The
printed MML Passport is no longer available. However, you may
download a copy from the MML website
here.
The
trail consists of 11 MML Districts (regions).
The MML Geocache Trail project will launch January 1, 2009 with 78
participating cities and towns. A trackable geo coin will be given
to the first 500 geocachers as an incentive for locating at least 2
municipal caches in each of the 11 districts. To be eligible for
the coin, geocachers must pick up a Passport at any of the
designated county visitor centers. Geocachers must use the stamp in
the cache on their Passports and write down the cache code word
listed in each cache. After at least two municipal caches in each
district are discovered, geocachers may return to one of the county
visitor centers and have their Passports validated to receive their
collectable coin.
For a complete list of participating visitor centers visit the MML
web site at http://www.mdmunicipal.org/mmlhome/index.cfm or MGS web
site at www.mdgps.org.
Hagerstown is located at the center of the Great Valley of
Appalachia. Early settlers in the region migrated from Pennsylvania
and formed settlements around springs on the fertile land of the
valley. One of the earliest to arrive was Jonathan Hager, a German
immigrant from Philadelphia, who settled in the valley in 1739.
Hager founded Elizabeth Town in 1762 near the intersection of two
colonial roads. Elizabeth Town became the county seat of the newly
formed Washington County in 1776. In 1813, it was officially
renamed Hagerstown.
Hagerstown developed as a milling, trading, and government
center and as a transportation hub for the stagecoach routes that
traversed the community. Ease of access to Hagerstown steadily
improved during the first half of the 19th century as the National
Pike was constructed, the Cumberland Valley Railroad was extended
to Hagerstown, and the C&O Canal reached to the vicinity of the
town.
With its location on the region’s transportation corridors,
Hagerstown was repeatedly stricken by the ebb and flow of the Civil
War, being occupied alternately by Federal and Confederate armies
as they moved between Virginia and Pennsylvania. But after the war,
progress resumed. Three more railroads developed lines into
Hagerstown, and the synergy between the growing industrial base and
the railroads created an economic boom in Hagerstown that lasted
until World War II.
Residents and visitors to Hagerstown can explore the region’s
rich Civil War history, attend a minor-league baseball game, stroll
through historic districts and visit one of America’s most
beautiful small city parks – Hagerstown City Park.
The City of Hagerstown has proudly unveiled its new "Hagerstown
Railroad Museum at City Park" which features hundreds of railroad
artifacts, many used by the Western Maryland Railroad Company. The
new facility celebrated its grand opening on May 21, 2005.
A labor of love to the citizens of Hagerstown from longtime
resident John Long, Engine #202 is the focal point in a collection
that includes numerous cabooses, railroad depot signs, bells,
wrenches, hammers, and chisels, as well as other various railroad
memorabilia.
Engine #202 was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1912,
and from then until 1953 was used to carry passengers and freight
from Baltimore to Hagerstown. A ‘Pacific’ model, 4-6-2 combination,
#202 did not burn coal or wood. Her tender was a tank car that
carried petroleum distillates; she was an ‘oil burner.’
Engine 202 is complimented by a coal tender and eight various
cabooses which are also on display. Probably the most significant
pieces in the collection are a rare circa 1875 velocipede and a
circa 1885 pump car. Both were used by workers to travel to
railroad cars, signals, or tracks to make repairs.
Hours of Operation for the museum are as follows: May-September.
Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Sunday, 1 p.m. - 5 p.m
Nearby to Engine #202 is hidden a blue rimmed tupperware-like
container.
Please note that admission to the railroad museum is not
necessary to find this cache, and it is accessible during all
normal park hours, year round.
Hagerstown (The Hub City) Thanks You for
Visiting.
Thanks to LPYankeeFan for helping with this hide!
Thanks to the Maryland Geocaching Society for assisting
with this project!