I knew that Snap_Cat and I were going to be in Pasadena visiting my 95 year old Grandmother, so I went on a internet search for some new earthcache inspiration. One of the things that picked my interest was a 119 year old stone “Wishing Bench” at Mothers Garden in Downs Park. A posted sign at the bench reads “Legend has it that if you sit quietly and make a secret wish, your wish will come true.” How can I not want to check that out?

The bench itself is very beautiful, like something out of a fantasy novel. Snap_Cat sat down first and made her secret wish, while I being a rock head started wondering “where did they get the stones to build this?”

Downs Park is not locate too far outside from the fall line and piedmont regions, so they could have bought some stones and transported it here. Then I thought “that would be really expensive, and in 1915 it would be harder to transport here.” So I read up on Downs Park history, and it turns out that in 1913 this property was known as Rocky Beach Farm, and that it was named that for the red sandstone which thrusts up out of the sand on the beach.

Red sandstones in the coastal plains are usually made up of mostly quartz sand that is cemented together by iron minerals deposited minerals between the particle grains. Chemical and bacterial processes allow these minerals to form when iron dissolved in acidic water is deposited, and creates an iron stone. If ironstone consisted of more iron, it would be considered a bog iron ore. If it is made up of more sand, it is then considered a Sandstone. and would not considered an ore (Ores are rocks that consist of one or more minerals that can be extracted for valuable profit).

When my daughter and I arrived at the park, she wanted to check out the water first. So we walked down to the beach to investigate. There we found plenty of the small red sandstone spread out along the beach, and we even spotted larger red sandstone rocks (similar the bench rocks) tucked in among the exposed tree roots of the eroding cliffs. The redish rust color in these rocks is a strong indicator that iron is present in the stone.

After spending time enjoying the beach, we decided to head over to Mother’s Garden to locate the Wishing Bench. First thing we spotted when we entered the garden is that there is a long rock wall built in the garden, and we followed it along and soon came across the bench. A closer inspection of the both the rocks of the bench and the wall, I was able to see the same sedimentary features as the rocks that I found on the beach. In fact. some of the rocks that make up the Wishing Bench looked very much like “Bog Iron boulders” I found in Laurel years ago. This made perfect sense when I did some research later and learned that Downs Park falls in a geological area called the Potomac Group, the same group as where that Laurel Dinosaur Park is where I have my Bog Iron Boulder earthcache.

The Potomac Group consists of a narrow belt of mostly unconsolidated (not solid), arenaceous (consisting of sand), argillaceous (rocks consisting of Arundel Clays), and often ferruginous (containing Iron) sediments of highly varied character that spans Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia.

Bog Iron masses found in this group generally consist of yellowish, brownish, or blackish limonite, usually formed by the influence of micro-organisms, and containing silica, phosphoric acid, and organic matter. It is always porous, often slag like and hard, is usually an irregular aggregate form, but always loose and earthy. It is usually mingled with other substances like humates, iron phosphates, ulmates, crenates, and hydrated iron silicates.

LOGGING REQUIREMENTS:

To log this Earthcache: Read the geology lesson above. Answer all four questions posted below a take a photo. Answers can be sent via e-mail or messenger contacts on my Geocaching profile within a reasonable time. Group answers are fine, but do not post the answers to the questions in your logs.

QUESTION 1. Rub your hand across one or more of the red stones that make up the bench. Does the color rub off on your hand or is it pretty well cemented together?

QUESTION 2. Walk over to the beach at WAYPOINT 2 and find some red sandstone. Do you believe that the stones that make up the bench came from the stones found here at the beach? Why or why not?

QUESTION 3. Why do you think the stones on the beach seem redder than the stones placed at the garden?

QUESTION 4. Do you think that these stones in Downs Park contain enough iron to be considered an ore?

POST PHOTO IN YOUR LOG: Posting a photo in your log readily indicates that you (and anyone else logging the find) are at the memorial. You do not have to show your face, but the photo should be personalized by you, your hand, or a personal item with the memorial. NOTE: Per newly published Earthcache guidelines, this requirement is REQUIRED to claim the find. I will also except photos sent to me in the message center for those of you who prefer privacy.

Awesnap has earned GSA's highest level:

REFERENCES:
1. Downs Park History, Recreation and Parks, Anne Arundel County, Website, aacounty.org
2. Potomac Group, including Raritan and Patapsco Formations, Arundel Clay, and Patuxent Formation, U.S. Department of the Interior, Mineral Recourses, mrdata.usgs.gov
3. Petrology and Origin of Potomac and Magothy [Cretacious] Sediments, Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain, John D. Glaser, Maryland Geological Survey Report of Investigations No.11, 1969, Concretions, Page 36 terpconnect.umd.edu