Welcome to Willoughby Heritage Farm and Conservation Reserve, located on 40 acres of bluff line prairie and woodland. We hope you like this area and short tour (multi-cache). Please obey posted hours and rules while at the farm.
The cache is not located at the listed coordinates. You need to gather information at 8 way points and plug them in as follows: N 38 40.ABC W 089 DE.FGH
The listed coordinates take you to the first waypoint, a sign marking this longitude as exactly 1/4 of the way around the world from the Prime Meridian. Neat! Find the listed sea level of this spot in ft; the first digit of the number is G.
The second waypoint is very close to the first. It is a engraved stone memorial that shows a history of the Willoughby family at this farm. Find the number of children raised by Joseph and Hannah Willoughby; this number is B.
The third waypoint is also very close. Walk directly across to a garden with a trellis entrance. The University of Illinois sponsors a Master Gardener Program at the farm. Read a bit about this program on the entrance sign and find the number of people in picture at the very lower right of the sign; that number is A.
The fourth waypoint is at the big red barn, called a "Bank Barn." It's called that because it was built into an embankment. This barn was dismantled at a location in Knoxville, TN and reassembled here. Find the year this happened; the second digit is C.
Next walk between the chickens on the left and the picnic area on the right to waypoint five, another red barn. Find the plaque that thanks the many volunteers that reconstructed this Civil War-era livestock barn. Home to some pigs, a calf and many examples of old farming tools & equipment, this barn was dedicated on October 11th. Find the year of this dedication; the last digit is F.
After enjoying Gindler barn, walk downhill and past the rabbit hutch to waypoint six. Solar panels were recently installed with some generous donations to help the farm be more self sufficient and energy efficient. What you see is a 2380 watt system. On the information sign find the expected yearly energy savings in dollars; the first digit is E.
Walk back up the hill and into the kids zone. Waypoint seven is a trailhead sign located at N 38 40.533 W 090 00.052 (use the small wooden sign attached to the tree). Find the distance of the Blue Trail Loop. The number after the decimal point is H.
For the final waypoint, walk through the kids zone and veer left toward the Billy Goat Gruff Crossing. I like this area. This will tell you about an Eagle Scout project building Bat Houses in 2009. Find the Scout Troop number that participated in this project; the first digit of the troop number is D.
We hope you enjoyed this short tour. Don't forget to visit the nice trails through the woods behind the farm.
Please use stealth when finding and signing the log; it is at a very public location within walking distance of Willoughby Farms.