"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 # 18
"A Sojourn to History"
WELCOME TO Oak Hill Cemetery, Battle Creek, Calhoun County, MI. Established in 1844, Oak Hill is today a 24 acre cemetery, and the final resting place of a great amount of Battle Creek's history. The "final equalizer", the rich and poor, famous and infamous, pioneers and recently deceased are intermingled here. Today, if you'll come with me, we'll take a tour of some of the notables lying here. The coordinates posted above will take you to the front gates of the cemetery. It's a good place to begin.
Our first stop is at the marker of Sands McCamly, at N 42* 18.486 W 085* 10.648. He is generally considered to be the "Father of Battle Creek". He was one of the first to stand at the confluence of the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek rivers and see what it could be. He is also amongst those responsible for laying out the original city. Don't blame him for the current snarl of streets - it's taken a lot of work by a lot of others to make what Sands envisioned into what we have today. Take the last digit of the year that Sands passed away, mark it as A.
Next, we are going to N 42* 18.484 W 085*10.535 to visit Esther Cox, the first person to be laid to rest here in Oak Hill. She was the first wife of local Doctor Edward Cox, who also served as alderman and Mayor at one time. On the same side as Esther's name are the names of the three children of Edward, all of whom died young. Determine how many of them were Esther's, mark that number as F.
Next, we'll go visit with Erastus Hussey at N 42* 18.463 W 085* 10.687. Hussey was the local stationmaster of the Underground Railroad. It is estimated that between 1840 and 1862 about 1000 slaves were led along the route that came up from Indiana, through Climax, Battle Creek, on to Marshall, then to Detroit and over to Canada. Hussey also published an anti-slavery newspaper for about a year, before the printing plant was burned by arson. He was elected to the Michigan Senate in 1854 and drafted legislation, which passed, making it illegal to capture refugee slaves in Michigan. Take the last digit of the year the elder Erastus was born, and mark it C. (There's a younger Erastus buried right next door, so be careful!)
A quick stop now at N 42* 18.420 W 085* 10.571. This is beautiful statute to mark the resting place of one Johannes Decker and his family. Who is Johannes Decker? Well, I really don’t know. We’re here to visit the statute of Mary. Rumor has it that she cries periodically… We don’t need any information here, it’s just a short break during our tour.
A beautiful statue, but does she really cry?
From here, we go to visit with the extraordinary Sojourner Truth, at N 42* 18.411 W 085* 10.696. Born a slave with the name Isabella in New York State, she was freed in 1827 when that state freed all of its slaves. She became an evangelist, a proponent of Women's rights and Abolition, and a Temperance speaker. She chose her own name, taking "Truth" as she was going to be speaking God’s truth, and "Sojourner" as she would travel wherever she needed to go to do so. She moved to Battle Creek in 1856, after visiting here and deciding she liked it. By all accounts, she was a forceful and compelling public speaker, all the more amazing for the fact that she had almost no formal education, and was unable to read or write. Take the last digit of the age listed on her marker as her age at death, and mark it as D.
We're going to take a little different tact for a minute now, and travel to the markers of James and Ellen White, at N 42* 18.490 W 085* 10.714. Depending on the write up you read, the Whites are either considered the founders of the Seventh Day Adventist Church (having started with a sect called the "Sabbathkeepers"), or just visionary leaders under whom the church flourished. They came to Battle Creek in 1855 and made this town their headquarters. The SDA church initiated an extensive missionary and health education evangelical ministry, established one of the largest printing and publishing houses in the United States , sponsored colleges and medical training institutions and founded a health care facility which became "the largest institution of its kind in the world" - The Battle Creek Sanitarium. Ellen introduced what was then considered revolutionary health and dietary principles, which were put into practice at the San. Add together the last two digits of the year of James's death, and mark it as B.
Which brings us to the last stop we're going to make today. We are going to visit with the Kellogg family at N 42* 18.342 W 085* 10.509. As you've probably noticed as we've walked today, there are Kellogg markers all over the place (John P Kellogg had 16 children in all), and some of the others are also noteworthy. Today we're interested in Dr. John Harvey and his brother, Will Keith. The Kelloggs were members of the SDA church, and Dr Kellogg eventually became director of the San in 1876. His brother W.K. worked with/for him at the San. In the constant search for a healthy breakfast food, the brothers eventually invented a corn flake. In 1906, W.K. decided his time had come and formed his own business: the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company. Later, the Corn Flakes were coated with sugar, called Frosted Flakes, and eventually the company was called Kelloggs. W.K. was also quite the philanthropist, and his name graces all sorts of public places, along with the foundation, which still has money to give away. As you stand in the opening looking into the fenced area, count the number of stones on your left, and the number on your right. Subtract the smaller number from the larger number. Mark the result as E.
There are still more stops we could make, like the mausoleum of the man who came to Battle Creek in 1891 to “take the cure” at the San, became fascinated with the cereal products, stayed to start his own cereal company, and also gave a lot to better the community – CW Post. There are people like “Bill” Knapp, The Kimball family – three generations of doctors who served the area, two making great strides in the care of those with TB. Or Ruth Swanson Venn, who with her first husband started a store which eventually became Archway cookies. But there just isn't room to tell all the stories to be found here.
To find the final cache container, take the numbers you have collected and assemble them as thus: N 42* 18.A B C W 085* 10.D E F.
FIND LOGS ON THIS CACHE THAT INDICATE NIGHT CACHING WILL BE DELETED WITHOUT NOTICE!
The cache container is camoed tube, roughly matchstick size. 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*
