A series of 20 caches in the Glen Run Natural Preserve & Glen Park
History
The greenway property encompasses land along the north side of the steep Godfrey Ridge, which runs in an east-west direction from Stroudsburg to Delaware Water Gap. The rail bed for the abandoned (yet historic) New York, Susquehanna & Western RR runs along the bottom of the ridge on the south side of the Brodhead Creek. This allows a picturesque and fairly easy walk out to the eastern edge of the county's property. This area is popular among the mountain biking community, so don't be surprised if you happen upon a downhiller erupting from the rhododendrons!
This geocache was placed with the permission of the Monroe County Open Space Forever Green Region, including hide style and location, and for that, we thank them.
This letter "S" geoart celebrates Stroudsburg and its lore. Answers may be found circumnavigating the internet, unless you're a Stroudsburg native and learned this stuff in school.
Did you know? In 1899, a group of citizens decided that Stroudsburg needed its own brewery to craft local beer. Stockholders formed the Stroudsburg Brewery Company and met to elect officers, choose managers, select a brewmaster, and organize and submit the necessary paperwork to Harrisburg to apply for a charter.
On April 25, 1899, the charter was approved in Harrisburg by Governor Stone, and the stockholders began to build the brewery. The plant was constructed by Grieser Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin using local labor. The Stroudsburg Brewery Company was located at present-day First Street in Stroudsburg, right next to the Brodhead Creek. The brick building stood five stories tall.
Aerial view of the Stroudsburg Brewery Company
By 1901, the Stroudsburg Brewery Company was operating at full capacity, producing mostly bottled beer. To keep up with the high demand for their product and to take advantage of improved brewing technology, an addition was added to the original structure to house the “modern machinery” needed to maximize output. The brick addition was built by the Shiffer Brothers with a footprint measuring 80 feet x 30 feet.
In addition to the space dedicated to beer bottling, the expansion held a main office and a private side office and boasted steam heat, electric lights, running water, a toilet room, and “everything desired for comfort and convenience.”
The rear of the new addition housed the improved bottling department, where the electric lights could illuminate the area throughout the night “so that work may be carried on at all hours.” Pasteurizing tanks and the sterilizing machines were also located in the back room. The new bottling machine had a pressurized tube and could rapidly fill (how many) bottles of beer per day; this machine could also cork 90 bottles per minute.
All of the machines were powered with a vertical steam engine. A freshwater spring was located in the rear of the property just outside the brewery which accounted for the “wonderful tasting beer and success of the brewery.” In fact, the freshwater spring was such an important part of the success of the brewery, that the stockholders boldly ran advertisements in the local newspapers stating that “There is No Purer Drink Than Properly Made Beer.”
The brewery thrived for the next 12 years until, for undocumented reasons, the brewery went bankrupt. In August 1913, Sheriff Bonser was instructed to sell off the “personal property including horses, wagons, auto trucks, etc.” The sale of the plant was scheduled for the following month.
You'll find this cache at the correct answer's coordinates and the full story here.
10,000: N40° 59.163' W 75° 10.128'
30,000: N 40° 58.410' W 75° 10.702'
50,000: N 40° 58.380' W 75° 10.826'
Be sure to record the numbers inside this lid for the bonus cache (#21, GC93Q78).
Source: Amy Leiser, Executive Director, Monroe County Historical Association