This is Vermont: Norwich Traditional Cache

This cache is part of the Vermont 251 Plus 4 Geocaching Club, an attempt to bring caches to each and every town, city and gore in the state of Vermont.

Town Information:

Originally spelled Norwhich in the charter, but the extra h was not retained long.

It is often said that the town was named for Alexander Gordon, Earl of Norwich. No Earl of Norwich existed at the time the grant was made making this a false assumption. The title lapsed a hundred years earlier and was not recreated for Gordon until 1784.

Norwich, Vermont was named after Norwich, Connecticut (in turn for Norwich, England). The grantees of this Norwich were all from Connecticut. They had petitioned Benning Wentworth for four towns in Coos County, New Hampshire. Instead they got Norwich and Hartford, Vermont and Hanover and Lebanon, New Hampshire. All four towns were named for the grantees' parent towns, the first proprietors' meetings were held in Connecticut, and, until the 1790's, all settlers came from those towns. (Pretty cool as I am originally from CT. )

The Reason for the Cache:

Monkeesting, scubatime, and I set out on a VT 251 +4 geocaching club run. We planned a long 'clipboard' list and noticed that Norwich didn't have very many caches - a long hike or one of two puzzles. We had two other 3 terrains on our list to knock off a couple of pages for the VT DeLorme +3 and didn't want to press our luck with monkeesting so we decided to place a cache instead. Hopefully, it gives other cachers working on the VT 251 +4 more flexibility. The Ledyard Bridge is a Norwich point of interest. You can see the VT/NH border marker on the bridge by car or by foot (see picture below).

The Ledyard Bridge crosses the Connecticut River to connect Hanover, New Hampshire to Norwich, Vermont. It is the third bridge at this crossing to bear the name of the adventurer John Ledyard.

The first "Ledyard Free Bridge" was a covered bridge built in 1859 that was the first bridge across the Connecticut not to charge a toll. (It was the latest of several bridges at this site that went back to the late eighteenth century.) The bridge was named after Ledyard in 1859 because its eastern abutment was near the site of a tree that Ledyard felled during 1773 in order to make the dugout canoe in which he left Dartmouth College to continue his world travels. The bridge now standing was built between 1998 and 2000 by the New Hampshire Department of Transportation. At each end it displays a pair of "bridge balls," the controversial Classical ornaments cast in concrete that refer to the gateway to Tuck Drive nearby on the Hanover shore. They are the product of a Concord architect brought in by NHDOT to infuse some extra aesthetic appeal into the design of the bridge.

Other Close by Points of Interest:

If you are up for stretching your legs, you can continue from the cache along the sidewalk (actually part of the Appalachian Trail) that goes under the bridge. The Montshire Skating Club organizes tours on the river every winter when the ice is good ... which can be any time between mid-December and mid-March. You may also want to visit the Monshire Museum of Science just around the corner (the mini-stings love to visit a couple times a year!) Grab a bite to eat at Dan and Whit's (another mini-sting favorite.) Norwich is also home to America's oldest flour company - King Arthur Flour.

Cache Information:

You are looking for an 8-cup rectangular lock and lock container. I tried to hide it in a spot were seekers could avoid the traffic on the road as well as on the river. Please be stealthy!!! FTF prize is in a small baggie.