Spring Mills:
This cache is our tribute to Snurt. Because of him, we will never look at a cemetery the same way again. We decided on this location because it had a little bit of everything - scenery, a cemetery, history (some civil war history as a bonus), a cemetery, an evil micro?, did we mention a cEmEtErY?, as well as rumored supernatural activity...
The Location and its History:
Spring Mills today is made up of The Falling Waters Presbyterian Church and Cemetery, as well as The Hammond House, and its associated properties, the Miller's House and the Old Grist Mill. In 1839, Allan C. Hammond of Morgan County, purchased 400 acres including the mill and a large stone distillery for $18,000. It was called "Spring Mills" on the deed. Dr. Hammond was a very prominent businessman of the area and later acted as a surgeon during the civil war. After purchasing this land, he built one of the largest brick mansions in Berkeley County along with a brick barn. During the war, Dr. Hammond suffered huge financial losses and also lost his son Newkirk, at the battle of Yellow Tavern. The mansion acted as a hospital during the war. After the war ended, he sold the plantation, mill and 415 acres for $50,000 to the Duvall Family to help cover his losses. The Duvalls held the property until 1945, when it was purchased by the Oates Family, who very recently sold it to the current owners. In 1979 the mansion burned, and until very recently stood in ruins and covered with undergrowth. Several years ago, reconstruction of the mill and the Miller's House began. After those two structures were completed, and just over the past year or two the actual mansion has also been rebuilt. It stands directly across route 901 from the given parking coordinates.
The Miller's House is just down route 901 on the same side as the cemetery, and the rebuilt mill is just beyond the Miller's House on the same side of Route 901 as the mansion. Though there are no cache requirements to do so, they may be viewed by a short walk or ride on 901 West.
Please Note: The properties in this history are all still Private Property! They may be viewed from the road only...
05/31/2010 A Civil War Trails Historical Marker has been added in front of the Hammond House! Enjoy.
One of the more interesting topics of discussion here is the fact that the locals consider this mansion to be haunted. Stories of tragic deaths during different time periods are still told. Some have even said that after the recent rebuilding, closing doors and other unexplained sounds can still be heard. And apparently, these beliefs are not isolated to just the locals. More for details on the supernatural aspects of this mansion, check out: www.wvghosts.com/sightings.php, www.westvirginiaghosthunters.com/hauntedwv.html, and www.gettysburgghosts.net/investigations.htm.
The final part of the history here is the cemetery, which was started in 1796, along with a Presbyterian "Meeting House". In 1834, after a fire, the current brick church (the old section) was built. A couple of the brick walls still sport holes which occurred during the civil war. No, no battles were fought here that we know of. We've been told it was soldiers having target practice. The manse was added in 1897 and the newer educational building was added in 1969 to the north side of the church.
The Cache:
This cache is a combination offset and multicache. Also, as with some of Snurt's historical caches, to claim this cache the following questions need to be answered by email:
1) On the road-facing side of the current Hammond House, what color is the lower, left side, ground floor door?
2) What is "Jacob's", (see below) last name?
Later note: Since the adoption of the new cache logging requirements for logging physical caches, these questions are now optional. But we still recommend making them part of your caching experience as they were originally inserted into this cache for a reason. Thanks.
The given coordinates above take you to the final resting place of civil war veteran, "Jacob". Find the following information:
A = Jacob's age at death
B = The number of days he lived past his last birthday
C = The number of his birth month (Jan=1, Feb=2, etc)
D = The number of letters in the name of the BRIGADE in which he served
Calculate the following to find Stage 1 at N39 33.XXX W 077 57.YYY:
E = A/B (divided by)
F = E+B+D
XXX = A*C (multiplied by)
YYY = D*F (multiplied by)
Stage 1 is a micro cache which contains the coordinates for the final cache, which we would consider regular sized. As usual, please be sure to observe the normal etiquette here. Care has been taken so that nothing needs to be disturbed.
Enjoy.
The Wandering Panhandlers