Located in Faust County Park, the Historic Village is a collection of 19th century buildings. They were relocated from various places in St. Louis County. Each has its own story and each is being lovingly restored as time and funds allow. Although the interiors are open only a few times each year, you can wander the grounds any time the park is open. A now-defunct brochure gave a brief history of each building and those who used it.
The listed coordinates are for parking at the visitors center (shown below). You can also park in the main lot and enter the historic village from the back.
Please observe posted park hours. Note that pets are not permitted in the historic village. It is not necessary to lift, move, push, pull or even touch anything in order to answer the questions. Similarly, it is not necessary to lift or move anything to find the final. So please don't! BYOP.
Visit these places in or near the historic village and answer a few simple questions. Each answer is a one- or two-digit number. Checksum for the 9 answer digits is 41. Visit the locations in any order you like.
For the paperless cachers out there, here are the coordinates and questions contained in the additional waypoints.
Q1 N 38 39.965 W 090 32.525
What number is cast on the brackets from which the carriage house doors hang? If the doors are still down, what is the fourth digit of the five-digit street address of the carriage house?
Q2 N 38 40.002 W 090 32.475
How many points does an unbroken star-shaped tie rod plate have?
Q3 N 38 39.983 W 090 32.447
According to the sign, how many colors of granite are in the cobblestone patch? No sign? 3 colors.
Q4 N 38 39.971 W 090 32.416
What is the number stamped on the large wheel of the unusual appliance located here?
Q5 N 38 39.976 W 090 32.409
"__-crafted with pride in the USA". How many letters in the missing word?
Q6 N 38 39.950 W 090 32.406
The porch is a Victorian-era addition. How many repetitions of the railing pattern on one side of the steps? Count only the decorations immediately adjacent to the steps.
Q7 N 38.39.949 W 090 32.416
How many "pavers" in the exhibit? Add 3 before using the result in the puzzle. Use the construction date of the road itself for this one.
Q8 N 38 39.961 W 090 32.552
The building housing the 1920s carousel has pillars of varying height. How many of the highest pillars are there?
Put the answers in chronological order of the approximate construction date of the building where you found each answer. When there are several answers for the same building, put the answers for that location in ascending order of question number. Now assign a letter, starting with A, to each of the ordered digits. You will find the final at the following coordinates.
N 38 F E . (A+D) C I
W 090 F H . G B (B-I)
Latitude checksum (all digits): 41
Longtitude checksum (all digits): 23
The easiest (and most enjoyable) way to get the construction dates was to pick up a brochure from the box near the entrance to the historic village. Brochures have not been stocked in years. There is a box at each entrance, but your best bet will be the box near the visitors center. Unless you really want it, please return the brochure to the box on your way out. A few of the dates can also be found on signage in the park. If there are no brochures, you can find the answers on the Internet, although perhaps not in the way you normally would. Hint: Examine the virtual Visitors' Center on the cache page.
There is a new virtual tour from the St. Louis County GIS folks. Looks like this replaces the brochure. Be sure to scan the QR code at the entrance to get some fascinating information about the buildings and families who lived in them. This includes the construction dates.
Construction dates used to be found in the displays on the porch of the Conway House. Now gone, too. Use the GIS tour instead.
The paper sign describing the cobblestones is not coming back. Be it known that there are three colors. They recently replaced the "pavers" in the exhibit. Be sure to add 3 to the count before using the result in the puzzle. Carriage house doors are currently down because they rotted. Use the fourth digit of the five-digit street address instead.
Bonus data about one item, not needed to solve the puzzle, can be found at N 38 39.929 W 090 32.412.