Ceres Pioneer Rock Church Traditional Cache
Ceres Pioneer Rock Church
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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This cache is located at a rest stop park at the ghost-town of Ceres along highway 52. The only remaining features of this town are the small rock church and cemetery. The park now includes a nice public shelter house and toilets.
Originally known as St. Peter’s German United Evangelical Lutheran church, it is now simply called the Pioneer Rock Church at Ceres. The 55’ x 30’ limestone church was built by German Lutherans in 1858 at a cost of only $1100. In 1889, the tower was added to the roof at a cost of $300. The church was last used for regular services in the early 1900’s. It is claimed to be the oldest standing church north of Dubuque in eastern Iowa and Minnesota. In 1976, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
A couple years ago I was at this rest stop when some people showed up and entered the church. They were there to clean the insides in preparation for a wedding to be held there the following week. I was given permission to take some photos of the seldom-seen interior of the church while they were there. Check out the below photo gallery for some interesting images.
The cache: The cache is a tethered pill bottle with a logbook, pencil, and starts with a few small trade items. Please respect park hours of 8am to 10pm. Please sign the log, trade fairly, and return the cache to its original location and state of concealment for others to enjoy. You might want to review the cache "attributes" before seeking this cache to determine if it right for you.
4/28/2012: I just bumped both the terrain and difficulty ratings up by 1 star each to better match the aspects of this geocache hide.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Pnpur vf abg ivfvoyr sebz tebhaq yriry.
QB ABG erzbir sebz vgf grgure.
Pyvzo, zbaxrl, pyvzo!