FSC-2012 St. James' Church (Stanton) Traditional Cache
OliversOuting: Making way for another.
FSC-2012 St. James' Church (Stanton)
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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This cache was orininally placed for the the First State Challenge 2012 sponsored by Delaware Geocachers! Although the challenge has ended, this cache is still available to be found!!
FSC-2012 St. James' Church (Stanton)
Cache Details:
The geocache is located in the church's cemetery. It is not located near any headstones. Please, no night caching. Parking is available across the street from the church in the office parking lot on St. James Church Rd or feel free to drive through the cemetery. We would like to thank the Pastor, Fr. James Bimbi, for giving permission to place the cache on the church grounds.
Description:
There is no single chronicle describing the founding of St. James' Church in Mill Creek Hundred. Missionaries from both Old Swedes and Immanuel in New Castle held services in a log church believed to have been built sometime after 1703. In 1714, James Robinson acquired 110 acres of land and endowed ten acres surrounding the church for the establishment of an Anglican church and school. In 1720, he gave the land to the London Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts in a deed addressed "To All Christians". Tradition holds that the Rev. John Yeo preached here in 1677, though this cannot be documented.
Mr. Ross, a missionary from New Castle, is considered the first minister of the church, serving until about 1725. He considered St. James' as a chapel-of-ease, a church for those who could not regularly make the long and often wet journey thorough the swamplands of the Christina River basin to New Castle some ten miles away. The early members were resolute in their denial of any such secondary status.
Within the historic walls of the churchyard are the graves of many of the early settlers whose lives were closely associated with the development of the state and nation. One granite slab identifies the tomb of John Armstrong who died in 1726, the oldest known grave in the cemetery. There are also several graves of Revolutionary War Soldiers.
The church that stands today was built circa 1820 and what happened to the frame church remains a mystery. The traditional belief is that it burned to the ground, but there are no records telling of such a tragic event. No mention of a fire is recorded in any of the minutes of the Vestry or other church papers. But the new church was built and stands today much like it was then. Its interior architecture is colonial with white box pews in the nave and the three sided balcony where slaves of the area worshipped in pre-Civil War days while their masters sat below. St. James' stands today in the middle of modern suburbia as a symbol of stability and endurance, built upon the faith and courage of the devout pioneers who came to this land to build a better future for themselves and future generations. St. James' is proud to be celebrating its 300 year anniversary in the year 2014.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ohfu