Thanks for stopping here! This cache is part of a GeoTour (& the largest GeoTour in the USA). You can learn more, and obtain our Expedition Guide(s) on how to earn a locally artisan crafted souvenir, by visiting: Geocaching & GeoTour - Berea Chamber of Commerce, or search for Berea Chamber of Commerce GeoTour (GT78) on Geocaching.com or on the app.
The Berea Chamber of Commerce GeoTour is host to a wide variety of geocaches that stretch beyond the City limits of Berea, KY. Our geocaches are as diverse and spread out as the members of our organization. Our GeoTour will take you on a journey throughout our region to visit sights, experience scenes, and discover locations that only locals tend to know about. Thank you for participating in our GeoTour and we encourage you to visit all our caches!
Although this location may seem a little off the beaten path, the story behind the site on which you stand plays an important role in the history of this area. Kentucky played an important role in expanding the western frontier of a independent and young American nation. Lexington, KY was known as a prime hub of commerce and activity (the "Athens of the West") and attracted stagecoach travel as a form of transportation. Stagecoaches provided routine scheduled travel options, as well as privately chartered options. The expansion of services to outlying areas, with Lexington, KY serving as a centralized hub, created the need for relay stations between coaches. The site on which you stand once served as one of those relay stations for stagecoaches in this area, (a relay station was a pick-up and drop-off point between two or more stagecoaches heading to more distant destinations). The greatest height of stagecoach travel in Kentucky was betweem 1835 and 1852. By 1852, the "iron horse" (locomotives and railroads) modernized travel to the point that stagecoaches were becoming obsolete and no longer a viable industry.
You are seeking a micro that has been hidden in the standard way for a location like this, but accented for the history it represents. This location is county-owned property due to the roadway, but if you look up the hill along the nearby driveway, you will see a historic home (that has been modernized and remodeled from it's heyday by the newest owners). The owners of this home are aware of the geocache at this site, so feel free to wave if you see them. Do not block their driveway in your search. Bring your own writing utensil. Cache contains a log only.