"Michigan Spirit Quest"
The Michigan Spirit Quest series of geocaches will take you to a number of historic cemeteries built by MICHIGAN Pioneers. This series is inspired by and a continuation of the Indiana Spirit Quest caches created by SixDogTeam. In just over two and a half years, the SPIRIT QUEST has grown to over five hundred and fifty caches and the hiders have grown to twenty-five cacher teams in 3 states and one province, most of which are comprised of Dogs and their Humans. Over 1,000 cachers have logged over 20,000 finds. One cache machine found 102 ISQ caches in a single day (daylight hours only).
(Photos by PairOMedicChick)
Michigan Spirit Quest # 17
"Circle of Honor"
WELCOME TO Oak Hill Cemetery, Battle Creek, Calhoun County, MI. Established in 1844, Oak Hill is the final resting place of a great amount of Battle Creek's history. Near the middle of the cemetery is a traffic circle, with a flag in the center and four rows of veteran markers surrounding it. None of them here appear to be earlier than World War I, some of the stones indicate the soldiers were from other states than Michigan. As you would expect to see in a local cemetery, there are a scattering of veteran's markers elsewhere. How did these veterans come to be buried here, especially as Battle Creek is the home of the Fort Custer National Cemetery?
Originally, the cemetery section out at Fort Custer was very limited. In the 1920's, the American Legion Hospital here in Battle Creek requested that a memorial plot be set aside for the burial of veterans who passed on here who had no relatives or limited funds available to be able to return them to their hometowns. This circle was dedicated with the burial of 6 veterans on Memorial Day, 1924. Later, the Fort Custer National Cemetery opened a much larger area for burials, where veterans are now laid to rest. According to the staff at Oak Hill, a small number of those originally laid here in the Veterans Circle were moved out to Fort Custer, but most are still here.
The "Veteran's Circle"
FIND LOGS ON THIS CACHE THAT INDICATE NIGHT CACHING WILL BE DELETED WITHOUT NOTICE!
The cache container is a camoed matchstick. I started it with a pencil, but be safe: BYOP. The cache is not located near a grave... If you find a fallen US flag, please stick it back in the ground or replace it. As always, please be respectful, and cache in, trash out. Say a prayer for our brave troops, fighting overseas. God Bless America!
MSQ caches are brought to you by the following fellows of GEOMSQ: SixDogTeam (Earthdog Patrick, Lead Dog, Wheel Dog), Wolverine Warriors, The Outcaches, SafariBob & Tweety and PairOMedicChick. If you are interested in spreading the Quest to your neck of the woods AND WOULD LIKE TO JOIN US, email Wolverine Warriors.
*Grand Exalted Order of the Michigan Spirit Quest*
