Back in the early 1900's, Old Man Martin was one of the first men to acquire land along this wagon trail and settle his family here. After his service to our country, he returned with some never before seen personal peculiarities. His new obsession with privacy and isolation was, according to family members, due to his experiences in the war. When he returned, he wanted to have a family, but he didn't want to feel like he was living cramped in a barracks. He built a 6 bedroom house for his future family, using only materials found on his 200 acres. He didn't want to work for anyone because he didn't want to feel like he was taking orders as he did in the war. This led him to raising crops, cattle, poultry, and pork. He fed his family from these efforts and sold or traded the rest for income or needed materials for the farm and house. With his desire for privacy, he hired a first cousin to handle and delver all his sales. He was known to be very generous with folks in his area. He wouldn't charge anyone that was down on their luck or having a hard time. About two miles north of here, the widow Johnson's house burned. Mr. Martin organized, as well as paid for, a new house to be constructed, totally anonymously. His cousin knew what he had done, but everyone else in the area just had their suspicions.
Old man Martin became totally withdrawn, and turned all his money and business interests over to his 7 kids not long after his wife of 62 years passed away of natural causes. He lived his last four and a half years without ever leaving the security and comfort of his 200 acre farm. His family sold off most his assets years ago, except for this 60 acres of land, including the old home place and the site of his first produce garden.
This is a two stage multi-cache along the original property line of Mr. Martin's farm. At stage one, you can see the thinner spot in the woods to the northeast where his original home was located.
At the final stage, you can see his security measures include the hog panel fencing plus barbed wire fencing a few feet further in the wood line. Also at stage two, you may be able to see the ground still shaped in rows from his gardening.
Please respect the Martin family wishes and do not cross the barbed wire fence guarding the property. Pay attention to your surroundings and stay safe.