Napa's History #1 Virtual Cache
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A historical Virtual Cache. E-mail answers to our five questions to log your visit.
[PLEASE NOTE: (Dated 2010-11-21). I am "owner" of this cache. Webmasters have not forwarded emails for about a year. There is confusion in their email system. I apologize to all who have tried to forward answers; I have not replied because I did not get your email answers. I have contacted webmasters and geocache geeks and tried to correct this matter.]
The caches are in Tulocay Cemetery. It is beautifully maintained and has wide walkways. Please be respectful of rites and mourners. The Cemetery allows obedient dogs on leash and requests you clean up after them. (I will add pictures of these folks as I find them.)
No. 1: N 38° 17.894 W 122° 16.281
I was born in 1809 in the Monterey Presidio and grew up with General Vallejo. I was sent to Sonoma as a sergeant in 1827 to subdue the natives before I came to Napa. People knew I helped the poor and needy, and I’m proud to tell you that my Indian friends called me “Chief.” In 1841, I owned 8,865 acres east of the Napa River called Rancho Tulucay, including the ground on which you stand. Our 50 acre Cemetery sold plots for $10. I sold 192 acres to Napa State Hospital for $11,506 in 1872. At one time 600 people worked for me. Only seven of my children lived. My last son, Delores, was born in our adobe at the corner of Soscol and Silverado Trail, which is now a restaurant called A Taste of Himalayas. I died in 1883. My wife, Maria de Jesus Higuerra, lies beside me.
Who am I? __________________.
No. 2: N 38° 17.954 W 122° 16.282
I was born in Kentucky in 1796 and fought in the Indian Wars. I married Daniel Boone’s granddaughter, Panthea Grant Boone and was Missouri Governor from 1836 to 1840. After the Mormons settled there under Joseph Smith, I sent 6,000 state militiamen to expel them. Porter Rockwell, Joseph Smith’s guard, tried to shoot me through a window; I think Smith told him to. Smith issued three curses upon me but only one came to true--that I would lie forever in the shadow of a Mormon Temple. If you walk due north to N 38° 18.006, W 122° 16.288 and look 30°, you can make out the tip of the Mormon Church’s slender steeple just above a roof top. I went to Napa’s Fort Sutter in 1846, was appointed Alcalde of much of Northern California by our Governor, served in our Assembly in 1852, and I died in 1860. (One geocacher said: "Later during the morning I passed by the Morman temple and thought again about Mr. __. I read about the Mormans being rousted from Missouri. Now I've touched the grave of someone who was there.")
Who am I? __________________.
No. 3: N 38° 17.949 W 122° 16.340
I was born in New York in 1823 and came to Napa in 1855. In 1859 my brother and I opened a bank. I was treasurer of our County for nine years. I gave the City a beautiful Romanesque building on First Street which housed a Library bearing my name, and then our Historical Society. Now it’s in the National Register of Historical Places. We laid its foundation in 1901. I died in 1917.
Who am I? ___________________.
No. 4: N 38° 17.978 W 122° 16.480
I’m not “high society” but I was important, Napa’s best known Black, and called the Mother of the Civil Rights Movement. I was born a mulatto slave in Georgia in 1812. I took the name Mary Ellen Williams in Nantucket. I married a wealthy mulatto, James W. Smith, an abolitionist. Through the late 1830s and early 1840s we smuggled hundreds of slaves to Canada along the Underground Railroad. When Jim died in 1844 I continued to help scores of slaves escape. I fled around Cape Horn to Napa in 1852 and ran a house for “ladies of leisure.” My place was called House of Mystery, probably because I knew voodoo, which explains the shape of my tombstone. I knew everybody, made lots of money, bought land and was a very powerful and influential woman. I introduced many young ladies to rich men and help many babies find homes—and sold my silence for a good price. I spent much of my money helping Black children in San Francisco. I was poor the last few years of my life before I died in 1904.
Who am I? _____________________.
No. 5: N 38° 17.935 W 122° 16.404
I’m Napa’s most prominent historical citizen. I was born in 1826 and came to Napa by way of Oregon and then Bodega in 1843. I joined the Bear Flag Rebellion in 1846, which made California a Republic for 23 days before it became a U.S. Territory. I laid out the City of Napa in 1848 after receiving a 1,700 acre land grant from President James Buchanan. Harrison Pierce built its first structure, a saloon. Folks deserted our city when gold was discovered in 1849. I served in the State Legislature, raised four children with my wife Isabella, and died in 1877. It’s hard to see the writing on my mausoleum crypt, so I’ll tell you my first name: Nathan. (One geocacher wrote: "This was a bit confusing and I'm not sure if I got the correct grave. The name is important to the Mendocino coast because the family set up one of the first logging mills and the family still owns the original house which is now the Little River Inn. I wonder if it is the same family. At your coordinates [at least where my gpsr took me] I found an empty crypt. I can't believe I actually opened the door. It's in the hillside and is very old. Lots of ___ residing near these coords." The "empty crypt" is called a "holding vault," used to temporarily hold the deceased while a permanent resting place was prepared.)
Who am I? _____________________.
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