This mystery cache is part of the Superman GeoArt Series
*The cache is NOT at the posted coordinates*
N 42° 14.037' W 72° 43.614'
These 60 caches placed across Southampton are comprised of park & grabs and short hikes featuring varying levels of difficulty/terrain and an assortment of containers. If you've cached in the area before, you're sure to recognize some of these spots. Enjoy your adventure!
Historic Center Cemetery
Center Cemetery's first recorded burial was in March, 1738. At that time a section of the forest was cleared to provide a burial space for nineteen year old Simeon Wait, who had died from drinking too much water. His stone still stands, though the words are now illegible. In the years that followed, town records document work to clear "ye burying yard" and the approval of money to maintain the cemetery. Wooden fencing was built and repaired. A town tomb was erected, and burial palls and a public horse-drawn hearse were provided. The town voted the funds to provide shovels and other necessary internment tools. The grass was first mowed in the summer of 1859. In 1900 William Foley gave $1000.00 to the town for the cast iron fence that still encloses much of the existing cemetery.
The existing cemetery is at a near-capacity level for providing gravesites for the town. Recognizing that problem, the Cemetery, Water, and Conservation boards worked together and in 2002 pooled their resources and purchased an additional 80 acres of abutting land from past resident Enid Huntley. The land will safeguard the town well, provide opportunities for passive recreation and an area of protected open space, as well as ensuring much needed acreage for future burial space.
The Center Cemetery is a focal point of the town's annual Memorial Day Parade. The parade stops midway in its route at the cemetery grounds as veterans, scouts, schoolchildren, town officers, and local civic groups take part to honor our war dead.
In 1866 the town erected a Civil War Monument. In 2005 the monument (along with a number of other historically significant stones) was cleaned, repaired and preserved with money provided by private citizens, local banks and businesses, and the Community Preservation Fund.