Come on a journey to remember and commemorate the history and
travels of Captain John
Smith!
Over four
hundred years ago, Englishman John Smith and a small crew set out
in an open boat to explore the Chesapeake Bay. Between 1607 and
1609 Smith mapped and documented nearly 3,000 miles of the Bay and
its rivers. Along the way he visited many thriving American Indians
communities and gathered information about this “fruitful and
delightsome land.” In December 2006 the U.S. Congress
designated the routes of Smith’s explorations of the
Chesapeake as a national historic trail—the first national
water trail.
Are you ready to follow in the wake of Captain John
Smith? Visit sites along the National Historic Trail and learn
about the native cultures and the natural environment of the
17th-century Chesapeake through the Captain John Smith Chesapeake
Geotrail. The Trail provides opportunities for you to experience
the Bay through the routes and places associated with Smith’s
explorations. Caches will be located in museums, refuges, parks,
and towns in Virginia, Maryland and Delaware along the rivers and
creeks that Smith and his crew explored four centuries
ago.
The Captain John Smith (CJS) Geotrail launched June 4, 2011 with
over 40 caches within Maryland, Virginia and Delaware. A trackable
geo coin will be awarded to the first 400 geocachers, while
supplies last, for locating at least 15 CJS caches. To be eligible
for the coin, geocachers must download a passport from either the
CJS Geotrail or Maryland Geocaching Society website.
Geocachers must find and log at least 15 finds, record the code
word from each cache on their passport and post a picture of
themselve at each cache location. After discovering the 15 required
caches, geocachers may have their passports validated in person or
via mail at the National Park Service, Chesapeake Bay Office
located at 410 Severn Ave, Suite 314, Annapolis, MD 21403. Please
refer to the passport for complete validation instructions.
Participating in the CJS geotrail is fun and we hope that many
people join in. However, it is not a requirement for logging your
find on this cache once you find the container.
You are seeking a traditional hide, located along the beautiful
trails of Menokin. Cachers will find a very good trail map at the
visitor center. Please no night caching or caching when the
facility is closed. Menokin hours of operation are:
From May 1 to September 30, the Menokin Visitor Center is open
Monday--Friday, 10 am to 4 pm; Saturday, 10 am to 2 pm; and Sunday
by appointment.
From October 1 to April 30, the Menokin Visitor Center is open
Monday--Friday, 10 am to 4 pm; and weekends by appointment. Cachers
may call (804) 333-1776 for current information.
To add to your caching pleasure, Vaetanone also added 5 new caches
to this location and an unactivated "Team Boykin" geocoin to the
CJS cache!
Enjoy the property's scenic beauty by hiking on our trails to Cat
Point
Creek.
Menokin was the home of Francis Lightfoot Lee, a
signer of the Declaration of Independence, and his wife Rebecca
Tayloe Lee, of nearby Mt. Airy. The Menokin Foundation owns the
500-acre property, more than half of which is in the Rappahannock
River Valley National Wildlife Refuge.
Menokin was built around 1769 to mark the marriage of Lee and
Tayloe. Rebecca was the daughter of John Tayloe II, who gave the
couple the large plantation on Cat Point Creek, approximately five
miles upstream from the Rappahannock River, and financed
construction of the two-story stone house, Menokin, and its
dependencies. Soon after, Francis Lightfoot Lee joined the cause of
American independence, serving in the Continental Congress from
1775 to 1779 and signing the Declaration of Independence (together
with his brother Richard Henry Lee) and the Articles of
Confederation. Inherited by Rebecca’s nephew, John Tayloe
III, the house passed out of the family in the 19th century and was
in ruins around 1935, and on the verge of complete collapse by
1995, when the Menokin Foundation acquired it.
At Menokin, you can experience an 18th century house in new and
unexpected ways --feel hand wrought nails; observe how joists,
girders and posts fit together to create the framing; and look
behind the interior woodwork to see the construction techniques of
the 18th century artisans. Enjoy the property's scenic beauty by
hiking on trails to Cat Point Creek. The Foundation’s
ambitious preservation plan hopes to continue and expand its
educational mission by shoring the remains of the house up with
glass walls, essentially freezing it in its given state, to allow
for preservation and restoration.
The Tayloes and Lees were, of course, not the first people the live
on the site. Before the Menokin plantation was ever developed, this
area along Cat Point Creek (also called Rappahannock Creek) was
home to the Rappahannock Indian Tribe. In 1608, Captain John Smith
first met the Rappahannock people at their capital town
“Topahanocke.” At that time, Smith was a prisoner of
Powhatan’s War Chief and Brother Opechancanough, who took
Smith to the Rappahannock town to determine whether he was the same
Englishman who, four years earlier, had killed the tribe’s
chief. Based on his appearance, Smith was cleared of these
crimes.
Later that year, Smith returned to the Rappahannock on his second
exploratory voyage and recorded 14 Rappahannock towns on the north
side of the River and its tributaries. The general plantation site
was referred to as "Menokin" by the Rappahannock, which may
translate to "He gives it to me" in the tribe's native
Algonquian.
Thanks to Vaetanone for helping with this hide and to the
Maryland Geocaching Society for assisting with this
project!