Hidden History of Howard County: An occasional series
Finding this geocache will take you to a historic location on the site of the farm formerly known as "Waverly." The Waverly farm was originally patented in 1726 by Daniel Carroll of Upper Marlboro, and passed through many hands over the years, including some prominent local names. The Dorsey family, who have left their name elsewhere in the county (GC8TF0M), were the first owners after the Carrolls, and farmed the land for many years. John Eager Howard, governor of Maryland (1788-91), Revolutionary War hero, and namesake of Howard county, owned the land for some years, as did his son George, who also served as governor of Maryland (1831-33).
The original farm, covering 700+ acres, was sold and redivided many times over the years. The ruins that you will visit as part of Stage 1 are apparently the remnants of a tenant farm that was worked well into the 20th century. The building was originally likely to be a spring house, located on the edge of a spring-fed pond for the storage of spoilable goods. Some servants or enslaved people may have orignally lived in the upper floors as well. The architecture of the building indictes it was built in the early 18th century, and indeed it does not appear on a tax form from 1798.
The land around the Waverly property was redeveloped in the early 1990s into a large subdivision, a shopping center, and golf course. (There are many other caches around the area, perhaps you've found a few.) There were apparently several more similar buildings immediately north of this building that appear on aerial photopgraphs from the 50s and 60s, but they were lost in the redevelopment and no information currently exists on them.
The exact number of enslaved people that lived and worked on the farm is not known, but it was likely between 5 and 25 at any given time. I don't know about you, but slavery seems like a distant concept, confined to the Deep South. But Maryland was indeed a slave state, and this pleasant suburban area housed slaves for decades. Kind of makes you stop and think, doesn't it?
More information on the building and the history of the land available at the Maryland Historical Trust's website.
Stage 1
To arrive at these ruins at Stage 1, turn into Troon Overlook off of Birmingham Road. The ruins are immediately behind the condo complex, and if you're looking at the complex, you can walk around the right side of it to arrive at the pond.
At Stage 1, you will need to find a clue on or around the ruins that will give you the Latitude (only)for Stage 2.
Stage 2
To find Stage 2, you need two pieces of information: 1) the Latitude from the clue at Stage 1, and 2) you will need to do some research on the history of the property and enter that information into Certitude to receive the Longitude.
Complete this sentence: "Before it was known as 'Waverly', the property was known as 'The _______.'" (all lower case, one word).
You can validate your puzzle solution with certitude.