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This walkable two-leg tupperware cache has all sorts of goodies including a camera to record your visit.
Located in Haverford Township, this historic estate offers a variety of interesting features from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Yes, you too, can visit a place where George Washington once spent the night.
This location is a hidden gem and is well worth your visit.
Park on surrounding suburban streets at any of these three locations:
1) 39 58.588N, 75 17.149W - FROM ABOVE: Main entrance walk past old stables and parking area
2) 39 58.559N, 75 17.032W - FROM BELOW: Inclined walk up a long windy paved driveway
3) 39 58.739N, 75 17.062W - FROM BEHIND: Woodland trail walk. Past a sinkhole(?) and down a semi-steep incline.
The estate is closed from dusk until dawn. There are no gates or fences which prevent access at any time.
During official public hours (1-4pm Saturday and Sunday from April until October) groups gather for tours and a small $2/person fee is charged for entrance. Also, be mindful that weddings or other events may be taking place in and around the mansion during weekend evenings.
Aside from these times, you'll have the estate to yourself.
CACHE INSTRUCTIONS:
There is no bushwacking required for this cache. Please stay on the trails except for the very end.
Approach the given coordinates. Take a look at the plaque dedication. Giving each letter a number (A=1, B=2...) add up each letter in the plaque's first word. Divide by 2 and add 10. Subtract this number from the Latitude.
Add up the last two letters on the plaque and then add that number to the Longitude.
Head to the new coordinates. Don't sit yet. An easy hop and you'll find the goods within 10 feet of where you're standing.
The clue is a dead giveway.
HISTORY:
A passage of interest written by Dr. Daniel Smith in 1862:
"There is no place in the township of Haverford, perhaps none in the county, with which so much historical interest is associated as with this ancient seat of grandeur and elegance. Henry Lewis, a Welsh Quaker, one of the most staid of his sect, selected this spot as his wilderness abode in 1682. He was succeeded by his son, Henry, who resided here many years. About the middle of the last century we find the estate, then consisting of nearly four hundred acres, owned and occupied (at least in the summer season) by a Capt. John Wilcox (sometimes spelled Wilcocks), who erected upon it a mansion, . . . and gave it the name of 'Clifton Hall.' Capt. Wilcox surrounded his estate with a ditch of some depth, most of which, within the recollection of many now living, could be readily traced, and some parts of it are still visible. It is said, on the authority of tradition, that Capt. Wilcox caused this ditch to be dug in order to give employment to his negroes, of whom he owned a considerable number. "
"About the year 1760, Charles Cruickshank, a Scotch gentleman of wealth, who held a captain's commission under the British government, and who had seen service in the Netherlands, came to America, and in 1761 purchased the Clifton Hall estate, but changed its name to the 'Grange,' or 'Grange Farm.' Soon after the year 1770 . . . the mansion-house was enlarged and variously modified. It is also probable that about this period the terraced walks were cut, the green-house established, and that the almost unequaled natural beauties of the place were fully developed by the appliances of art, under the direction of a well-cultivated taste. The land attached to the Grange was partly in three counties, - Chester (now Delaware), Philadelphia, and Montgomery, - which Capt. Cruickshank increased by purchase. "
"In 1768, Mr. John Ross, also a Scotch gentleman, and an extensive merchant of Philadelphia, married Clemantina, the daughter of Capt. Cruickshank, who at the close of the Revolutionary war sold the Grange to his son-in-law, Ross, and returned with his family to his native country. Mr. Ross added to the buildings, and also increased the quantity of land to an aggregate of six hundred acres. After the death of Mr. Ross, in 1806, the estate was sold to his son-in-law, John F. Mifflin, who in 1810 sold the mansion to John H. Brinton, the maternal grandfather of Gen. Geo. B. McClellan. In 1816, Mr. Brinton sold the mansion, with another part of the estate which he had purchased in 1811, to Manuel Eyre, Esq., who made it his country residence till his death, in 1845. About that time the Grange was purchased by John Ashhurst, Esq., the son-in-law of Mr. Eyre, who still occupies it as his country-seat."
"At an early period, particularly during its occupancy by Mr. Ross, the Grange was fitted up in the most exquisite style of the times, and during the summer months it was not infrequently the scene of elegant and luxurious entertainments."
Additional Hints
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