Dauphin Way Methodist Church originated from Sunday school classes held out on the lawns and front porches of local homes in the early 1900’s. This served the community well until one morning when they were disrupted by a very large black bear with foreboding, deep blue eyes that had decided to attend their worship gathering. It should be noted at the time this part of town was near the Western edge of the City where Dauphin Street ended giving way to Wragg Swamp and true wilderness.
For safety and convenience, parishioners began meeting in what was an old sawmill shed at the corner Dauphin and Houston Streets in 1913. This new location served its purpose for a few years but was small and prone to roof leaks so bad attendees would open umbrellas inside just to continue services on rainy days. A new, modern four-story Sunday school building was constructed at the corner of Dauphin and Catherine Street in 1922 to accomodate the growing membership.
This cache is hidden in a local community garden which is found at the site of this old Dauphin Way Methodist Sunday School building, which was eventually demolished in 1967, 10 years after the church moved yet again, this time across the street to its current even larger building. Hints of the old Sunday school building’s existence can still be discerned with chess pawn like pillars flanking the old steps, still rising up from Dauphin Street at Catherine.
This now distinct green space in the heart of Midtown Mobile’s Dauphin Way District contains the community garden and is used for church overflow parking, but is more commonly know for the fall pumpkin patch and other community activities and church outreaches. The garden is open to anyone who would like to partake of its bounty, plant their favorite seasonal fruits/vegetables for others to enjoy or to just help out in maintaining. Spontaneous campfires and singalong circles have been known to break out on cooler weekend nights.
The cache gets its name partly from the location and otherwise will make sense once found, but was also inspired by the They Might Be Giants Song, Birdhouse In Your Soul which can be viewed here: http://youtu.be/NhjSzjoU7OQ. Shouldn't be too hard to find the cache, but see the hint if you have any troubles. Rumor has it, if you stare into the cache just right, you may catch a glimpse of thoes deep blue eyes of that legendary black bear staring back at you. Muggle activity varies and more caution is needed on Sunday mornings and in October.
Please be respectful of the garden and give a favorite point if you enjoyed this cache. Swap out swag and if you find trackables, only take one or exchange out evenly.
The method of attaching the geocache container to the host structure and its location was approved by the property owner.
Congrats to coton_bunny and VeteranTributes for co-FTF!