Ballew Family Plot -- 100 or Bust #7 Traditional Cache
Ballew Family Plot -- 100 or Bust #7
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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You're looking for a well-hidden, camo'd Decon Container. Note the Terrain rating on this one. It's short, but briefly intense. Regardless of what your GPS tries to tell you to do, go about 400 feet South of the Hwy314 Jct & turn West onto Onyx Trail/CR81. Park on the side of this road anywhere you feel safe. Almost immediately after leaving the highway is probably the best place. Just make sure other vehicles can pass your rig, since you'll be gone for several minutes. The hill that the cemetery is on is private land & the owner doesn't mind people walking up to the graves. The cache itself is not directly at the burial sites however, but several yards away. THERE ARE TICKS HERE, so DEET-up before venturing out. Initially contains a couple of AstroPens & a couple of GeoPencils. Take one if you need one
This is one of several cemetery hides which I'll be introducing between now & April 11th, my birthday. I decided to celebrate that day by both finding my 1,000th cache & hiding my 100th. Studying maps & other documents, I've found dozens of un-cached cemeteries. All of them won't be included, but I'm trying to choose ones which will bring cachers to either a very nice place-of-rest .... or a very old one which is in danger of being forgotten.
Please note any special remarks concerning your visit which have been included in the blue area up there ^^^^^^^ or any attributes over here >>>>>>>. Some of these will be best found in the day-time only, or not on certain days. If nothing is included about any restrictions, then 365-24-7 visits are probably fine. While these restrictions may not actually be posted at the locations, or even required, I do kindly ask that you go by them.
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THIS cemetery is exactly the type of reason why I started this entire series. (Well, to make it to 100 hides also. :) ) The location & experience of finding the Ballew Family Plot is just my cup-of-tea. There will be at least a few more like this in the series also.
This is an extremely old burial plot for this area. There's only about 3 monuments, surrounded by a nice, new chain-link fence. What I'm assuming was either a sister or a young wife died on April 10th of 1859, at 20 years of age. The possible brother or husband, although 3 years younger, died the very next day .... eerily on my birthday.
About the only major superstition I have is not closing a knife which someone else opened, & I don't spook easily at all. But this coincidence, especially along with the fact that April 11th is very closely connected to this entire cemetery-series idea, is definitely enough to make someone go, "WHOA!"
But enough about that. What interests me the most is why these 2 young individuals died 1 day apart. There are still Ballew's in this area whom I know, but I've never mentioned anything about this to them, since I didn't know about it till today. If I find out later what happened here, I'll add it to this page. Although maybe I shouldn't do this out of respect, I'm making a wild guess that we are looking at the results of a terrible accident which claimed the lifes of 2 older children, or a young couple.
The 1 other person buried here that I could identify also has somewhat of a mystery behind their story. Although the date of death is unknown just yet (forgot to look), R.D. was born in 1788. That would make him/her about 52 years old at the time the other 2 Ballew's were born. At that age, I don't think this would be their parent. Maybe this is a grandparent or member of the extended family.
So I've basically left you with more questions than answers on this particular cemetery .... but I bet ya ain't never seen it before (me neither), & that's the main reason behind this entire series. Let's not forget these places of our history & perhaps even research into them a bit to keep these memories alive for future generations.
Every single name has a story. It's part of everyone's job to make sure those stories aren't forgotten. And if we forget about these old places, then those stories will eventually be lost forever.
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Cache is not around graves or markers & located in a respectful manner. Please remember this is sacred ground & enjoy your visit accordingly.
FTF Goes To Edieo.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ebbgf