Ride the Underground Railroad Locationless (Reverse) Cache

NOTE: This is a virtual, locationless geocache. There is no box to find, but we think your time will be well spent learning about the Underground Railroad.

The Wesleyan Methodist Church in downtown Syracuse, New York was once a station on the Underground Railroad (URR). Now it's a restaurant called The Mission. Here's a clip from the New York History Net website telling about the unique artifacts that were found in the basement:

"This National Register structure is of definitive significance to American history and to the celebration of freedom; but, there is more to this building. A unique set of art survives within its basement. The art in the basement consists of a series clay faces sculpted on the walls in a passageway beneath the church. The art is the work of unknown artists from an era in which hundreds if not thousands of individuals quietly fled to freedom leaving scant trace of their passage north."

"Refugees are reported to have walked the streets of Syracuse in broad daylight prior to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. However, after this act and prior to the civil war the safety of those making their way to freedom became of more imminent concern, as illustrated by the capture and ultimate rescue of William Henry by citizens of Syracuse, including members of the Wesleyan Methodist congregation, in an event commemorated as the Jerry Rescue."

Here are the rules to log this locationless geocache:

1. Find a documented location on the Underground Railroad, and mark the spot with your GPS receiver. The station you choose must be identified with an historical marker, or be officially identified by a reputable, authoritative organization on their website: museum, government agency, educational institution, nonprofit preservation group, etc.

2. Take a photo showing you with your GPS receiver at the URR station. Take at least one other photo with a good view of the location, an historical marker, or an offical sign. Only original photos taken during your visit will qualify. You may add photos from other sources, but not in place of the two basic photos required to log this cache. You must upload the photos immdiately after submitting your log report.

3. When you submit your log report, be sure to fill in the boxes for the lat-longitude coordinates. Identify the URR station's location by street address, city, and state. Include some information about the station in your log report, and if it has a website, include the url. We all want to learn as much about your station as possible!

4. You may log only one URR station visit for this cache, and that station may appear only once on this cache page. Please check the full list of logs to make sure you are the only player to log your particular station. Duplicates will be deleted, as will sites also logged as, or on, another cache.

If you're in Syracuse, NY, visit this related virtual geocache: Jerry & The Abolitionists.