GC36HQX SGA –Lakeview 2 (Traditional Cache) in Pennsylvania, United States created by SGAGeoTrail

This cache has been archived.

Spring Grove GeoTour: Thank you to everyone that completed the 2011 Spring Grove Area GeoTrail. We will be archiving these caches to make room for the 2012 trail. Please check out our new caches for 2012 to be published by August 27th.

GC36HQX ▼

A cache by SGAGeoTrail Message this owner

Hidden : 10/24/2011

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: small (small)

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Geocache Description:

You’re looking for a small well hidden lock n’ lock container. Please hide the cache the same or better then you found it.

Contains a FTF Prize and a few trade items.

Park at the parking coordinates and walk through the grass area to the cache.

This cache replaces SGA - Lakeview and was moved to a new location during hunting season.

The geocache hidden at the posted coordinates is a regular geocache, however, it is also part of the Spring Grove Area GeoTrail (SGAGT), a project designed to promote the many historic areas and other places of interest in the Spring Grove Area. The SGAGT utilizes the growing interest in geocaching to assist both residents and visitors to the area in learning more about the unique attractions. This cache contains a unique self inking rubber stamp which you should use to stamp your SGAGT Passport to verify that you found it. When you have found a minimum of fourteen SGAGT caches, you will be eligible to have your SGAGT passport validated and receive a commemorative SGAGT geocoin. You must have your official SGAGT passport with you when you find this cache in order to stamp it. Click on the link below to visit the SGAGT website at (visit link) for complete details.

This cache has been placed with permission by the owner of the property. As with all SGA GeoTrail caches please do not attempt to locate the cache after dusk and as always be respectful.

Please notify us immediately through geocaching.com if you have any problems!
Miller Farm
This farm has been recognized as a Bicentennial Farm by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. It was one of four farms in the York County to receive this honor. Andrew Miller, the great-great-great-grandfather of Jacob Miller, began paying taxes on the property in 1804, an annual fee of $2.05 for 190 acres in what was then Paradise Township. The farm became part of Jackson Township when it was established in 1858. Andrew Miller died in April 1835. That fall, a public sale of some of his belongings included horses and horse gear, swine, windmill, clock and case, stove and pipe, beds and bedsteads, table and chairs, household goods and linen cloth. In the days before malls and online shopping, public sales were the source of a variety of items at a fair price. Newly married couples often depended on them for household goods needed to "set up housekeeping." The brick farmhouse, built around 1835, was larger than many homes of the day probably because of the iron ore that was being mined in the surrounding hills. The home also served as a brethren meeting house. The first-floor rooms were separated by large folding doors that could be opened to create one large room where the faithful gathered for worship and prayer. People would arrive on Saturday night, they would stay overnight and church services were held Sunday morning. They came from all around - from Adams County and York County and from Maryland. Many local brethren churches, including Black Rock and Pleasant Hill, grew from those early services held in the Miller home and other brethren meeting houses scattered throughout the area. A nearby smaller version of the family farmhouse was probably built in about 1895 for one of the grandmothers. Jacob and Arlene married and took ownership of the family farm in 1972. They renovated and restored the original farmhouse and rebuilt the summer house using as much of the original material as possible and adding a stairway to connect it to the main house. The summer house is where they did their cooking in the summer, their canning and butchering; it's where they made the ponhaus and pudding, mush and souse, and where the vegetables like turnips and potatoes were stored for the winter. One can almost imagine the women talking quietly as they canned and preserved food to see the family through the coming winter or gathered to prepare meals for those who made the long journey to attend Sunday services. New shutters and hardware were copied from an 1891 photo of the house that shows family members, neighbors and probably farm hands. Lake PaGaHaCo, built in 1956 by the P.H. Glatfelter Co. in Spring Grove, now covers roughly 100 acres of the original farm, but thanks to an exchange of land the Miller farm remained fairly equal to the original 190 acres purchased by Andrew Miller. The farm is home to deer and other wildlife, much as it must have been centuries ago when the area was home to Native American tribes. The land has shared its secrets, giving up glimpses of those who roamed the hills around Spring Grove long before Andrew Miller ever set foot in York County. Jacob Miller has a collection of Native American arrowheads and spearheads and tools that a cousin, Henry Miller, found while working the land. Some of them are from tribes in what is now New York and date back several centuries. Many stone chips found in one area of the farm appeared to be where Indians actually made tools and weapons. Unfortunately, that area is now underwater.

2/22/12 UPDATE – We still have plenty of coins and would like to give them out before beginning a new trail for 2012. If you are having trouble getting to the office to redeem your coin, mail your passport to the Borough Office at 1 Campus Avenue, Spring Grove, PA 17362 and we will mail your passport and coin back, no charge.

Additional Hints (No hints available.)