Welcome to Ridgeley Traditional Cache
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Cache & dash on outskirts of Ridgeley, WV.
A quick cache on the way into Ridgeley WV.
From Wikipedia.org:: The land on which the town is built was originally conveyed from Thomas Lord Fairfax to George Mason in 1749. In 1750, the first frontier fort, Fort Ohio, was built at Ridgeley It was, at the time, the westernmost outpost of colonial civilization and was most commonly referred to as the "New Store" settlement at the time. The New Store was primarily a trading post created by the Ohio Company which included prominent members including George Mason and Lawrence Washington. There is evidence that Joseph Chapline, the founder of Sharpsburg, Maryland, who also was in charge of the construction of Fort Cumberland, organized the construction of the New Store settlement. The settlement was used for various purposes from 1750-1763. Early Ohio Company residents who worked at the settlement (and who explored the surrounding countryside) included Hugh Parker and Christopher Gist.
In May 1754, George Washington led a company of troops to meet Joshua Fry at the storehouses at Fort Ohio. Fry was a colonel and commander in the Virginia Militia. He was to take command of the forces sent to the frontier. Fry was thrown from his horse, died, and was probably buried in early Ridgeley as Fort Cumberland had not yet been built. Washington then took command of the troops, his first military command. Washington staged an attack from Fort Ohio against a French detachment of 40 men that resulted in the death of French diplomat Ensign Joseph Coulon de Jumonville. This action is considered the first shot fired in the French and Indian War.
In Spring 1755, Washington returned to the area to prepare for General Edward Braddock's attack on Fort Duquesne (commonly referred to as Braddock's March). Fort Cumberland was under construction at the time, and was used as the center of planning for the attack, while Fort Ohio was commandeered and used as well. Both a very young Daniel Boone (21) and Daniel Morgan (20) worked in the area to plan and carry out the ill-fated assault.
When Fort Cumberland was all but abandoned in 1763, the Ohio Company reclaimed the land and put it up for sale. Eventually, the land was conveyed to James McCubbin Lingan in 1785, then to Captain George Calmes in 1803. Calmes built a mansion on the property. The land and home passed down through George Calmes' family through most of the 1800s. Late in that century, portions of the town began to be subdivided for housing and business use. In 1905, a group leased the Calmes Mansion and created the Potomac Club, which operated in Ridgeley as an important tennis and boating club until 1919.
In 1887, the West Virginia Central Railroad built yards and tracks in Ridgeley. In 1904, the West Virginia Central became the Western Maryland Railroad. The town developed as a blue collar community, many of whose residents worked for the railroad. For most of its history, it had been called alternately "St. Clairsville" or "Sinclairsville," but upon incorporation in 1914, it was renamed Ridgeley after Charles Ridgeley (1822-1897) a prominent early resident and businessman.
The town grew throughout the early part of the 20th century to be a vibrant blue collar community of schools, churches and businesses. Serious flooding from the Potomac River was a challenge to the town until the Army Corps of Engineers completed a major flood control project in the 1950s. During the 1970s and 80's, as the Mineral County school system consolidated schools in the area, all the town's schools were closed, challenging Ridgeley's cohesiveness as a community.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Cvrpr bs pnxr
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