The Tar River and the Pamlico River are not two different
rivers, but are simply the upstream and estuarine portions of a
single river system. Rising in the Piedmont farmlands of North
Carolina near Roxboro, the Tar River flows southeasterly for 140
miles. As the river flows across the flat Coastal Plain, it
transforms from a freshwater river into a brackish system near the
city of Washington. Here the name changes to the Pamlico River, and
it travels another 37 miles before emptying into the Pamlico Sound.
The Pamlico Sound is a shallow estuary, second in size only to the
Chesapeake Bay. The sound not only supports vast recreational
fisheries, but is an important nursery for 90 percent of all the
commercial seafood species caught in North Carolina. (This
information about the Tar-Pamlico taken from PTRF's website:
www.ptrf.org. All other
information is courtesy of the NC
Estuarium. )
The coords take you to a parking area by the Pamlico portion of
the river. This area was once a major shipping center prized for
its good waters. It became a commercial and cultural center for
nearly a century. The original name of Washington was Forks of the
Tar.
Observe the attorney’s building nearby. This used to be a
warehouse built in 1825 for storage of goods shipped on the Tar
River
The following clues will take you to your first destination.
A = number of black shutters facing you on attorney’s
building
B = add 1 to number of shutters
C = subtract 1 from number of shutters
N35 32.A B 5 W077
03.A C 5
Stage One: Two-River Walk
This leg could be dangerous to small ones.
There is no need to cross any major road. Along the way,
pass historic Haven's Wharf, one of the oldest commercial buildings
still used for its original purpose in North Carolina. Some of the
old homes across the street were built by the businessmen who used
the river in their commerce.
At end of your walk to your first destination, you will see two
signs:
The Tar-Pamlico River Basin You've probably seen signs
like this all over North Carolina. They are placed there by the
North Carolina Office of Environmental Education to educate and
remind people that the water in the area the sign represents all
goes to the ocean via a certain river. The Tar-Pamlico River Basin
encompasses all or part of fifteen counties, is over 2.5 million
acres in size, and has a drainage area of 5,400 square miles. The
estuarine portion consists of 634,400 acres. The population in the
basin is about 400,000 people. Farming, forestry, and phosphate
mining are the most important land uses in the basin
and <-Pamlico ->Tar River. The Tar-Pamlico is one
river with two names. The “Tar” is the upper, freshwater part of
the river, and covers about 150 miles from a spring in North
Carolina’s Piedmont to this point. The “Pamlico” is the last
37-mile stretch where the river widens and begins to mix with salt
water from Pamlico Sound. The Highway 17 bridge was designated as
the official dividing line between the sections some years ago, but
the reason this single river has two names is long lost to history.
It is believed that “Tar” is a reference to the vast loads of tar,
pitch and turpentine that were made from pine sap harvested in the
region’s forests during the 1700 and 1800s. “Pamlico” (actually
Pamptico) is the name of a Native American group that once lived
along the river’s northern shore, perhaps right where you are
standing.
On the fence next to the sidewalk across the four-lane street,
how many fencetoppers or posttoppers do you count?:
A = DIGITS OF FENCE TOPPER ANSWER ADDED TOGETHER =
B = ADD 1 TO A
C = SUBTRACT 2 FROM A
D = SUBTRACT 5 FROM A
N35 32.B C 2 W077
03.A D 6
Stage 2: The Course of True Love...
Walk back through restaurant parking lot toward the kayaks and
find a love statement written in cement during the last century.
Write it down.
As you proceed, what is the name of the house built in 1820?
At the next GPSr stop, you are in a courtyard-like area where
the office of an organization of great importance to the river is
located. Founded in 1981, this environmental organization advocates
for the protection of the river and its surrounding habitat. Its
aim is to reduce all forms of pollution, prevent wetland loss,
safeguard wildlife habitat, protect public trust waters, control
erosion and storm runoff, and promote sustainable development. The
river begins near Roxboro, NC, and flows through Louisburg,
Tarboro, Rocky Mount, and Greenville on its way here. This
organization makes the river its chief concern.
Look for an object which has painted on it what is a very
important year in our nation's history . Look on this object for
your coords which will be written on a card for you to keep. If
you can't find these coords, you don't know squat! (let me know
if you get the last one) When you've found your coords, don't
forget that the world-famous Bill's Hot Dogs is very close by.
Stage 3: A Dog, Some Dessert, and a Drain
AT the next stop is an admonition for you to watch what you
throw away: KEEP PAMLICO SOUND CLEAN. As you are walking toward it,
you can get dessert at one of two great places on either side of
the street.
