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A Tale of Two Cemeteries Multi-Cache

Hidden : 5/19/2009
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

Short two-stage multi. First stage is a virtual, that is, no actual container. Just read the monument at the cemetery to get the info needed for the final stage.

Stage One: Faribault State Hospital Baby Cemetery (also known as Grand View Farm Baby Cemetery.)

Please bear in mind that this all began in less enlightened times. In 1881 the state began the "School for Idiots and Imbeciles" in Faribault, later changing the name to "Minnesota Institute for Defectives" (1887), then to "School for the Feeble-Minded", then "School for Feeble-Minded and Colony for Epileptics", then "Minnesota School and Colony" (1949). It became the "Faribault State School and Hospital" in 1955, "Faribault State Hospital" in 1967, and in 1985, the "Faribault Regional Center", finally closing in 1998.
There was a peak population at the school of 3,355 in 1955.

The men and women were supposed to be kept separate, but that didn't always happen, and babies happened. Some died, and they were buried at this cemetery on the farm run by the school. The cemetery also became known as a place others could bury babies when it would be considered embarrassing to use a regular cemetery.

There are no grave markers, and most the graves aren't easily spotted now. About 5 years ago a local church Sunday School class decided to clean up the cemetery, making it more of a place to remember the little ones buried there. A local building contractor donated materials. Today the spot is planted with flowers by the same Sunday School.

When the school opened it performed the functions of a school, home, and a hospital. In its later years, its functions included reducing the dependencies of mentally retarded individuals; providing care, treatment, and training for the purpose of returning persons to as normal a life as possible; assisting families in coping with the problems of mental retardation; fostering public understanding and involvement; promoting development and use of community services, and conducting research into causes, prevention, and treatment of mental retardation. The patient population consisted of persons of all ages representing all types and degrees of mental retardation, many of whom were also physically infirm.

Final Stage:
To get the coords for the final stage, count the number of vowels and number of consonants that are on the stone monument at the posted coords.

(vowels X 20) + 405 = ABC
(consonants X 20) + 46 = DEF

Final stage is at N 44 14.ABC W093 15.DEF
The final is just outside a cemetery that was established in 1863, so the time periods are similar, but note the contrasts in the two cemeteries.

Additional Hints (No hints available.)