The Real Arnold’s Corner
Description:
If you happen to be passing through King George, VA, you may have noticed a place called “Arnold’s Corner” at the corner of Virginia State route 3 (VA 3) and VA 206.
Currently, there is a Sheetz gas station and convenience store at the corner (at a road named Arnold’s Corner Ct).
Perhaps there is another corner nearby more deserving of the name “Arnold’s Corner.”
It is unusual to have a cemetery in a housing subdivision, but the Presidential Lakes Subdivision of King George, VA happens to have just that. John Arnold (1782-1863), a veteran of the War of 1812, held title to the Willow Hill estate -- 1,956 acres in King George County, which included the current Presidential Lakes property. A graveyard at the corner of Kennedy and Van Buren in Presidential Lakes is still there, along with Lt. John Arnold. The posted coordinates will take you there.
The secret to the cache lies within the graveyard.
Each person buried there but one gets a number of points equal to the whole number of years they lived (i.e. how many birthdays they actually had). That is, someone born in 1960 and died in 2015 would have either 54 or 55 points depending upon whether or not the day they died was before or after their birthday in the year of their death.
For longitude, you’ll need to solve the mystery of Lt. John Arnold, veteran of the War of 1812. From the marker out front, he was born in 1782 and died in 1863, making him about 81 years old. His tombstone, however, says he died in his ??th year.
Lt. John Arnold, served in the war,
He had 80 years, but there may be more.
Upon his stone cites his years when he died
Neither 80 nor 81 does the stone decried.
With his actual points alone,
Average them with his years on the stone.
Then to find the cache’s fate,
Multiply the result by eight.
Add that to the longitude from which you stand,
And you will have the cache in hand.
The result you get will be the thousandths of minutes of the actual cache. Assume the “longitude from which you stand” to be the posted longitude.
For latitude, first find Our Little Lucy. Lucy is the only person whose points are calculated differently. For each month she lived, give her 24 points. For each day, give her 1 point, and finally, give her one point for today. From the minute where you are (16 if you’re where you are supposed to be), the number of points is the fraction (in thousandths) from the latitude of the cache (i.e. it will be 16.xyz where “xyz” is the number of points Lucy has).
In accordance with Geocaching guidelines, the cache is not at the posted coordinates, but rather points to a nearby location where I could ensure continued permission to place the cache. Please be respectful while visiting the cemetery. Hopefully, this cemetery will not be forgotten and erased by the relentless hand of time.
The cache is located on a private property within the Presidential Lakes subdivision. I have explicit permission from the owner to place the cache on his property, but please make sure you look like geocachers while entering the property so I can easily identify you. ;)
NOTE: Please note visiting hours are from dawn to dusk. The reason is since this cache is in a subdivision, people wandering around late at night might look suspicious. That is why I checked the "stealth" attribute. Although neighbors have been informed of potential geocachers in the area, please don't press your luck, as there are those out there who do not understand geocaching for some reason. The cache is within 20 feet of the road, so if you're up close to a house, you're looking in the wrong spot.
You may encounter “The Guardian”, Shelberius (“Shelby”). She will probably be very excited to see you if she is out. She is vociferous and will probably bark and want to jump all over you. If you noticed a dog in a pink shirt with a geocaching trackable number on it at GeoWoodstock XIII, you saw her. She is contained by an invisible fence, so please don’t try to lure her off of the property. Note that she wears a “Log my dog” geocaching collar; her tag number is on the collar. If you find the cache, but can’t get her to stay still long enough to read her tag, let me know and I’ll give you the tag number. Her picture is below.
