**PLEASE NOTE** This cache is hidden on public property (the tree lawn between sidewalk and street) on a residential street that gets a lot of foot traffic due to nearby coffee and cider businesses and the U.S. National Arboretum. Though this street gets a lot of foot traffic, we ask that you visit this cache ONLY during daylight hours and remain diligent and respectful of neighbors. Thank you for your cooperation, which enables Geocaching to remain a safe and exciting activity for all.
This geocache is hidden as part of the Geocaching DC's Waterways Project with Urban Adventure Squad students.
Today, all that remains of Hickey Run is a one-mile stream with a tributary named Springhouse Run. The only above ground section of the stream is on the grounds of the U.S. National Arboretum. However, Hickey Run had over five miles of stream and 15 tributaries during the Civil War.
The tributary Springhouse Run was named in the early 1900s for a springhouse built next to it. In 1904, a man named Leopold Luchs established the Red Oak Spring Company, a company that sold bottled water. The two round buildings are still standing even though The Red Oak Spring Company went out of business around 1912. Around the same time, another company set up shop along the stream. The United Brickworks built domed beehive kilns for making bricks. The clay for their bricks came from the banks of the Anacostia River. Bricks from The United Brickworks were used in many DC buildings, including the New Executive Office Building and the Washington National Cathedral. The kilns still stand, though the area is blocked off so you can't get too close.
The Hickey Run watershed in NE DC includes the neighborhoods of Langdon, Arboretum, South Woodridge, West Fort Lincoln, South Brookland, Mt. Olivet, Brentwood, and Gateway. The stormwater that falls in those neighborhoods drains into Hickey Run, which leads to the Anacostia River. As the neighborhood became more built up over the years, most of the above-ground parts of the stream were covered or re-routed into underground tunnels called culverts. As more construction happened, the amount of impervious surfaces (that don't allow water to soak in) increased. Such a fast increase in impervious surfaces causes erosion and pollution of the local waterways. DC government and local neighbors are working together to improve the health of the Hickey Run watershed, which also improves the health of the Anacostia River.
Big thanks to our sources: https://doee.dc.gov/service/hickeyrun and http://bygonebrookland.com/on-this-spot-before-the.html
Container is a magnetic nano. Magnetic nanos have tiny log papers that get wedged into the cap of the container--be sure to bring tweezers to remove the log and a pen to sign the log!
This student-led project was funded by a DC Department of Energy and Environment Community Stormwater Solutions Grant.