Whenever there is a large undeveloped tract in a city, you should ask yourself why. In the case of Simpson Garden, this parcel was purchased by the city long ago. It was first developed as an oil well field, then it was held for development of water wells, should the city need additional water capacity.
Eventually both of those uses became obsolete, as the oil boom went bust and Bowling Green developed a water system that relies on surface water from the Maumee River. The parcel that is now the main part of the park was then used as a landfill and stockpile for excess material from other city projects.
Fast forward to the 1990s and a local resident left her estate to the city, for use in improving City Park. The city also bought the Church of the Nazarene for meeting spaces and park offices. Well, there was also some drama and intrigue with Mrs. Simpson’s estate, and the net result of all of that was that this area would take the name Simpson and be redeveloped as a park and arboretum in her memory.
Believe it or not, this park is only about 20 years old! There used to be traditional caches here, but it proved to be a bad combination of fragile sculptures, tender plants, and over-zealous searches for cache containers. Now, with the return of virtual caches, we can once again return to Simpson Garden Park.
TO LOG THIS CACHE please head to the Japanese section of the garden, designed in honor of Fujiya Kawashima, and do one of the following:
Either take a photo of yourself or a signature item on the bench at the coordinates and add it to your log.
Or turn your back to the bench, look for the conifer to the right of the weeping white pine, and send me a message identifying the species on the marker. Common name is fine.
Designated parking for Simpson Garden is at the corner of Wintergarden and Conneaut, or you can park at Wood County Hospital and walk over.
Virtual Rewards 4.0 - 2024-2025
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between January 17, 2024 and January 17, 2025. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 4.0 on the Geocaching Blog.