"The Fairest House in Maryland" Letterbox Hybrid
Cylburn: Archive… It has disappeared twice… time to move on.
"The Fairest House in Maryland"
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(large)
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This is the fourth in a series of Geocaches being placed at Cylburn Arboretum by Cylburn Arboretum Association.
The Arboretum grounds are open Tuesday thru Sunday 8am - 8pm, parking is available via the main entrance.
Cylburn Arboretum is a host to many nature, art and music events... check the Association website for more information.
www.CylburnAssociation.org
The listed coordinates are not the actual cache location, they are the starting point for this Letterbox Hybrid cache. As with Letterboxing you will follow clues to the actual cache which contains a stamp and stamp pad. You should use your stamp to make an entry in the logbook and use our stamp to make a print in your book as a record of your visit to “The Fairest House in Maryland”.
The stamp, 2 stamp pads and Laminated Informational Sheet should stay in the cache.
From the posted coordinates:
From this place where the bark is flaking,
parallel the ruins toward vegetables in the making.
At 68 paces you'll find to your right,
a sign about rules with bags to close tight!
Follow the path to large pots in sets of three,
Hey...is that a rainbarrel I happen to see!
Continue along this dead end street
then under the shutters you'll find your treat!
The Cylburn Mansion
This is the house that chromite built. Jesse Tyson, the original owner, inherited a chromite mining business from his father, Isaac. His father was worth one million dollars when he died in 1861. Jesse then expanded into the quarrying, shipping, and manufacturing trades. In 1863, he began building this house using stone from his own quarries as a summer house for himself and his mother to escape the cesspits and simmering miasmas that were July and August in the Baltimore of the nineteenth century. Still, Baltimore from afar was beautiful, and he had the house built with a viewing cupola that lets you see all the way to the harbor. He could admire the view and at the same time watch his ships unloading.
Mr. Tyson’s architect was George Frederick, who could build you a mansion in the latest style, like this one, or design a monumental public work like his masterpiece, the Baltimore City Hall or the Conservatory. Here at Cylburn he designed for cool and elegant summer living. The wide verandas shade the house; the French windows let in light, but could be individually shuttered on the sunny side to keep down the heat. The high-ceilinged rooms stayed cool at floor level and the cupola acted as a ventilating device, drawing hot air upward and out.
In 1888, at the age of 61, Mr. Tyson astonished Baltimore society – and possibly also himself – when he met and married Edyth Johns, a nineteen-year-old debutante and acknowledged belle. Together Mr. and Mrs. Tyson planted extensive gardens and the core of what is now Cylburn’s collection of trees. They threw open Cylburn’s doors and entertained lavishly: Mr. Tyson said with pride, “I have the fairest wife, the fastest horses, and the fairest house in Maryland.” After his death Mrs. Tyson lived on at Cylburn and married again (Bruce Cotton). When she died the city bought Cylburn Mansion and its 207 acres from her estate and used it first as The Cylburn Home for Neglected Children, and then from 1954 as the Wildflower Preserve and Garden Center. Finally in 1982 it was officially titled Cylburn Arboretum and now “the fairest house in Maryland” belongs to us all. (The original deed from Bruce Cotton to the City actually says 177.404 acres "more or less". )
We hope you'll take the time to visit the mansion!
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)