The cache is not at the posted coordinates. To find the cache, you will have to visit six historic sites. Each will provide a number that will be used to complete the coordinates of the final location. The location of the final stage is NOT available on Sundays. The cache can be completed without going inside any historic buildings, but you are encouraged to explore the buildings which make up the Christiansted National Historic Site ($3).
Stage 1: Solve for A: Go to N 17° 44.718 W 64° 42.290
At this location, 11 year old Alexander Hamilton began working as a clerk in the import/export firm of Nicholas Cruger and associates. Here he learned the complexities of international trade and finance. The "bookish" Hamilton was fluent in French and well read. It was Nicholas Cruger who recognized his extraordinary abilities and, with help from a local minister, Hugh Knox, sent Alexander to British North America to further his education. He left St. Croix in the fall of 1773 and subsequently entered King's College, now Columbia University, in New York. He would later say that his time in Cruger's office "was the most useful part of his education". Look for the plaque at the coordinates. The address contains two numbers. A is the first number listed on the plaque.
Stage 2: Solve for B: Go to N 17° 44.768 W 64° 42.229
At this location you will find the residence of the Governor General of the Danish West Indies during Hamilton's time. Over the years, additions have been made to the original structure. The Danish architecture seen in this building, with its many arches, is found throughout Christiansted, which was laid out in 1734 by the first Danish governor. At the coordinates, look high up on the face of the building for a date. Use the first number for B.
Stage 3: Solve for C: Go to N 17° 44.816 W 64° 42.182
Alexander Hamilton was born January 11, 1755 on the island of Nevis in the British West Indies. In May, 1765, he arrived near these coordinates in Christiansted, the capital of the Danish West Indies, with his mother, Rachael Faucette, his father, James Hamilton, and his brother, James. His time on St. Croix was filled with hardship. First, his father abandoned them not long after their arrival on the island. To support the family, Rachael started a small business selling goods in town. She was managing to make a living, but then she and Alexander both fell ill with yellow fever in 1768. Rachael died at the age of 38, leaving Alexander and his brother in the care of a cousin. Since Rachael had been married and had a son before she met James Hamilton, the boys received none of Rachael's inheritance. In 1773, from this same location, Alexander left St. Croix to further his education in British North America. Look for the plaque at the coordinates. Use the second number on the plaque for C.
Stage 4: Solve for D: Go to N 17° 44.803 W 64° 42.156
At around 13 years of age, following his mother's death, Alexander found work as a clerk, managing imports and exports for Nicholas Cruger and associates. At times, he was left in charge while the owners were at sea trading. His duties would have brought him to this location to manage the goods that arrived from Europe and North America. After receiving shipments from abroad, Alexander would have to clear the items through Danish customs and pay taxes. At the coordinates, look for the steps leading to the upper floor of the building. Mixed among more modern construction materials are thin, yellow Danish bricks that were used as ballast in the sailing ships that landed and took on sugar and other goods bound for British North America. As you walk around Christiansted, you can still see Danish bricks where old structures have lost their stucco veneer. To complete this stage, look for the date the Danish Customs House was originally established on the plaque at this location. The last number of the date is D.
Stage 5: Solve for E: Go to N 17° 44.814 W 64° 42.115
Rachael Faucette lived on St. Croix prior to Alexander's birth. She and her mother came to the island in 1745 to visit her sister, Ann Lytton and her husband, James. Her mother, perhaps thinking she was making a good match for Rachael, forced her into an arranged marriage with a much older man, Johan Michael Lavien, when she was only 16 years old. In 1746 they had a son, Peter, but the marriage was an unhappy one and Lavien claimed that Rachael refused to be a "proper wife". In 1750, her husband had her imprisoned at this location, where she remained for several months, staring out at the beautiful Caribbean Sea through a small hole in the thick wall. He finally had her released, hoping she would "change her unholy ways" and return to him, but she fled to St. Kitts, an island near Nevis. There she met James Hamilton, had two children, James and Alexander, and they lived together for 15 years. Lavien eventually divorced Rachael, but under Danish law she could never remarry (although he could and did), so Alexander's parents never married, although they represented themselves as James and Rachael Hamilton. At the coordinates, look for a date on the gate above the entrance. The sum of the first two numbers of the date is E.
Stage 6: Solve for F: Go to N 17° 44.772 and W 64° 42.158
In Hamilton's time, the building at this location was the First Danish Lutheran Church on St. Croix. Named Lutheran Church of the Zebaoth, services were conducted here for more than 70 years. Directly across the street from the coordinates was the complex owned by the Danish West India and Guinea Company. St. Croix's plantation economy depended on slave labor and thousands of slaves, brought mostly from West Africa, were sold inside the yellow walls that still exists today. Alexander Hamilton's mother inherited five slaves from her mother so his personal experiences with slavery must have played a role in his development. The Danish slave trade continued until 1803, when Denmark became the first European nation to end the importation of slaves. Under the Danish Governor-General Peter von Scholten, slavery was finally abolished in the Virgin Islands in 1848. At the coordinates, look for a plaque on the building. The sum of the first two numbers of the date is F.
Stage 7: To locate the cache, fill in the letters from Stage 1-6 to complete the coordinates. Remember that this location is not available on Sunday.
N 17° 44.ABC W 64° 42.DEF
We hope you have enjoyed this tour of Alexander Hamilton's Christiansted. After his time on St. Croix, Hamilton went on to become one of the most influential figures in American history, serving in the Revolutionary War as a field commander at Yorktown and as General George Washington's chief of staff. He was one of 39 signatories to the U. S. Constitution which was subsequently ratified by the colonies, establishing the United States of America. He was appointed as the first Secretary of the Treasury during Washington's first term as President, establishing taxation and customs policies, the U. S. monetary system and the first government bonds, issued to pay off the national debt. He founded the Bank of New York which survived more than 200 years. The Broadway musical "Hamilton" has revived interest in this historic figure, whose rise from immigrant to founding father is the embodiment of the American dream.
Congratulations to Rama41 for being the FTF and earning himself a real Alexander Hamilton ($10 bill).
References:
Biography.com Editors. Alexander Hamilton Biography. retrieved from http://www.biography.com/people/alexander-hamilton-9326481
Chernow, R. (2004). Alexander Hamilton. New York, NY: Penguin Books
Cissel, W. (2004). Alexander Hamilton: The West Indian “Founding Father". Retrieved from: http://virginislandspace.org/DivisionofLibraries/cisselpaper.pdf
All Things Hamilton: http://allthingshamilton.com/