The Hanging Tree Traditional Cache
suezq3: The hanging tree seems to have fallen.
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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The cache you are seeking is a small camoed container with room for a few small trade items, BYOP. it is located in the Sinking Creek Church Cemetery. There is ample parking by the entrance gate that is located behind the Wells Building. It is located in the Sinking Creek Church Cemetery. Please be respectful and only cache during the hours that are posted on the entrance gate, 8:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. Thank you for putting the cache back just as you found it.
I first heard about Somerset’s Hanging Tree while I was reading the engravings on the monument at Cundiff Square when a resident of one of the nearby apartments called out to me and started a conversation about local history.
This gentleman told me about the Sinking Creek Church Cemetery and gave me directions to it’s location. He said that if I were to go up there that I should also look for the Hanging Tree. He went on to explain that there was a “wicked looking” tree that had actually been used for public hangings. He said the tree was still standing and that it, “gave him the creeps”. He said that I would recognize it when I saw it.
I was curious and set off to the cemetery to find the tree. I was expecting a small place with perhaps a dozen or so graves and one ominous tree. What I found was a large cemetery with many old graves. Perhaps I had a case of “the creeps” too because each time I approached a different tree I would think, “This must be the Hanging Tree”. The last tree I approached was incredibly large and foreboding. The shade from its limbs made it almost dark even though it was still over an hour till sunset. I felt certain I had found the Hanging Tree and I even took a few moments to reflect on what it would have been like to have lived in the days when people were publicly hanged for being found guilty of a crime.
When I got home I wondered if the gentleman was correct in his account or if perhaps the Hanging Tree was just a local legend. I decided that I needed to do my homework before recounting the story as fact. I started my search on the internet but had almost no luck. I did find the following story and even though it is very interesting the location of the tree didn’t quite match up. Also, this story states that the tree is no longer standing. Here is the story:
In 1891 Josiah and James Harvey Gilliland were hung by a lynch mob here in Somerset, Kentucky. It was claimed that they killed McHargue, the Pulaski County Sheriff. Several well-known citizens, a mob, stormed the cell where the boys were interned and immediately took them to an area about a half mile away. They were then each hung by wire from a sycamore tree, off Richardson Drive here in Somerset.
The daughter of the sheriff later admitted, many years later in life, that it was Scott Smith, her boyfriend who killed her father after he found her and Scott Smith in the corn crib. The sister of the boys wrote in a large family Bible, that both boys were at home at the time of the shooting and there was no way possible that her brothers were involved in the killing.
While growing up in the 50's here in Somerset, my grandmother who was born in 1893, showed me the tree where the boys were hung. I remembered a rope still hanging from the tree, but dismissed it as "false chidhood remeberance. It was only a few years ago, that I read that the boys were hung by wire. So, in all probability what I remembered was in fact the wire still hanging from the limb. A few years ago, in the process of clearning the area, the sycamore was cut down.
The following day I acquired the name of a local historian and made contact with him. He told me that indeed, Somerset’s history included public hangings. He did not know anything about the story of the Gilliland boys but found it interesting. He stated that the Hanging Tree was actually closer to the site of the old Sinking Creek Church rather than the cemetery. He stated that the tree would have been close to where First Baptist Church is now located. He also said that the tree was cut down many years ago.
So, as it is with many legends there is a very small grain of truth in it’s orgin. It makes for an interesting story and something for you to think about as you navigate to the cache.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Unatvat Gerr, abg n unatvat pnpur.
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