Flag Day the Third Mystery Cache
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This is Flag Day the Third! I am placing this
cache in honor of Flag Day,
the Fourth of July and support of our troops. The first stage is an
object with the puzzle on it and the second is the cache. Bring
something flag related to trade.
This cache got its
inspiration from my Flag Day cache in Woburn. For this cache you
will need to find the bridge in Wilmington flying many different
flags in support of our troops.
To find this cache you will need to know three things:
- When is Flag Day – Day and month
- What year congress passed an act declaring the flag should have
13 stars and 13 stripes
- How many stripes where on the flag that was the inspiration for
the Star Spangled Banner
The research:
The idea of having a separate day to honor the flag may have
originated in 1885. On June 14, 1891, the Betsy Ross House in
Philadelphia held a Flag Day celebration. Over the years many
localities held Flag day celebrations but it was not until May 30,
1916, that it was officially established by the Proclamation of
President Woodrow Wilson. On August 3, 1949, President Truman
signed an Act of Congress designating XX/YY of each year as National Flag
Day.
Who designed the first Stars and Stripes? For generations school
children were taught it was Betsy Ross. As nice as that story is,
it has been proven to be wrong. The more likely answer is Francis
Hopkinson who was, among other things, a Congressman. In his work
for the Navy Department it is said he designed the Stars and
Stripes. In 17NN in order to
establish an official flag for the new nation, the Continental
Congress passed the first Flag Act: "Resolved, That the flag of the
United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white;
that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field,
representing a new Constellation."
In 1813 Fort McHenry commander, Maj. George Armistead, asked for a
flag so big that "the British would have no trouble seeing it from
a distance". The flag cost $405.90 and was made by Mary Young
Pickersgill and her 13 year old daughter. On the night of September
13, 1814 Francis Scott Key observed the bombardment of Baltimore.
When the British retreated the next morning Key could see the flag
above Fort Mchenry was still flying and knew all was well. That day
Key wrote the poem Defence of Fort M'Henry. Later a tune was
added, it was renamed the Star Spangled Banner and in 1913
it was adopted as our national anthem. The flag Pickersgill and her
daughter made had ZZ stripes on
it.
Getting to the cache:
There is a bridge in Wilmington that has many, many flags displayed
on it. You can see the bridge while doing 65 mph, but don’t
stop there. Get off and find parking to the west. Walk to the
center of the bridge (use caution because the sidewalk is narrow)
and find an object with the puzzle. (Hint: It is magnetic, but it
does not stick.) The puzzle will be
offsets that look like N +F.FLL W -A.AGG. Apply those offsets to N
42 32.911 W 071 06.578
Words of warning, keep your feet on the ground at all times, no
climbing needed. Be careful of cars on the road. When heading to
the final, the most direct route may be the least desired due to
poison ivy and swampy ground. Follow the hard pack and you can get
within 20 feet of the cache without bushwhacking.
God Bless,
Loch Cache & Francis Hopkinson
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Fgntr: Envyvat
Svany: Qrnq raq
Treasures
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