Until 2002, storm sewers in downtown Washington drained directly
to the Pamlico River. Whenever it rained, the dirt, oil, and other
pollution on the streets washed into the river and damaged water
quality. Notices were painted onto storm sewers to remind people
what would happen if they dumped their trash or oil on the street.
In 2002, the storm sewers were re-routed so that runoff now flows
into a man-made wetland where it can be filtered by natural
processes before reaching the river.
BONUS! There is a benchmark on one of
the nearby buildings which you can record as a find at
geocaching.com (if you can figure out which one it is).
What is the elevation recorded on the benchmark?.
A = Add 2nd, and 4rd digits of the elevation =
B = 2nd digit =
C = first two digits added together =
D = A + 1
35 32.A B4 w077
03.C D 6
Stage 4: There and Back Again
As you walk along on this stage, what is the full name of the
business established in 1818?
At this next stop, find out:
How many stars are facing you on this attorney office building:
How many black shutters :
What are the red letters on the large green electric box:
What 6-letter/number series is on each of the bolt heads on the
raised storm drain covers:
A = number of shutters minus number of stars =
B = number of stars =
C = 5th number on bolt heads fastening down raised storm drain
covers =
D = numerical equivalent of the 3 letters on electric box added
together =
(A = 1, B = 2, etc)
N35 32.A B 2 W077
03.C D 4
Stage 5: Castles On One Side, Frog Princes On the
Other...(well, frogs anyway)
As you stroll along toward the end of your next walk, imagine
this river and not the highway (there wasn't one) was the hub of
activity in this area. Besides commerce, it was on this very
waterfront that the showboat was built which inspired Edna Ferber's
novel, SHOW BOAT. Ferber stayed in Bath one summer early last
century and experienced the showboat as it made stops along these
coastal rivers bringing entertainment in the form of dance and song
to the people in eastern North Carolina. Of course, she set her
showboat on the Mississippi, but it was really a North Carolina
vessel.
Further along on your walk, the man-made wetland that treats
runoff from those downtown Washington drains is to your left. Pools
in the wetland allow sediment to settle out, and wetlands plants
absorb pollutants in roots and stems. A variety of birds, turtles,
frogs, small fish, snakes, and even a few muskrats have made the
wetland their home.
And on your right, of the three islands in the Pamlico River in
front of the North Carolina Estuarium, only the westernmost --
Castle Island -- is a truly natural formation. When early colonial
explorers came up the Pamlico in the 1700s, the island was so large
that the river seemed to fork here (rising sea level has claimed
most of the island since then). This island is the reason that
Washington was once called Forks of the Tar. Castle Island is so
named because an oyster processing plant on the island in the early
1900s had two smokestacks that looked like turrets from a medieval
castle. The two easterly islands were formed by dredge spoil when
the river’s channel was deepened in the 1930s.
When you get to the next coords, count the number of bolts on
one of the hinges on the gate. =
A = number of bolts minus 5 =
B = number of bolts minus 8 =
C = bolts minus 7 =
D = bolts minus 6 =
N35 32.A B 0 W077
03.C D 3
Final Stage: Is Mine an Innie or an
Outie???
These coords put you at your final destination. There are two
caches, one inside (no fee required) and one outside if everything
is closed. The coords are not exactly where the outside cache is
(but close gps-ishly speaking. Look at the encrypted hint and use
your imagination here.) You can use one or the other but not both
for your log. Clues are below.
Final clues: For inside cache, recall the love statement in
cement on the first leg.
_____ First letter of boy’s last name
_____ Last letter of boy’s first name
_____ Last letter of girl’s last name
_____ First letter of boy’s first name
_____ Last letter of girl’s first name
_____ First letter of girl’s first name
_____ Second letter of girl’s first name
_____ Last letter of girl’s last name
_____ First letter of boy’s first name
_____ Second letter of girl’s first name
_____ First letter of boy’s last name
_____ Letter after the minutes the statement was written
_____ Last letter of girl’s first name
_____ Fourth letter of boy’s first name
_____ First letter of girl’s first name
_____ First letter of boy’s last name
_____ Last letter of boy’s last name
_____ Third letter of girl’s first name
_____ First letter of girl’s first name
For outside cache:
_____ Last letter of Ferber's novel
_____ 1st letter of house built in 1820
_____ 7th letter of closest building
_____ 2nd letter of closest building
_____ 5th letter of closest river
_____ 1st initial of the business established in 1828
_____ 4th letter of building closest to you
_____ 3rd letter of 1st name of girl in love statement
_____ 6th letter of building closest to you
_____ 1st letter of closest building
_____ 2nd letter of closest river
_____ 4th letter of surname in business established in 1818