Cokesbury College *ARCHIVED 1-22-2021* Traditional Cache
The Scout Master: This one has finally run its course so I have decided to archive it. Thanks to all who visited over the past 10 years.
Cokesbury College *ARCHIVED 1-22-2021*
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(micro)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
This cache is placed with permission of the property manager T. O'Dell who,along with the Chamber of Commerce, is in charge of this and other historical sites in Greenwood County. I sought and was granted permission to place this cache and asked to highlight some of the background of this historic site.
There is another cache on the grounds proper by tiera0225, but at times the gate is closed.
The Old Cokesbury College building was built in 1854.
It is officially known as the Old Cokesbury, & Masonic Female College & Conference School.
The Cokesbury College building and grounds are located eight miles north of Greenwood, S.C., at the junction of South Carolina State roads 246 and 254, one mile south of U.S. 25.
The structure is a Greek Revival building and has a bell tower, four square columns rising from ground level to pediment, and a double-door entrance at the second floor level.
The interior was divided into 4 recitation rooms and 4 music rooms on the 1st floor, a chapel on the 2nd floor, and Masonic Lodge headquarters on the 3rd floor. There was no dormitory; young ladies boarded in town.
There are 4 acres surrounding the building, landscaped to include 400 azaleas, a formal garden, a fountain, and a 600-foot brick wall with an entranceway.
The Masonic Female College of South Carolina was an effective though brief experiment in education for young women (1853-1874) and represented ideas that were rather advanced for the times. This institution is said to have furthered the charm, character and influence of the town.
From 1876-1918, Cokesbury Conference School was celebrated for the high caliber of its education—first operated as a school for boys, co-educational from 1882, and a public school from 1918 to 1954, when the property reverted to the Methodist Conference.
The village of Cokesbury was laid out in 1824 and is one of the earliest planned communities of South Carolina.. As a testament to the community’s emphasis on education, the town was developed for and around the school. The village was initially called Mount Ariel, dating from 1824. But, in 1834, residents changed the name to Cokesbury in honor of Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury, the first two Methodist bishops in the United States.
Cokesbury was one of the South's great centers of developing Methodism, dating from establishment of the Tabernacle Methodist Society between 1778 and 1788.
Cokesbury College was listed in the National Register August 25, 1970.
The brick store located across the street was built in 1850.
A few additional historical facts:
Confederate President Jefferson Davis spent the night of May 1, 1865 at Cokesbury, en route from Richmond to Georgia. His headquarters was the home of Mrs. Thomas Reeder Gary, whose son, Confederate General Mark W. Gary, was in President Davis's military escort.
A late Methodist divine, the Rev. Thomas E. Norris, claimed that the first game of baseball played in South Carolina was at Cokesbury in 1873 when he was a student there; the game was introduced by a teacher who was a Yale alumnus.
At Cokesbury today is the largest group of antebellum structures remaining in Greenwood County.
-------------------------------------------------------------
You are searching for a medium pill bottle about 3" tall and 2.5" wide, hidden from view.
The container contains a log only, so BYOP. You Might be able to place a small TB or geocoin in it.
This SHOULD be a fairly quick Park & Grab. I have added a good hint, as I made the coords slightly away from the cache so as not to have cachers thinking it was inside the fence.
YOU DO NOT NEED TO GO INSIDE THE FENCED AREA.
If the Coords seem to put you at the road, read the hint.
Happy Caching!!!
Co-FTF HONORS GO TO...Dr B and SouthernVet!!!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
[Due to the historical nature of the area, I am adding a SPOILER hint:]
Nobhg 5 srrg uvtu - haqre gur Srapr Pnc.
Pbeare ZRGNY Srapr cbfg.
(ABG gur oevpx)