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: 2 stage multi-cache. You must answer the questions below to obtain the needed information for the combination lock to the cache and additional coordinates. 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. When approaching the geocache site start looking as there is distance variances in different GPS devices. Ample parking when the parking lot is open at parking posted coordinates.
NOTE: The parking lot at this site is only open 2pm-4pm the 3rd Sunday of each month April through October. This park can also be accessed through the trail system from Crockett Park or Ravenswood Park. Crockett is slightly closer. Roundtrip about 3 miles. Park at the west end of Crockett Park and take the trail through the tunnel under Wilson Pike. Continue to the first left turn (about .2mi); turn left and follow that trail approximately 1.4 miles to the site.
Historical Description: This Park is the site of two National Register properties: Boiling Spring Academy established as a school in the 1830s, and a prehistoric Native American Mound Site 900-1500 (A.D.) known as The Fewkes Archaeological Site.
History in this area dates back to the very near Coats-Hines Archaeological Site which uncovered relicts from about 12,000 BC with bone remnants from four of the giant prehistoric Mastodons, stone tools and Mastodon bones with cut marks suggesting prehistoric man hunted and traveled through this area long before the prehistoric Indian village was established at the Fewkes site.
Imagine that you have just walked back in time to around 1200AD. You are very privileged to enter the sanctum of a Middle & Late Mississippian era Native American Indian ceremonial center.
In October 1920, William E. Myer conducted exploration of this site for the Smithsonian Institution. Archeological findings suggest the people who built the Fewkes Mounds had a culture that was similar to other groups in the Mississippi Valley with the height of occupation 1000-1450. Further evidence paints a picture of the Fewkes site, at its peak around 1200AD, as a bustling center with 5 mounds rising above and encircled with a palisade fence down to the Little Harpeth River. The platform mounds supported temples or houses of important members of the community. A plaza opened in the middle of the mounds. Houses of thatch and mud scattered around the mounds and outside of the palisade stretching far across cultivated fields. The variety in burial customs has led to the conclusion that the site was occupied by at least two different groups of people. The early group is credited with construction of the mounds and the majority of the artifacts recovered. The second group to inhabit the site towards the end of its time was a smaller tribe.
The Mississippian Era (900-1450AD) was the longest running and most widespread mound building period. Mound sites were religious and social centers for people living in the surrounding countryside. While the village rulers lived within the mound complex; other village commoners lived outside the palisade surrounding the mound complex. These commoners provided the labor force for mound and temple building and food production. It is a common misconception that the mounds served the sole purpose of burial mounds but that was usually not the case.
Just as these early people had been drawn to the area, so were later settlers. Several centuries later in 1832, the site would become home to an all-male academy named after a nearby spring-Boiling Spring; its prehistoric occupants completely forgotten except for the remnants of the remaining mounds. The two story brick building opened its doors to students in January of 1833. At that time the educational system was primarily through the private academy system. Boiling Spring Academy attracted children from out of state as well as locals from affluent neighboring plantations and served all grades. The year was divided into two sessions of 5 months each. It is believed that for some time during the early years it also served as a Presbyterian Meeting House. In 1854 a new post office was established at Boiling Spring Academy for a short period of time. The last known advertisement for students to attend the all-male academy was in 1861. No information has been found regarding the war years. It is believed it housed troops from both sides at different times. Boiling Spring Academy was transformed into a Williamson County one room school by the 1880s. A church also dually used the building along with the school and made some cosmetic changes to the building 1870-1880 to make it more church appearing. It continued as a Williamson County School until around 1920. The property was sold to the Primm family in 1927 and they began using the structure as a tobacco barn. It remained as a barn until 2003 when the property was donated to the City of Brentwood. The restoration of the property to return it to a school was completed in 2004. The building has come full circle. The Historic Commission developed and sponsors a history immersion school day field trip for elementary children in Brentwood public schools to bring the past back to meet students of the present.
Stage 1: N35ᵒ 58.066 W086ᵒ 46.615
Begin you walk from the parking lot down the side walk. Answer the following questions using the above history, interpretive signage and surrounding area as you walk to waypoint 1:
- A typical school term lasted how many months ____ =A
- The entrance door to the Academy has changed from its original position. Was the East or West side of the building the original front side of the building? HINT: Look for decoration found on the front side in the limestone lintels above the windows. If East side was front B=4 If West side was front B=8
- In 1833 how many levels of classes were taught? _____ =C
- How many total mounds were built on this site? ____ add +1 ____=D
- Which mound was associated with a burial mound and grave items? ____ add+4____=E
- How many different prehistoric groups lived here based on burial pattern? ____ add +2 ____=F
Sumcheck A+B+C+D+E+F=33
Using the above numbers, fill in the equation to find the final cache site.
N35ᵒ AE.9EF W086ᵒ FD.DAE
Stage 2 N35ᵒ AE.9EF W086ᵒ FD.DAE
Proceed to the above coordinates found in stage 1.
Lock code is ABCD
****Congratulations momndad2boys for FTF!****