This cache is one of 10 caches of the Cache in on Brentwood History placed by the Brentwood Historic Commission. The series features many of the Historical Interpretive Signs placed around Brentwood. Discover some of the fascinating history of Brentwood. The caches are hidden in Brentwood City Parks. If you are participating in the series, be sure to sure to download and print your passport. Don’t forget to record the secret code found in the lid of each geocache, on your passport for validation. All caches begin with the series name CBH followed by a location specific name. The Brentwood Historic Commission hopes you enjoy the series!
Most Parks are open dawn to dusk but check specific Park hours. Follow Park hours-NO NIGHT CACHING.
Cache Type: 3 stage multi-cache. You must answer the questions below to obtain the needed information for the combination lock to the cache and final cache site. A pencil will prove useful as you gather information. If you trade for items from the Geocache, remember to trade items that are of equal or greater value. Follow Park hours-NO night caching. When approaching the geocache site start looking as there is distance variances in different GPS devices.
Park in the posted parking waypoint coordinates. Look for the blue post with START and follow the trail through the tunnel to find the posted coordinates
Historical Description: The year is 1932. It has been just over 2 years since Wall Street crashed in October 1929 initiating The Great Depression. Banks failed and many lifetime personal savings have been lost. Prohibition is still in place. The Midwest remains engulfed in the “Great Dust Bowl” from the drought years and over mechanization of farming. Over 30% of the population is unemployed. 1932 was a year of ups and downs. A series of tornadoes killed at least 184 people in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina; Al Capone was convicted for Income Tax Evasion; New York Radio City Hall opened; Charles Lindbergh’s son was kidnapped; Amelia Earhart became the first woman to make a solo air crossing of the Atlantic Ocean; to name a few. It wasn’t unusual to go into the General Store and hear Bing Crosby crooning “Brother Can You Spare a Dime” from the corner radio along with Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Tommy Dorsey to name a few. Is it any wonder that Saturday night the family would gather around the radio and be entertained by listening to comedy and country music with the “Grand Ole Opry”? You didn’t even need to live in Tennessee to enjoy the music. How did so many people hear The Opry living states away?
In the middle of the “Roaring Twenties”, The National Life and Accident Insurance Company founded a new radio station and named it WSM based on their slogan “We Shield Millions.” They first had to petition the Secretary of Commerce to transfer those call letters which were being used by the US Navy. The transfer occurred and WSM was born in Nashville in 1925. Several months later the “Barn Dance Saturday” became a tradition followed 2 years later by a renaming to “The Grand Ole Opry.” In 1932 WSM expanded and joined a small elite group of maximum-power clear channel broadcasters and built one of the nation’s first vertical antennas. Their new 50,000 watt status coupled with their 650 kilohertz frequency made the station a nation-spanning giant transmitting to over 30 states. This earned the station the title of “The Air Castle of the South.” At the heart of this expansion was a Blaw-Knox diamond-shaped, vertical antenna tower which at 878 feet was the tallest tower in North America and said to be second only to the Eiffel Tower. Seven years later the tower was shortened 70 feet for technical reasons adjusting the height to 808 feet. Part of the removed mast was erected as the flagpole for the nearby Lipscomb school and remained there until 1996 when the school building was replaced. The Passenger train “Pan-American’’ regularly passed by the transmitter and tower site. The station made it a regular part of its programming to air the blast of the train’s whistle as the engine approached the Concord Road location. In addition to the Opry, the station played pop music of the day and featured a healthy mix of classical and dinner music often played live in the studio in Nashville. During World War II and the Cold War era, the station contributed to the war effort. For a period during WWII it was designated to provide transmissions to submarines in the event that ship-to-shore communications were lost. In 1951 the Tower Complex became part of the CONELRAD system, a former system of Emergency broadcasting to the public in the event of an enemy attack during the Cold War. CONELRAD allowed for presidential broadcasts even after a disastrous attack that would eliminate commercial electric power. The Tower Complex has dedicated, protected government funded circuits that connects the tower to emergency command centers. CONELRAD has been replaced with a national Emergency Alert System.
While the musical legacy of WSM is certainly a rich one, generations have also depended on it as their source of news and information. The WSM tower remains the oldest and tallest Blaw-Knox Diamond Radio Tower in the world. In March 2011 the tower and radio transmission complex was officially recognized by the National Park Service for the property’s “association with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history”. The tower and surrounding structures qualified for the National Register in the Engineering, Architecture, Communications, Music and Military categories.
Sources: National Register of Historic Places Registration Form submitted November 30, 2010 by Carroll Van West-MTSU for Center for Historic Preservation; Gently Flows the Harpeth (2009) by T. Vance Little p. 49-50; The Brentwood I Remember (2012) by John M. Oden, Sr. ; WSM Radio Online History by Nashville Broadcasting History.com (http://nashvillebroadcastinghistory.com/id4.html)
Stage 1 N36° 00.029 W086° 47.426
A= A=What year was the WSM tower erected? __ __ __ __1st number=A _____
B= How many feet were removed from this tower? Add those two numbers together then subtract 2 = B ______
C=What are the call numbers for WSM? _____ Subtract 641=C_____
Sumcheck A+B+C=15
Stage 2: N35 ° 59.958 W086 ° 47.365
Proceed to waypoint 2. When headed to your destination watch for a dirt trail on the left to avoid bushwhacking. Continue to answer questions.
D= How many guide wires extend from the tower to secure it? ______ =D
E=How many colors alternate on the tower? (hint 1 is white) _____=E
F=There are 3 slats on the back of the bench near the river. How many slats are on the bench seat? _____ =F
Sumcheck: D+E+F=14
Use the numerical answers from the above questions to fill in the equation for your final destination
N 36o 00.ABA N36 00.__ __ __ W 086o F7.BEE W086 __ 7.___ ___ ___
Stage 3:
Proceed to the final coordinates found in stage 2. The lock code=DCFB.
****Congratulations Noroominframefortwo for the FTF****