Welcome to Livingston County’s Bicentennial GeoTrail!
My name is Find R. Fox. I’ll be your guide to super-sleuthing the hides at these amazing, historical locations all around our beautiful 200-year-old county!
To make your travel through history a bit easier, imagine yourself in a Time Machine (your best mode of transportation will do). Set the dial (your gps unit) to the first year (coordinates) listed below, check the waypoints for Parking and push the navigate button! Whirl your way there then switch your coordinates as needed to navigate to the geocache to sniff out the container and sign the log sheet. Good Luck & Enjoy the journey!!
Per request of the Avon Village Police 8 AM - 8 PM. Also, please be careful crossing the street, especially with little ones and pets, as this is a busy roundabout.
The hammered and polished Barre granite fountain is located near the west side of the Avon Village Park.
The Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is the oldest, continuous woman's organization in the world. It was the major force behind obtaining the 18th (Prohibition) and 19th (Women’s Suffrage) Constitutional Amendments to the United States Constitution.
The National WCTU organizing convention of 1874 encouraged its attendees to erect drinking fountains in their hometowns. This National Union advocated the fountains as a means to discourage people from entering saloons for refreshment and sponsored temperance fountains in towns and cities across the United States.
In the early 1900s, the movement for the establishment of drinking fountains was renewed and the Avon Women’s Christian Temperance Union began raising funds to erect a drinking fountain in Avon Park. Over $500 was raised and a contract was awarded to C. Sutherland of Perry, N.Y. for $470.
The specifications stated the fountain was to be of polished and hammered Barre granite, square, gable roof, bowl open at the four sides, two sprays from which to catch a draught of the cool refreshing waters, a cellar with pipe coil, and receiver for ice when needed. The back of the fountain was to be anchored to two iron seats.
The fountain was transferred to the Village of Avon and ready with ice for the fourth of July in its first year. It continued in active use until the second half of the twentieth century.
A number of places had temperance fountains. Few remain in existence today. The one in the Avon Village Circle is the only one in this area. No two of any of these fountains are alike and all are fascinating to visit.
Thanks to the various Village of Avon offices for permission to place this cache!
Thanks to ElbaPatch and HFJohn for their assistance with placing this cache!
Let's pretend you are inspecting this fountain area to get your final coordinates, which are North 42 54.WCT, West 077 44.U where
W = the number of bushes surrounding the fountain
C = the number of columns on the fountain + 1
T = from either date on the fountain, the sum of the first and last digits of that date + 1
U = the last 3 digits of the original longitude minus the sum of the digits from either date on the fountain + 1
You can validate your puzzle solution with certitude.
For those not using a checker: W + C + T = (the sum of the digits of U)
This cache is 1 of 36 caches comprising the Livingston County Bicentennial GeoTrail (LivCo200) placed in the summer of 2021 in honor of Livingston County’s Bicentennial by members of the local geocaching group called the Bee Hive. For more information about Livingston County’s Bicentennial, visit the County Historian’s Bicentennial web page on the Livingston County New York website at https://www.livingstoncounty.us/1115/County-Bicentennial
