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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
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You seek a 3 stage Mystery/Puzzle Cache. The final Catch is a plastic tube medium size for traceable coins.
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This Cache will give you a history lesson about this very prestige’s school in Mebane NC from the late 1800’s. I’m a member of the Mebane Historical Society; about 2 months ago they had a large meeting with many members and non-members. They presented a great video presentation from the chairmen Fred Archer about this rare & interesting Historical Place. I never knew how big this school really was. I have pictures from the UNC archives that show just how big of an area this school occupied in Mebane. I will post later in the log; this will put it in perspective from the little 6 acres that is left today. I hope you enjoy this Mystery/Puzzle Cache, at the same time you will learn more about the school & the previous founders of Mebane NC! There is so much history here; did you know that Mebane was the largest distributor of Tobacco back in the day? Not Durham as most people think. Durham took the reins when all of the factories burnt down in Mebane! This was when the factories where made like match sticks, (I don’t have the exact dat ), the fire was so big you could see the fires all the way in Virginia! So when you think of Durham as the Tobacco king your mistaken, it was Mebane NC.
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Bingham was also consider a very prestige’s Military School back in the day, out of hundreds in the country it rank in the top 20’s.
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This is what I found from the UNC Archives, which you can Google and research yourself. Read carefully because you will use this to compare to what is really a part of history or inconstant to the truth.
Biographical Information from UNC Archives:
The Bingham Military School was established in 1793 as the Bingham School in Orange County, N.C., by the Reverend William Bingham (1754-1825). After the founder's death, the school was continued by his son William James Bingham (1802-1866), who moved it to Hillsborough and, in 1844, to the Oaks, also in Orange County. Colonel William J. Bingham's sons, Colonel William Bingham (1835-1873) and Robert Bingham (1838-1927), who had been associated with the school since 1857, took charge in 1864 when their father's health failed. They moved the school in 1864-1865 to near Mebane Station in Orange County, where it operated until 1891 when Robert Bingham moved to to Asheville, N.C. At some point, the school name changed to Bingham Military School. Robert Bingham was superintendent from 1873 to 1920.
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This is the summary of my Treasure/Catch info:
I want you to also notice some inconsistencies with the UNC archives & how close the year of the death for both William J Bingham & his son Robert Bingham wife, Dell Worth Bingham. I also found with the help from the Mebane Historical Society, in December 1864 William James moved the school to Mebane because it was a railroad junction with daily train service, telegraph and other benefits.
But William J. Bingham died when? Something is not correct here, see if you can figure it out?
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You start at the Historical Marker posted coordinates & move on to the Oakwood Cemetery where most of the founders of Mebane are resting in peace. If you like a challenge, skip the coordinates and see if you can find the Sign and Grave site without. Its a easy walk to all of these points.
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At the Historical Marker Sign you need to look across the street towards the tracks (you don’t need to move from this spot) and count the number of LARGE & SMALL pillars that remain from the original Rail Road walk archway. The School used this as a Train Stop by the Mebane Station Depot which was torn down in 1974.
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Take the year the school moved to Mebane from the Oaks. Remove the “1” and subtract only the number of LARGE pillars from 2nd number! Add the amount of LARGE and SMALL pillars to the last number of the year, leaving the middle or remaining number of the date to drop down in the equation. This is for your North -- “ABC” -- Coordinates.
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Now head over to the Oakwood Cemetery. This is where it gets interesting, remember the info I found, see if you can make sense of what is really here…?
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I want you to notice some inconsistencies with the UNC archives & how close the year of the death for both William J Bingham & his Son Robert Bingham wife - Dell Worth Bingham are. Did you get the year the father William J Bingham died, and compared to what UNC archives states?
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Take the year they died, the big white “Dell Worth Bingham” grave stone, or the dad who is a small square one on the ground (not sure why dad’s was smaller). This time you need to drop the second number of the death year, keeping the 1st, 3rd & 4th numbers subtract the number of all the LARGE & SMALL pillars back from the Historical marker sign, for your West -- “DEF” -- Coordinates.
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Email me if you can make sense of this, maybe I missed something, or you want more info from Mebane Historical about the school, more factual info with dates etc.?
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I have full permission to seek out your treasure here from the owners. You can park at the original Historical Marker Sign location, Lowder Storage Buildings are real nice, come in and say hello. Park towards the back, on the right side (see way-point). If you walk towards the coordinates you will come to a path, take that to see what is left of the Bingham School.
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Historical Marker Sign Coordinates:
36 5.597 N
79 15.234 W
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Oakwood Cemetery, Bingham Family Graves:
36 5.599 N
79 15.600 W
Final Coordinates you need to figure out from the clues above:
N. 36 05.ABC
W. 079 15.DEF
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
xpveo