In 1755 Nemacolin's Path became Braddock's Road in honor of
British General Edward Braddock, who led a costly expedition to the
French Fort Duquesne at the "Forks of the Ohio". General Braddock
widened the path into a 110-mile road for his army of siege guns,
field pieces, wagons and 2,100 troops. It was an epic maneuver in a
summer plagued by heat and drought. Seven miles short of Fort
Duquesne, Braddock's forces were met by 900 French and Indian
fighters who were racing up the Monongahela Valley to stop the
British advance. While Braddock tried to rally his men into proper
military battle lines, the French and Indians surrounded Braddock's
troops and hid behind the trees to shoot at the exposed troops.
Braddock and 600 of his troops were killed.
Nemacolin's Path/Braddock's Road would form the basis for the
first National Pike, which went on to become U.S. Route 40, and
then, nearby, U.S. 68.
Your search will begin at an historic information sign along
Route 40, on the summit of Big Savage Mountain, above Frostburg,
Md. Here you will find a great view, a great story and info needed
to take you to the final cache and General Braddock's Road. Final
cache is just 1/2 mile away as the crow flies. (of course, you are
not a crow:) The 2 and 1/2 mile portion of Braddocks Road is marked
and publicly accessible in the Savage River State Forest, just
south of exit 29 off I-68. It is accessible from Beall School Road
where you will see red, white and blue "Historic Braddock Road"
signs. The road to the cache is a very nice gravel forest road, was
no problem to drive in car (with 5 inch clearance!:).
Find information on sign as follows, to find final cache
coordinates:
N39 39.ABC, W78 58.DEB
A)-Second number in year(s) in which Mountain Inn Hotel
burned.
B)-Second number in the height of the summit of the mountain on
which Inn stood.
C)-First number in number of wagons which crossed mountain.
D)-First number in the year in which Braddock led his army
through "this wild country".
E)-Sum of first and last numbers in the year in which Braddock
led his army through "this wild country".
Please feel free to send an e-mail should you want to check on
final coords. While you are visiting General Braddock's Road, be
sure to visit the nearby St. John's Rock cache, a great hide with a
fabulous view.
Please be sure container closes with a "snap" to keep
contents dry, thanks!:)
Have a great visit to this wonderful historic treasure and tread
lightly while you are there, enjoy!:)
Great job CacheDetectives!
Huge spoiler hint below