Greenview Cemetery Mystery Cache
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Size:
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THE CACHE IS NOT LOCATED AT THE LISTED COORDINATES!
Greenview Cemetery is open to the public seven days a week. Posted signs at both entrances say "No Trespassing after Dark" and "No Trespassing from 9PM - 6AM." Please honor these times and be respectful of those who are remembered in this place.
This is another in our Lucky City series, the nickname Reidsville was once known by because it was home to the American Tobacco Company, maker of Lucky Strike cigarettes. Congrats to Spring1 - FTF!
On Dec. 22, 1873, Reidsville became an incorporated town. The need for a municipal cemetery became evident early on and so on July 17, 1877, the Reidsville Town Commissioners purchased 8 acres of land on the east side of the railroad and established Greenview Cemetery. According to a 1998 survey, the cemetery then consisted of approx. 50 acres and it was estimated that between 15,000 and 20,000 individuals were buried there.
This multistage cache is designed to take you on a short (15-30 minutes) walking (or driving) tour of Greenview Cemetery, pointing out some of the good, the bad, and the unknown from Reidsville’s history. Because we have given you the coordinates to each of the six stages, you may visit them in any order you choose. However, they are laid out in such a way to move from one to another without backtracking. At each stage, in addition to learning something about Reidsville's past, you will receive a number. Enter these numbers in the appropriate blanks below and use them to find the coordinates for the cache:
AA=____ B=____ C=____ D=____ EE=____ F=____ G=____ H=____
---------- STAGE 1 ---------
N 36* 20.986
W 079* 39.465
The first burials in the Greenview Cemetery were those of two-year-old Virginia Robinson, who died on Oct. 30, 1877, and her father James Robinson, who died six days later. Their shared tombstone can be found here. A number of tombstones in the cemetery predate 1877, but all of these stones were moved from other locations.
James Robinson's wife is buried beside her family. Using the date values and not the individual numbers (15=15, not 1+5), add the day of her birth and the day of her death (no months or years) together. This number = EE. (EE should be a two-digit number.)
---------- STAGE 2 ----------
N 36* 20.952
W 079* 39.533
David Settle Reid was born in an unincorporated town that would later be called Reidsville, named after his father, Reuben Reid, the county’s constable and justice of the peace. When his family secured a post office in 1829, 16-year-old David was appointed the first postmaster. As a life-long politician, he served in the North Carolina Senate, both houses of the U.S. Congress, and was the 32nd Governor of North Carolina. In addition, he was a delegate to the 1861 Peace Convention to try to prevent the American Civil War, a member of the 1861 and 1862 State Secession committees, and a delegate to the State Constitutional Convention in 1875. In spite of all his achievements, his grave marker ultimately highlights his character with these words: “Above all, a true and honest man.”
Governor Reid's wife Henrietta is buried with him and her marker is on the opposite side of his obelisk. Convert the months to their corresponding numeric value. Subtract the month of HIS death from the month of HER birth. This number = F.
---------- STAGE 3 ---------
N 36* 20.944
W 079* 39.551
Thomas Jefferson Penn (1810-1888) was one of the wealthiest and most successful tobacco farmers in 19th century Patrick County, VA. The Penns concentrated their land holdings in the southeast corner of the county in an area known as Penn's Store, or Pennville. The most successful of his sons, Frank Reid Penn, left Penn's Store to gain access to a railroad and settled in Reidsville, where he and his brother started the Penn Tobacco Company. There he produced the popular "Penn's Natural Leaf", "Red J", and "Penn's Arrow" brands of chewing tobacco. In 1911, his company was bought by tobacco magnate James Duke and the American Tobacco Company.
F.R. Penn's wife, Annie Spencer Penn, and many of their children are buried here as well. One exception is their son, Thomas Jefferson Penn, whose heart is buried nearby on the grounds of his estate, the Chinqua Penn Plantation. In 1929, when the first hospital in Reidsville was being built, Frank and Annie's children gave contributions of land and money totaling $50,000 and the hospital was named in memory of their mother.
You are looking for information concerning two of the Penn children. Find the son who was born on July 4. Count the number of letters in his name other than “Penn” (first, middle, suffix – no last). This number = C. Next, find the daughter who was born and died on the same day of different months. Convert the months to their corresponding numeric value. Add her birth month and death month together. This number = B.
