On June 24, 2004, I placed my third ever cache (GCJRJ5). That cache has been longed archived but to this day, it probably was my most found cache. Must have been a curiousity in the name as if you might run into zombies or something more sinister. You're not. The old cache was actually in a cemetery many of you have probably passed by on the Interstate without ever knowing it was there. In fact, I was dragged to the Strafford area by my parents around 1976 from the north St. Louis county and it was many years before I learned this cemetary was here.
Thomas Forester is the oldest buried in this cemetery. He was born in Tennessee in 1796 and died in Greene County about 69 years later to give you some idea of how old this cemetery is. Forester fought in the War of 1812.
This cache is not in the cemetery. It's just off the service road you can park on to get to the cemetary, which is in the cluster of tree a couple hundred feet from the new cache. Cemetary caching rules have been respected.
The cemetary is the Potter Family Cemetery. There is no sign to recognize that. It's just sits off in a cluster of trees between I-44 and Route 66. Useless trivia about Strafford notes the first mayor of Strafford had the surname of "Potter," so the name does have some importance to the southwest Missouri town. However, it wasn't the Potters who originally donated the land that would become Strafford. That was a woman named Sarah Lane donated 33 acres of her property to help form this little town.
Feel free to explore the cemetery once you have found the prize. Also, take care in piecing the cache back together. I have been trying to develop caches that will be free of muggle interests in common areas while also hopfully holding up to weather in hopes of maintainence free caches that last many years. In comparison, the first Strafford's Lost Dead cache was a rubbermaid container that, well you know...
By the time it finally died, I had moved back to Chicago after spending a few months back here fininshing my education at Missouri State.
For your safety and for the fragile state of the cemetary, please do not enter the cemetery after dark. Cache is available 24/7 and does not require you to enter the cemetery.