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Number 3 of 5 placed in addition to the Captain John Smith Trail cache (GC2F41E) Ruins of an historic home on Cat Point Creek and/or Menokin Bay. Nature trail leading to landing area for Captain John Smith.
Miscellaneous trade items.
Restroom and water are in the Visitor's Center.
The Menokin Visitor Center is open Monday--Friday, 10 am to 4 pm; year-round.
The Menokin Grounds are open Monday - Friday, 10 am to 4 pm from November through April and Monday - Saturday, 10 am to 4 pm from May through September.
There is a locked gate which prevents access at any time other than those posted.
Directions to Menokin: From Richmond: Take Rt 360 East to Tappahannock. Go through town and staying on Rt 360, cross over the Rappahannock River (Downing Bridge) heading toward Warsaw. Go 4 or 5 miles or so into Warsaw. At the light take a left on Rt 3/ Main Street. Go through town of Warsaw , passing the post office. Take a left on Menokin Rd. (Rt. 690). Go straight 4 miles and turn left at the historical marker at the entrance to Menokin.
From Montross: From the Food Lion go 1.5 miles to Rt on 690 (Menokin Rd). Go approx.5 miles to historical sign on Right.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION PER CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH CACHE WRITE-UP:
GC2F41E
Menokin was the home of Francis Lightfoot Lee, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and his wife Rebecca Tayloe Lee, of nearby Mt. Airy. The Menokin Foundation owns the 500-acre property, more than half of which is in the Rappahannock River Valley National Wildlife Refuge.
Menokin was built around 1769 to mark the marriage of Lee and Tayloe. Rebecca was the daughter of John Tayloe II, who gave the couple the large plantation on Cat Point Creek, approximately five miles upstream from the Rappahannock River, and financed construction of the two-story stone house, Menokin, and its dependencies. Soon after, Francis Lightfoot Lee joined the cause of American independence, serving in the Continental Congress from 1775 to 1779 and signing the Declaration of Independence (together with his brother Richard Henry Lee) and the Articles of Confederation. Inherited by Rebecca’s nephew, John Tayloe III, the house passed out of the family in the 19th century and was in ruins around 1935, and on the verge of complete collapse by 1995, when the Menokin Foundation acquired it.
At Menokin, you can experience an 18th century house in new and unexpected ways --feel hand wrought nails; observe how joists, girders and posts fit together to create the framing; and look behind the interior woodwork to see the construction techniques of the 18th century artisans. Enjoy the property's scenic beauty by hiking on trails to Cat Point Creek. The Foundation’s ambitious preservation plan hopes to continue and expand its educational mission by shoring the remains of the house up with glass walls, essentially freezing it in its given state, to allow for preservation and restoration.
The Tayloes and Lees were, of course, not the first people the live on the site. Before the Menokin plantation was ever developed, this area along Cat Point Creek (also called Rappahannock Creek) was home to the Rappahannock Indian Tribe. In 1608, Captain John Smith first met the Rappahannock people at their capital town “Topahanocke.” At that time, Smith was a prisoner of Powhatan’s War Chief and Brother Opechancanough, who took Smith to the Rappahannock town to determine whether he was the same Englishman who, four years earlier, had killed the tribe’s chief. Based on his appearance, Smith was cleared of these crimes.
Later that year, Smith returned to the Rappahannock on his second exploratory voyage and recorded 14 Rappahannock towns on the north side of the River and its tributaries. The general plantation site was referred to as "Menokin" by the Rappahannock, which may translate to "He gives it to me" in the tribe's native Algonquian.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Nzzb pna oruvaq qbjarq gerr gb evtug bs genvy ng gur Fpneyrg Bnx