Old Dutch Farm Multi-cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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Readington Ramble # 4
This two stage micro is located near the Bouman-Stickney Museum.
Please be sure to bring a writing implement to sign the log. The
posted coordinates will bring you to stage one.
Readington Ramble Series: Readington Township is a
wonderful place to live. We wanted to create a series of caches
that would give you a little tour of the Township and provide you
with a little history as well. We’ll also point out the existing
caches that you can visit while in the area. So to begin, you
should know the basic facts. “July 15, 1730 was the official birth
date of Readington Township. Created by Royal Charter as Readings,
or Readings Town, it wasn't until 1798 that it became Readington
Township. Containing about 48 square miles, ours is the largest
Township in the County of Hunterdon and one of the largest in the
State of New Jersey.” (From Readington Township History, by
Stephanie B. Stevens, Township Historian, 1993)
Other caches included in the Readington Ramble Series:
Hillcrest Hideaway, Hill of the Mill, Way Out of Whitehouse,
Rockafellow Rapids, Give my regards to Broad Street, Higginsville
Hike, Summer Fun.
To find this cache, you first need to visit the General Store
in Stanton at N 40° 34.522 W 74° 50.273. Here you need to find
the year this store was established.
Stage 1 ----- Did you know that Stanton was first called
Housel's, then Waggoner's Hill, then Mount Pleasant and finally
when the post office was established and there was another Mt.
Pleasant in Hunterdon, Stanton. Also on the National Register of
Historic Places, Stanton was originally a settlement of German
farmers stretched along the "Society's Line" on large land
holdings. Intermarriage with Dutch families and the fact that the
nearest Lutheran Church had relocated to New Germantown (known as
Oldwick today) made everyone Dutch. With Readington "Meeting House"
also a great distance, a new Dutch Reformed Church was opened here
in 1833. There had been a school in Stanton since the late
eighteenth century and a store opened in 1838. Remaining are three
stone houses built in the mid-eighteenth century, a clapboard house
vintage 1789, several early nineteenth century houses, a store, a
church and many barns to remind us that everyone was once a farmer.
(From Readington Township History, by Stephanie B. Stevens,
Township Historian, 1993)
The final coordinates, for this cache are N 40° 34.X W 074°
49.Y where - X=year + 684; Y=year + 599.
To find the Museum, drive along Dreahook Road and turn into the
museum at N 40° 34.987 W 74° 49.909. Proceed to the parking area at
N 40° 34.865 W 74° 49.769. This nicely reconstructed farmstead
gives a good idea of what “Dutch” farming was like in the 1700s and
shows you a very nice section of Readington. The cache is very
close to the parking lot. Watch out for the thorns.
Final cache ----- Bouman-Stickney Farmstead ---
Readington's Link to its Dutch Heritage .
Welcome to the Bouman-Stickney Farmstead. The property is named for
two of its former owners. Dutch homesteader, Thomas Bouman,
originally purchased the property sometime before 1740. The house
was built in 1741 and stayed in the Bouman family until about 1855.
In 1935, Broadway playwright and producer Howard Lindsay purchased
the house and surrounding property as a gift for his wife, Broadway
and movie actress Dorothy Stickney. Ms. Stickney and Mr. Lindsay
used the house as a weekend and vacation retreat until Mr.
Lindsay's death in 1968. The house and surrounding 68 acres were
purchased by Readington Township from Ms. Stickney in 1997. You can
find more information about this Farmstead at
http://www.readingtontwp.org/museum_bouman-stickney.html
Other caches in Readington that are near by include: From Little
Acorns and Hyland’s Hides # 2 (in Deer Path Park) and Round
Mountain Revisited. Welcome to the Bouman-Stickney Farmstead
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
oruvaq ynetr snyyra gerr