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.
There is no container at posted coordinates. Instead, read the logging requirement below and send me your answer before logging the find. Logs without a corresponding message with the correct answer will be deleted without notice.
Welcome to historic Council Bluffs!
The official name of this monument is the Ruth Anne Dodge Memorial, but it's known locally as the Black Angel. I grew up in Council Bluffs, and as a kid, my grandma told me the legend of the Black Angel. I love both this neighborhood and Art Nouveau, so I thought it would make a nice Virtual cache. Located at the edge of Fairview Cemetery, this would count as a cemetery cache for those who might be interested. That being said, hours are dawn to dusk. Please be respectful of the area and do not search for this cache when it's dark.
Ruth Anne Dodge was the wife of General Grenville Dodge, a Civil War veteran, U.S. congressman, businessman, and railroad exec, who was a leader in constructing the Transcontinental Railroad. Anyway, a few months after her husband died in 1916, Mrs. Dodge related to her daughters a recurring dream she had. In her dream, she was standing on a shore, and an angel approached her on a boat. The angel carried a bowl of water and offered it to Mrs. Dodge. Finally, on the third night, Mrs. Dodge accepted a drink of water from the angel. She died shortly thereafter.
Her daughters commissioned famous sculptor Daniel Chester French to create the beautiful Art Nouveau memorial at posted coordinates. You're familiar with French's most famous statue: the huge seated Abraham Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The Black Angel/Ruth Anne Dodge Memorial is included on the National List of Historic Places.
Now, for the logging requirement: Go to the "Plaque" Waypoint and send me a message with the answer to the following question:
What is the first year mentioned on the plaque at the "Plaque" waypoint?
Feel free to post photos of the area, but please, no photos of the plaque at the given Waypoint. I hope you enjoy this spot as much as I do!
Congrats to MirNBCan on the FTF!