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This is part five of six of the CGHT series. The first five caches can be treated as stand alone, but to discover the sixth and final cache, you must collect the clues at each of the five previous caches. The purpose of these caches is to take you on the Cape George Hiking Trails and to give you a little history of the area. Please stay on the trail at all times while approaching the cache.
Park at the Lighthouse Day Park located at N 45 52.255, W 061 54.213. The cache is approximately 850 meters down the trail. Visit the Lighthouse while you are here and you might see some of the whales which I have seen swimming by from this location.
HINT FOR FINAL: GET LETTER ON THE COVER OF THE CACHE.
History:
When you park, the land surrounding you was owned by Donald and Christian MacEachern who came to Nova Scotia in 1791. They arrived on one of two ships, the ‘Dunkeld’ or the ‘Ann’. These two ships carried 650 passengers, mostly Roman Catholics, from the Western Islands of Scotland. The passengers of these two ships almost doubled the population of Pictou, and because it was late in the season, they wintered in that area, a Protestant stronghold.
When spring arrived, Father MacEachran came from Prince Edward Island to encourage the Catholics to move and make their own settlement, away from the influence of the Protestants. The settlers took the Priest’s advice and relocated in Antigonish and Cape Breton. In 1792, they built a church in Arisaig, which was to be the first Catholic Highland settler’s Church in Antigonish.
The 1793 Poll Taxes indicates there was a Donald McEachan living a challenging and austere life along the Gulf of St. Lawrence. There were no roads or stores nearby, and the new settlers, having come from Scotland, were not used to dealing with the forest, which both depressed and frightened them. On top of everyday hardships the MacEacherns had to deal with “the year of the mice” in 1815. Antigonish County was swarmed with this destructive and fierce force, which consumed and destroyed crops. It was said at Cape George “they (the mice) went to the water, and there died, forming a ridge like seaweed along the edge of the sea.” Unfortunately, the following year was not much better because it was known as “the year without a summer”. The Halifax Weekly Chronicle noted in the December 1816 paper “It has been given us from the most authentic sources that several parishes in the interior part of Quebec are already so far in want of provisions as to create the most serious alarms among inhabitants.”
Around this difficult time Donald passed away leaving his widow, six children, and one grandchild. His son Ronald, the merchant of the family, made the trip to Halifax to secure the land grant, which the family had been eagerly awaiting. In 1817, the family received a grant of 250 acres at the Point of Cape George and 100 acres at Lakevale, from the British Crown. In 1861, the MacEacherns sold some of this land to the government to erect a lighthouse, in the same location as the current day one.
Despite the hardships, the MacEachern family was able to prosper and grow. In “The First Century at Cape George”, Wilena Penny states “ All the sons of Donald and Christina settled at Cape George, each raising large families who are noted for their ambition and industry with many becoming successful sea captains, teachers, businessmen and construction foreman on the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway.” Over 200 years later descendants of Donald and Christina continue to raise their families in the area.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Haqre ebbg znff bs n pyrne phg gerr. Lbh jvyy or noyr gb ernpu vg sebz gur genvy. Lbh znl arrq gb chg lbhe unaqf haqre gur ebbg znff naq srry nebhaq dhvgr n ovg.