Depending on the time of the year this area may have mosquitoes. If
you would like some insect repellent we have left some inside the
geocaching box attached to the sign in front of the Chidester Mill.
This box also has the information needed to complete the Rogues'
Hollow multicache. (GC1QYGR) It is located at these coordinates. N
40° 56.489 W081° 40.538 The combination for the lock
is"425".
Available year round, dawn to dusk ONLY. Night caching is not
permitted. Please park in the designated areas only. (Please don't
turf Mac's lawn! :-P )
This cache is located within the Rogues' Hollow Historical Park and
Chippewa Nature Preserve with permission from Rogues' Hollow
Historical Society. The Chidester Mill houses a small museum which
is open Sundays from 2pm-4pm during the summer. While visiting you
may see the caretaker for this beautiful area. His name is Mac. He
is fortunate enough to live in the residence at the rebuilt
Chidester woolen mill. Mac is very knowledgeable about this area so
feel free to ask him any questions and thank him if you see him. At
his discretion, Mac may open the museum and/or allow caching after
dusk. The amount of work that he does is amazing! For those that
are inclined Mac welcomes CCW.
In some areas of the preserve you may see "No Trespassing" signs.
These signs are not directed toward geocachers as geocachers have
permission to look for caches and explore the property. (These
signs are to deter kids from hanging out and drinking beer.)
In 1828 Samuel
Chidester moved his family to what is now known as Rogues’
Hollow. At that time it was a quiet place, as it is today, before
the rough and tumble times where the area earned the name
Rogues’ Hollow. Chidester called it by the very fitting name
“Pleasant Valley”. Today you will still see just how
pleasant of an area it is. For eight years Samuel had honed his
skills in Wooster as he learned how to weave and spin wool into
cloth. He decided Silver Creek would be an excellent source of
water to build and operate a woolen mill so that Chidester could
perform his trade.
To harness the power of the creek a dam needed to be constructed.
The trek to this cache will take you past the former location of
this dam. Once there you will notice the remnants of the head gate
to the southwest. This gate allowed diverted water from the creek
to enter into the “mill race”. The mill race is a canal
in which the water flowed to turn a water wheel at the mill.
Remnants of this mill race can still be seen after nearly 180
years. This channeled water into a mill pond and continued to a
sawmill and woolen mill. If weather is agreeable kick your shoes
off, get wet and relax listening to the sounds of Silver
Creek.
This cache is located at a beautiful rock formation near the
Northern edge of Rogues’ Hollow Historical Society
property.
Most of the
information for this cache series has been derived from the book
Rogues' Hollow -History and Legends by Russell Frey. I have read
this book many times as the stories of the Hollow are fascinating
to me. Originally published in 1958 this book was more recently
reprinted in 2002. For further information please contact the
Chippewa -Rogues' Hollow Historical Society. www.chippewarogueshollow.org
A special "Thank you" to the Rogues' Hollow Historical Society for
allowing us to hide these caches and to the caretaker, Mac for his
helpfulness.
