Cemetery is best accessed from above just off County Hwy. 26.
Cache IS NOT located on cemetery property but is nearby. As Always if Mourners are nearby please be respectful and visit at another time.
A local "Legend" of the Whitewater area named for his dark complexion. William "Black Bill" Venzol was born in Bulgaria in 1885 under the name of Bellico Vellicoff. He traveled to this country with an Uncle who worked in a Wisconsin Logging Camp. Tragedy came to the boy when he was 14 years old when his uncle was killed in a logging accident. He grew up in lumber camps working at whatever job that was offered and drifting with employment. He loved the woods and outdoor living and acquired a close observer's knowledge of the outdoors. He built several local area cabins and lived in one in the Fairwater area of the North Branch of the Whitewater River. Here he lived as an outdoor hermit, hunting, fishing and trapping. He lived largely off the outdoors as a self-taught naturalist, growing in the garden that surrounded his cabin a lot of his food. Here he had a large patch of ginseng, from plants found on the bluffs and transplanted there. It was one of his sources of income. Another was rattlesnake venom which he milked from snakes and bottled and sold on the medical supply market. He was a skilled rattlesnake milker. He is probably best known for the State Record Brown Trout he caught near Crystal Springs in 1947. It is still the largest trout caught in the area, 14 lbs. 29", and held the record for many years. It is still on display at a local "watering hole".
He became a citizen the the United States in 1956 a fact that he was proud of, posting the certificate on the wall of his cabin.Bill developed heart problems later in life from having been bit so many times from rattlesnakes.
He was on his way to visit a doctor in St. Charles on Hwy. 74 when his car was found crashed near the campground. Died of an apparent heart attack. Having no relatives in America, he was buried by friends. A collection was taken up at a local bar for his headstone.
The posted cords will put you at the location of this marker. To determine the location of the cache you will have to look to the left for the information off of his neighbor.
N 44 05.ABC
W 092 01.DEF
To determine ABC subtract 1158 from the year she was born.
To determine DEF subtract 1924 from the year she died.
Simple as that.
Don't forget to visit the other caches in the area!