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SSB - Baltimore National Heritage Flag House Traditional Geocache

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FrancisScottKey: ### Geocache Owner Action Needed ###

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If no intervention from the CO is evident within 30 days from today's date, the listing will fall into archival status.


Take Pride with Your Hide 411


Thanks for providing quality geocaching.
FrancisScottKey
Volunteer Cache Reviewer - Maryland/Washington D.C.

More
Hidden : 2/26/2010
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:


During the first challenge along the Star-Spangled Banner GeoTrail, over 400 first edition SSB geocoins were awarded. We would like to thank everyone who participated in the Star-Spangled Banner GeoTour. We are currently out of geocoins but stay tuned for other opportunities along the Star-Spangled Banner GeoTour!




Come on a journey to remember and commemorate the dramatic chain of events, people and places that led to the birth of our National Anthem.

The story of the Star-Spangled Banner was shaped by the events of the Chesapeake Campaign during the War of 1812. From February 1813 until February 1815, the Chesapeake Bay was the center of a fierce struggle between the British and Americans. Places and landscapes still exist today that provide a touchstone to the past. The trail traces events and related sites that figured prominently in the Chesapeake Campaign of the War of 1812 that have national significance, physical integrity, and the potential for contemporary recreation and interpretation.




You will be seeking a bison tube, log only cache. The code word is written on the top of the log. Parking along the side streets in the area of the Flag House is free but limited.

The Flag House was the home of Mary Pickersgill and the site where she began sewing the Star-Spangled Banner. Mary Pickersgill moved into the Flag House in 1807 with her mother, Rebecca Young and her daughter, Caroline, and set up a flag making shop.

In the summer of 1813, Commander Joshua Barney, General John Stricker and Major James Calhoun, visited her shop and asked Mary to make a garrison flag for Fort McHenry. The flag was thirty feet hoist and forty-two feet fly, with fifteen stripes and fifteen stars. Each stripe was two feet wide and each star two feet from tip to tip. Mary was asked to complete the flag in just six weeks. Assisted by her daughter, her three nieces and two African American servants, one free and one enslaved. Mary cut, pieced, and sewed the large flag. Her daughter, Caroline described that "my mother worked many nights until 12 o'clock to complete it in the given time."

The flag was delivered to Fort McHenry a year before the British bombardment on September 13 and 14, 1814. The sight of the large garrison flag flying over Fort McHenry after the 25-hour bombardment inspired Francis Scott Key to write the poem which became our National Anthem.

The flag Mary Pickersgill made is on display at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

The Star Spangled Banner Museum was opened in 2003. The large glass flag is the same dimensions as the original Star-Spangled Banner Flag. The site of the museum was originally a row house, like many seen in Little Italy today.

Tours are offered of the Flag House where visitors can see what life was like in Baltimore in the early 1800s. The Star-Spangled Banner Museum permanent exhibit “Preserved us a Nation” tells the stories of the brave defense of the Chesapeake region by ordinary citizens and professional soldiers alike during one of the few times the United States has been invaded by a foreign power. The museum also has a Discover Gallery for children and families.



Thanks to Trainbug for helping with this hide and to the Maryland Geocaching Society for assisting with this project!


Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Purpx gur srapr!

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)