"The Rose City" Traditional Cache

Madison was known for over a century as the “Rose City” growing roses for the New York City market was once a vital Rose growing industry. In 1856 the first greenhouse began operating in Madison when Alfred M. Treadwell built several greenhouses on his estate.

In 20th century the premium on land for housing, the cost of heating greenhouses, and competition from Florida caused a decline in the industry. A memorial plaque to the last commercial greenhouse in Madison, razed in 1985 to make way for a residential development.

This cache is located in Summerhill Park, Madison NJ, at the site where The Villa Lorraine estate house, built in 1875 once stood. During the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries it was the home of international business man and prominent Madison rose-grower Theodore Washington Stemmler. He maintained over 36,000 square feet of greenhouses on the property.

Mr. Stemmler came from New York City his wife, Jane (Jennie) Taylor Hunting was deeply connected in Madison for many generations. She was the granddaughter of Lt. Col. Stephen Darby Hunting who owned the Madison House (then called ‘Waverly House’) and entertained Gen. Lafayette upon his July of 1825 visit in to Bottle Hill,”

About the Borough of Madison, New Jersey; known as Bottle Hill until 1834, was first settled in the middle of the eighteenth century. Its historical significance, now often forgotten by its cosmopolitan population, includes a railroad heritage dating to 1837, commuter traditions that began with the railroad's arrival, the founding of Drew University in 1866, the development of fabled millionaire estates that have largely disappeared, and the location of a nationally known rose-growing industry that is now gone. Even as it attracted a number of very wealthy estate owners, Madison also became home to a richly diverse ethnic population that came to work in the palatial homes and in the huge rose-growing greenhouses found nearly everywhere in the borough.

The cache location

This cache is located near the greenhouse ruins, I first discovered this place in 2005 looking for "Where are all the flowers" cache (GCN7B1) archived last year. Walk from the parking area down the drive and you will see the original old cement steps, its overgrown and you can take the stairs, but continue another 40 feet and there is a new gravel trail. Either way you choose will get you to the ruins and the cache which is near the trail to avoid the poison ivy and the overgrown area. Also, as an alternate you can park on Central Ave, and take the trail up towards the cache too.