Cemeteries aren't usually associated with being fun places to visit. It is true that cemeteries and their association with death have a sad, somber, and sometimes creepy feel about them, but they are also places that are filled with history and information. The artwork displayed on gravestones reflects the style and way of thinking of the people who lived at that time. Old gravestones in particular are rife with symbolism and stories about the way of life of our ancestors.
This multicache is meant to be a geocaching adventure during which you will experience and learn about funerary symbolism and history. To complete the multicache, you will visit 15 cemeteries scattered around Annapolis County. At each cemetery you will be led to an example of a specific gravestone decoration, and you will learn about it's meaning and history.
The posted coordinates are the location of the final cache containing the log and a reward. The cache container is locked with a combination lock. You need to find the combination. As you visit and learn about each gravestone, take note of the last 2 digits of the date of death of the noted person. These 2-digit numbers are needed to calculate the combination for the lock on the final cache container. Add together all of the answers you found to get a 3-digit total. This total is the combination to open the final cache. Please take a prize as a reward for all of your hard work (If you happen to take the last one, please note that when you log your find online)!
As with any time you are geocaching, please be sure to be respectful and mindful of your surroundings. Drive only in appropriate areas, leave the site the way you found it, be gentle with the stones (some of them are fragile), be mindful of funerals or visiting mourners, and take a moment to remember that these stones represent the lives of actual people who once lived.
This adventure takes you all around Annapolis County. The sites to visit have been posted here in what we feel is a logical order, but they can be visited in any order you like. When we tested it out, it took us 4 hours to complete the cache, but we knew where we were going, and we didn't stop to explore each cemetery. We suggest you take your time and explore other stones in the cemetery. You will start to notice trends and patterns.
The history and description of each gravestone is located on a separate website (we had more to say about each stone than the descrition for each stage would allow on the Geocaching website). You can find this information (as well as a handy tool for verifying your answers) at: http://bit.ly/gravesituation.
Good luck and have fun!