---------- STAGE 4 ----------
N 36* 20.893
W 079* 39.474
Susie Marshall Sharp was born in Rocky Mount, NC but her family moved to Reidsville when she was in the second grade. She graduated from Reidsville High School in 1924 and in 1926 entered law school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as the only woman in her class. In 1939, she began working as city attorney of Reidsville, making her the first female city attorney in the state. In 1949 she was appointed as the first female judge to the North Carolina Superior Court, and in 1962 she was appointed to the state Supreme Court, another first for a Tar Heel woman. Receiving an astounding seventy-four-percent of the vote in 1974, she became the first American female to be elected chief justice of a state Supreme Court. In 1979, by law she had to retire at the age of 72. After retiring, she successfully pushed for a constitutional amendment in 1980 that required all judges to be lawyers. Justice Sharp was also the aunt of first-cousin serial killers Susie Sharp Newsom Lynch and "Fritz" Klenner.
In the immediate vicinity of Justice Sharp's grave is the tombstone of a female relative who died on Valentine's Day. Add all the numbers on her tombstone (birth and death days and four-digit years, no months) together. Add the individual numbers and not their date value. For example, 1900 would be 1+9+0+0. When you get a total, divide it by 2. This number = AA. (AA should be a two-digit number.)
---------- STAGE 5 ---------
N 36* 20.840
W 079* 39.512
Dr. Frederick Klenner received national attention in the 1940's for his experiments with the use of a Vitamin C megadosage as a treatment for polio. Many of his experiments were performed on himself. In addition, on May 23, 1946 at Annie Penn Memorial Hospital, he delivered the "Fultz Quadruplets", the world's first recorded set of African American quadruplets and the first quadruplets to survive in the southern United States. Dr. Klenner took it upon himself to name the girls, all of them Mary, followed by the names of the women in the Klenner family - Anne, the doctor's wife; Louise, his daughter; Alice, his aunt; and Catherine, his great-aunt.
Dr. Klenner's son Frederick "Fritz" Klenner received national attention as well, but for all the wrong reasons. A bitter child custody dispute between "Fritz'" first cousin and lover Suzie Sharp Newsom Lynch and her ex-husband preceded the brutal murders of her ex-husband's mother and sister near Louisville, KY, as well as her mother, father, and grandmother in Winston Salem, NC. It has been proven that "Fritz" murdered Lynch's in-laws in Kentucky and is highly suspected that he murdered Lynch's parents and grandmother as well. Lynch's involvement in the murders was also suspected by many but never proven. On June 3, 1985, during a low-speed police chase when authorities began closing in on them, "Fritz" and Lynch ended their lives with a car bomb, as well as the lives of her two young sons. The crimes are the subject of Jerry Bledsoe's book Bitter Blood as well as a made-for-TV movie starring Harry Hamlin, Kelly McGillis and Keith Carradine.
To the left of the Klenner family graves is a flat tombstone with three sets of dates - birth, marriage, and "entered into life eternal" (death). Convert the months to their corresponding numeric value (Jan.=1, Feb.=2, etc.). Take the birth month and multiply it by the marriage month. Now divide your answer by the death month. This number = D.
---------- STAGE 6 ---------
N 36* 20.800
W 079* 39.471
While North Carolina was the last of the eleven Southern states to secede from the Union, it sent more troops and materials to fight in America's Civil War and suffered more losses than any other Southern state, over 40,000 casualties (19,673 as a result of battle, 20,602 due to injury or disease). In all, North Carolina supplied one-sixth of the Confederate soldiers and accounted for one-quarter of Confederate deaths. This monument is dedicated to the honor and sacrifice of the Confederate Soldiers of Rockingham County.
Facing west, with your back to the monument, you will see a row of twelve Confederate soldier graves. One of the markers is a noticeably different color, much lighter than the rest. The soldiers buried in this line fought in three separate NC infantry regiments. One soldier fought in the 14th. Find the most common regiment among the other eleven. Add the numbers of that regiment together. This number = G. Now looking at the same twelve headstones, find the last name that appears more than any other. How many of these twelve soldiers have this last name? This number = H.
---------- FINAL STAGE ---------
N 36* AA.BCD
W 079* EE.FGH
Input the information you have collected on your Greenview Cemetery tour into the above coordinate formula and make your way to the cache!
We had the idea for this cache after completing Oakwood Cemetery (GCD2F1). Thanks to The Alethiometrists for the inspiration!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
#1 - cnenyyry gb n Puevfgznf Qnl qrngu
#2 - 3 srrg nobir oevpx
#3 - qbja naq va
Treasures
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