Welcome to the Farewell to Finder’s Fest geo-art, brought to you by the Forest Minions! This series celebrates weird and unusual things throughout the Sunshine State. Please do not go to the posted locations. Rather, solve the challenging quiz found at the bottom of each page, for the final location. For the letterbox caches, please leave the stamp in the cache. They are not trade items. For the discerning traveler, we’ve included the GPS coordinates for these bizarre locations, when we were able to establish them.
House of Statues – Location 30.6294, -81.4391
In Amelia Island, on Fletcher Avenue, is a home owned by Ken Huston, with numerous statues, standing like grey zombies in the front yard. The concrete figures are the last of a collection made in 1936 by Ken’s great-grandfather, Frank M. Klies who was a career navy bandsman. As a hobby, Klies crafted the statues by putting concrete over a frame of shaped-iron robs and metal screen, then etched the final details using a toothbrush and toothpicks. Klies, a descendant of Polish gypsies, made the statues in Maryland where several of them still stand. One of them, a statue of John Paul Jones was donated to the Annapolis Naval Academy.
The ones in Ken’s front yard include Abraham Lincoln, Jean Harlow, Eisenhower, Roosevelt, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor on inauguration day and one Marshall Joseph Pilsudski, complete with medals, who was the leader of Poland after the First World War. The only statue representing Ken’s ancestors is the one of his great-grandmother with her arm raised. He said she once held a trumpet, but like all the statues there is considerable wear and tear with parts missing. A few show faint pigments of paint which is an indication that some had originally been painted.
Here is the super duper, way challenging, really hard trivia question, which, if solved properly, will lead you to the final coordinates:
Question: In which US state is it technically illegal to fart in public, after 6 PM, on Thursdays?
A: Mordor = N29° 28.055' W81° 46.245'
B: Hogwarts = N29° 28.045' W81° 46.245'
C: Florida = N29° 28.035' W81° 46.245'