Your walk to this cache will bring you in the vicinity of a covered bridge over Stephenson Creek. You are searching for a medium-sized plastic jug with room for small trade items in a wooded area directly off the paved PATH trail. If you park at the Murphey Candler School and walk down the PATH, you will pass the trailhead for the Laurel Creek Trail, where you can find GC1BDXR and GC1DBX3. You may hear gunshots during your journey; this is because DeKalb County operates a police firing range nearby.
The covered bridge over Stephenson Creek was built in 2004 by the PATH foundation as an homage to the lattice truss construction designs of Horace King. Born into slavery, Horace King bought his freedom in 1846 and became a prolific bridge builder in west Georgia, Alabama, and northeast Mississippi until the 1880s. At one point, King was responsible for every major bridge crossing on the Chattahoochee River. King had four sons, and after training them to build covered bridges they formed the King Bridge Company. After the Civil War, King continued his work as an engineer and architect while also serving two terms in the Alabama House of Representatives. He later moved to LaGrange, Georgia, where he lived with his family until his death in 1885.
Horace King. Photo Courtesy of the Columbus Museum.
Stephenson Creek Covered Bridge