Dead in the Middle of Nowhere #1 -Johns/Liston
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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The gravel road to the cache has not been in good maintenance. If you do not drive a truck, SUV, or an otherwise high-clearance vehicle, it's probably a good idea to just hike from the site of Liston School.
WARNING: The drive out is worse than the drive in, should you decide to try it in your car.
From the May 13, 2006 Connellsville Daily Courier
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Remembering those forgotten
By Marilyn Forbes
Saturday, May 13, 2006
An old graveyard, nestled back in the mountains of Dunbar, has been uncovered and is being restored.
This was all done because of the efforts of 15-year-old Jarrod Whoric, of Dunbar.
Jarrod became involved with the search for the old Johns/Liston graveyard after a family dinner.
Jarrod was looking for an Eagle Scout project. One day, at dinner, it was suggested he located and uncover the resting ground of relatives. But where was it? Someplace in the mountains of Dunbar on Pennsylvania Game Lands.
"We tried finding it twice before we finally found it," Jarrod's mother, Debbie Whoric said. "The brush was 6-feet high and you couldn't even see it."
The cemetery is located behind a gated road. Jarrod needed permission from the Game Commission to get past the locked roads and to complete his project.
The location of the cemetery is a torturous hike from the nearest parking area. Jarrod and his family, who helped, had to clear brush just to make it to the graveyard.
The cemetery is one of many that is reputed to be in the area, but most of the records for the families are gone.
"It's currently abandoned. The Game Commission cuts the grass once a year, but it's still a mess," Jarrod said.
"It was really in bad shape. It needed cleaned up and fixed up and somebody had to do it. Why not me?" asked Jarrod.
Work at the site wasn't easy.
"We carried everything back that we needed," said Steve Whoric, Jarrod's father. "All the tools and equipment that we used had to be carried back on foot, then carried back in the evening when we were done."
Jarrod is waiting on a donation of gravel to re-stone the access road. He said reopening of that road will help to alleviate some of the hardship of reaching the remote spot.
Jarrod's goal is not to just clean and clear. He also plans to fence in the cemetery, dig out all brush stumps and plant grass. He plans to construct a wooden archway with the graveyard's name honed and painted on the front.
"I also want to put fences around the unmarked graves," Jarrod said.
There are approximately two dozen graves in the small cemetery. Many show evidence of time taking its toll. Several are unreadable. Other stones have fallen, laying on the ground. Jarrod plans to raise them.
Some of the graves are said to be those of local Indians. Some bare the names of family but cannot be read.
"They're from Dunbar and most of them are Listons," Jarrod said. "But there are others with the names Provance, Swindell, Miller and Bryner."
Jarrod's brother, Brent, and sister, Christina, as well as his parents, have all pitched in. They hope to complete work soon.
"It's been a family project," Debbie said. "Weather permitting, we go back at least once a week."
The family if proud of Jarrod's ambition to complete the project.
"We support him in everything he chooses to do," Debbie said. "This is a great project. When no body takes care of these old cemeteries, they get lost. When he's finished, it will be a more visitable site and people will really know where it is at."
But Jarrod says even after he finishes the project, and earns his Eagle Scout, he doesn't plan on abandoning the cemetery.
"I'm going to continue with the upkeep," Jarrod said. "I just feel that I need to try to take care of it. Even though they are dead, you shouldn't just forget them."
Whoric, a freshman at Connellsville Junior High West, has been active in Scouting for nine years. He is a member of Troop 180 of Dunbar and will be the third teen to receive an Eagle Scout ranking from that group this year.
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From the September 26, 2006 Uniontown Herald Standard
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DUNBAR TWP.- It took 1,307 hours of cutting brush and weeds not to mention clearing and removing trees from an abandoned cemetery, but when it was all said and done 16-year-old Jarrod Whoric was proud of what he accomplished while learning a bit of history in the process.
Whoric, a Boy Scout with Troop 180, took on the six-month project to earn the highest rank of Eagle Scout, which he added to the 61 merit badges he received since he joined the Cub Scouts in first grade.
"I enjoy community service," said Whoric.
According to Whoric's father Steve, his son holds the record for the number of merit badges in his troop.
