Jake Prickett's Ghost Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

Doctor Teeth: Greetings.

This cache has been temporarily disabled for some time now without any action taken on your part to address the issues with the cache. The cache is being archived at this time, so please return to this location and remove what is left of your cache.

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Doctor Teeth
Geocaching.com Volunteer Reviewer

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Hidden : 4/11/2013
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:


Jacob Prickett, after whom Prickett’s Fort is named, was born in Wilmington, Delaware in 1722.  In May of 1745 he married Dorothy Springer, of New Jersey.  Jacob and Dorothy had 14 children.  In about 1748 Jacob moved his family to Frederick County, Virginia and to Monongahela County (West) Virginia in 1759. 

Jake, as he was called, served in the Frederick County Militia and later as a spy and Captain for the Virginia Militia in Monongalia County during the Revolutionary War.  He served under General George Washington in Braddock’s 1758 campaign against the Indians of the Monongahela River region. 

What we now know as Prickett’s Fort was built as a civilian refuge (rather than a military fort) around Jacob’s cabin in 1774 – the same year his 17-year-old son Isaiah, who was Private in Zackquill Morgan’s Militia, was killed and scalped by Shawnee Indians.  Jake built the fort with his brothers Josiah and Isaiah.  The fort was a refuge for some 80 area settler families when the Indians attacked.  The families would move into the fort, called “forting up,” until the danger had passed.  The fort was located where Pricketts Creek joins the Monongahela River, very near three major Indian trails.  A survey was done for Jacob in 1772, in which the surveyor surveyed out 324 acres.  In 1777 the General Assembly granted the settler families each an additional 400 acres.  The Prickett family lived on the original grounds for almost 200 years, until the 1960’s.

Jacob was a hard-working man.  In addition to farming, he is known to have operated what was probably the first trading post in the area, trading with both settlers and friendly Indians, as well as building and operating a grain and lumber mill.  He and his family were good friends with Col. Morgan Morgan and his sons David and Zackquill.  Jacob’s wife Dorothy died in 1785 and Jacob passed away in 1797.  They are both buried in the small Prickett family cemetery that lies as you drive into Prickett’s Fort. Col. Zack Morgan is buried nearby. 

The fort as we see it today is a replica of the original built in 1974, and is fancier than the fort Jacob and his brothers built.  It officially opened as a state park in 1976 – our country’s Bicentennial Birthday. 

Jake Prickett was my 6th great-grandfather.  His daughter Mary Drusilla married Morgan “Mod” Morgan, son of David Morgan, grandson of Col. Morgan Morgan.

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