Washington, and ultimately reaching New Orleans. This road would have established a federal transportation system; unfortunately, it was defeated (Baker, P.L. 2002. The Washington National Road Bill and the Struggle to Adopt a Federal System of Internal Improvement. Journal of the Early Republic, Vol. 22, No. 3 (Autumn, 2002), pp. 437-464 ). That route would have passed the location of all three stages of this cache, as it would have incorporated existing roads, where possible. That route did materialize, despite this legislative defeat.
In the early 1900’s, the Lee Highway association formed to promote turning this road into the first transcontinental highway. Originally intended to follow the route from Washington, through Knoxville, to New Orleans, then to the west coast, the route met with lukewarm support from Birmingham and New Orleans. Interest was strong in Nashville, Memphis, Arkansas and Oklahoma, and so the highway was routed through those places instead of following the track to New Orleans. A quarter of a century in the making, the Lee Highway, named after General Robert E. Lee, has its origin at the zero milestone in Washington, and its end at the zero milestone in San Diego (visit link) ). It is uncertain whether this route passed by the final cache or on the route of ORP on the southeast side of Rutledge Pike. As this information becomes available, we will update this page.
At the first stop, the southwest-most, you will find coordinates to the second, which is the northeast-most. Write the coordinates in the space provided below, as you will do some calculations from them to get the final coordinates. While you are there you can easily see the original route in the cow pasture beyond, and, during winter, with a short walk to the northeast (stay behind the guardrail), you can see a concrete arch bridge where the road crossed Strong’s Creek. Much of this route has been lost, though its traces are visible on Google Maps.
At the northeast-most stage, situated on part of the original route, you will get information off of two bronze plaques on an old bridge, and use that information to compute the coordinates to the final location, where the cache is. There are two plaques. One will be referred to as the Builder plaque, and the other as the County plaque. It should be obvious which is which.
Using the coordinates that got you to the second stage, you will solve final coordinates by finding letters on the two plaques. Letters will convert to numbers by their ordinal place in the alphabet, with A = 1 to J = 0. Fill in the blanks using the corresponding numbers of the second stage coordinates. The numbers you seek are denoted here by letters of the alphabet in this coordinate set:
N _ _ _ _ .ABC W _ _ _ _D.EFG
A First letter, third row of county plaque
B First letter, second word, builder's plaque
C Third letter, last word, fourth line of county plaque
D Fifth letter, first row, builder's plaque
E First letter, fifth row, county plaque
F First letter, second row, builder plaque
G Second letter, third row, county plaque
Checksums:
A+B+C = 7
D+E+F+G = 11
The cache container is located on a section of the Old Washington Stage Road that is lined with residences and is still in use. It is located close to the street, in the corner of the front yard of a resident, and is placed with permission. There is a gravel pulloff to the southwest of the cache location (the larger yard of the two and the lower pulloff) where you can pull off the road. You do not need to go more than ten feet from the street in order to retrieve this cache. It is a small container, with only room for a log. Some stealth will be required, as neighbors are unaware of this cache. Do not search on the downhill side of the street - the yard with all the cars.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Fgntr bar - cerfpevcgvba obggyr va thneq envy
Fgntr guerr - Npr uvtu!