Whoric, a sophomore at Connellsville Area High School, said he decided to clean up the John's/Liston Cemetery at the suggestion of his aunt.
The site is located about two miles from Whoric's residence on Dunbar/Ohiopyle road.
When he initially visited the site last February with his father, Whoric said it was hard to believe a cemetery existed because it was buried under thickets and brush and on property that is state game-lands as well as a township road.
For that reason, Whoric said the project needed to be approved by the State Game Commission in addition to the Boy Scout's Eagle Scout Board and the township supervisors.
The project was financed through various donations from local individuals and businesses, including a $500 grant from Wal-Mart in Dunbar and a $50 check from a family member of an ancestor buried there.
The supervisors also took part in donating 60-ton of gravel.
After getting the go-ahead, Whoric started by clearing the area with the help of his family, and a friend and fellow Boy Scout Troy Johnson spending up to 12 hours a day.
When the brush and thickets were finally cleared Whoric said, tombstones were revealed, some of them seven-foot high that were lying down and had to be lifted by hoists and tripods.
Whoric said one of the graves revealed an Indian burial ground marked by a six-foot arrowhead that looked to be carved by hand along with other plots where three Civil War veterans were buried.
Overall, Whoric uncovered graves with fieldstones used at the head and feet while 29 others were readable.
Whoric said the oldest grave was dated 1805 and the most recent, 1914.
The restoration was completed by planting grass, filling in dirt, installing fencing around the cemetery and the graves with fieldstone markers as well as artificial flowers and a sign at the entrance that reads: John's/Liston Cemetery.
Whoric said it refers to the last names of the people buried there etched in the majority of the tombstones that appear on the tax records at the Fayette County Courthouse.
In conjunction with his project, Whoric presented the Dunbar Historical Society with a scrapbook of his accomplishment along with letters that he received fram ancestors of those buried there from as far as San Diego, Calif.
The Whorics also held an open house at the cemetery eariler this month.
For Jarrod, being a Boy Scout has amounted to an adventure of a lifetime and one that he will especially remember on Sept. 27 when he officially receives his Eagle Scout badge at Dunbar Borough Elementary School.
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The coordinates given are for the entrance to the cemetery. To find the cache, you must find out what year Mr. Liston D-I-D-E by reading the headstones. When you find this information, add each digit in his death year to find out approximately how far you must travel behind his headstone to retrieve the cache (this is by no means accurate, just don't go for a one-mile hike in the woods to find the cache).
Please respect this place of rest for those long gone before us and respect the hard work of Jarrod Whoric, the eagle scout who did a fantastic project. please practice your own CITO at this site if you encounter any trash.
This cache is located on state gamelands near other geocaches. since this cache is on state gamelands, during the peak deer season (November 15 - December 15, except Sundays), you must "wear a minimum of 250 square inches of daylight fluorescent orange-colored material on the head, chest and back combined or, in lieu thereof, a hat of the same colored material. The material shall be worn so it is visible in a 360° arc".
Directions: Follow Dunbar-Ohiopyle Road for approximately 5 miles from Dunbar and turn onto Kingan Hill Road by going straight when the main road makes a hairpin turn to the right. This road will take you directly to Liston School Road (no sign) which begins (I think) at the very busy intersection of Kingan Hill and Greenbriar Roads.
39° 56.132', -79° 31.291' Site of Liston School. Take the trail behind the puddles and follow the signs for the cemetery.
There will be a parking area about half a mile in. There is a road to the actual cache, but it is closed off to motor vehicles. this means it is NOT LEGAL to drive to the cemetery. after a rain, the road could actually become impassible due to mud. trust me on this one. i've seen it happen.
Thanks to questmaster and CWIAMS for the coords and directions, as well as many fine caches.
**NOTE** the cache is NOT hidden in the cemetery.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
1) Gur urnqfgbar vf va gur sne raq bs gur przrgrel.
2) vg vf gb gur yrsg bs gur ynetre zbahzragf
3) vg vf gb gur evtug bs znel yvfgba, jub qvrq va 1914
4) gur pnpur vf nobhg 10 srrg vagb gur jbbqf oruvaq gur yvfgba urnqfgbar gung unf znal onq zvffcryyvatf. vg vf uvqqra oruvaq n snyyra gerr.