After a fire at 5am on New Year's morning, 2016, the remaining stone structure and steeple of St. Mark's Church stand now as a ruined monument to what was the oldest public building in West Orange.
First built in 1828 as an offshoot of Newark's historic Trinity Church, St. Mark's quickly became the largest Episcopal congregation in the area. Additions were built in 1860-1861, at the outset of the Civil War, with the steeple designed by famed architect Richard Upjohn. The rock used for the church's exterior walls and churchyard walls and steps was all quarried in town on the long-closed quarries of First Mountain.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 and cited by Preservation New Jersey as an "outstanding example of Gothic Revival architecture" and one of the 10 most endangered historic sites in the state, in recent years, the congregation had dwindled, and the vacant church was leased to a series of new congregations.
Beyond serving the town's main Episcopal congregation, the historic church also opened West Orange's first elementary school in 1865, and its first high school in 1893.
Early on the morning of January 1, 2016, a mysterious fire erupted and quickly engulfed the old wooden portions of the church. When firefighters from West Orange and surrounding towns finally got it under control three hours later, all except the original stone walls were destroyed (luckily, no one was injured in the blaze).
For the cache: You're looking for a black bison tube (no room for a pencil, so BYOP), hidden along the church grounds in a spot that is still open to the public. There are always lots of people driving and walking by, so please — practice extreme stealth! Note that due to repeated muggling, despite its name, this cache is no longer hidden on the stairs...
Congrats to Lego maniacs for the FTF!