In 1870, Samuel Nicholson Rhodes father remarried (his mother had died) and they moved to the little town of Haddonfield. Rhodes was 8, and he'd call this place home for the rest of his life.
He was pretty much a model citizen - helping to found the historical society, leading the drive to save Hopkins Pond as a park (it still is to this day, although now owned by the county), and leading the movement to get the library/historical society building built in town. He led the celebration of the town's 200th Anniversary in 1911, and even wrote a book on the town history for the big year. All of this would certainly make a notable man, well worth remembering and honoring.
But it was here in Haddonfield, in his grandfather's backyard at Boxwood Hall, that he began to study "the diversity of trees, flowers, insects, mammals and birds". He would begin to collect specimins from across South Jersey, something he'd continue to do throughout his life. As he reached adulthood, he traveled around the country and the world to study the natural world, discovering three new species of birds in Equador in the early 1900s during his adventures. He published dozens of papers on the natural world, and has thousands of specimins to his credit in the collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.
Sadly, he had a break down in the '20s and was institutionalized for many years at the end of his life.
His papers and photos are preserved by the Historical Society of Haddonfield, and several of them have further been preserved by being put on Google Books. Rhodes has also been brought back to life by a group of Haddonfield students, who researched his life and, in 2016, finished writing Samuel N. Rhoads of Haddonfield, NJ: Birds, Books and Big Adventures. This book was published by the Haddonfield Historical Society, and is now being used in the Haddonfield Schools.
Cache is a small film canister hidden in a small park, so bring your own pen. Rhodes loved birds, and so does my 6 year old that made this hide. Luckily for you, he can't get very high.