For 100 years, the National Park Service has preserved America’s special places “for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations.” Celebrate its second century with the Find Your Park GeoTour that launched April 2016 and explore these geocaches placed for you by National Park Service Rangers and their partners.
geocaching.com/play/geotours/findyourpark
This cache was placed with special permission. Please no night caching and adhere to all park rules!
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 thier 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 cache. A Lock & Lock stocked with CJS swag. Make your way down the Popes Creek Nature trail to find this cache.
This NPS facility is free but please adhere to all park hours and rules. The Visitor Center and Memorial Historic Area are open 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.. The picnic area, burial grounds, and Potomac River beach are open year around and during certain seasons have extended hours. More information is available at the Visitor Center or by calling 804-224-1732 ext. 227, or by visiting the website at: http://www.nps.gov/gewa/index.htm
George Washington slept here. Actually, the house where he was born in 1732 and lived until he was nearly four years old was destroyed by fire and flood in 1779 and never rebuilt. The outline of the house’s foundation is marked with oyster shells. George Washington’s half-brother, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather lie in the family burial ground nearby.
In 1657, an English merchant ship sailed up the Potomac River, anchored in Mattox Creek, and took on a cargo of tobacco. With her new load, the ship ran aground on a shoal and sank. During the delay, a young officer, John Washington, great-grandfather of the future president, befriended the family of Colonel Nathaniel Pope, especially his daughter Anne. When the ship was ready to set sail John stayed behind to marry Anne, thus beginning the Washington family legacy in the New World. The bride’s father gave the newlyweds a wedding gift of 700 acres of land on Mattox Creek four miles to the east. John Washington eventually expanded his land holdings to 10,000 acres. In 1664, he moved his family to a property on Bridges Creek, within the boundaries of today’s George Washington Birthplace National Monument. His son Lawrence, born in 1659, inherited the bulk of his father’s estate. His son Augustine, born in 1694, inherited some property from his father and acquired more, including an iron furnace near Fredericksburg and a substantial plantation on Pope’s Creek. Augustine found a small house on the Popes Creek property and began expanding it into a middle-sized plantation manor house. It was here that George Washington, the first son of his second marriage, was born on February 22, 1732. This is where young George lived until 1735, when his father moved the family to his Little Hunting Creek Plantation, the land that would eventually be renamed Mount Vernon.
Forty-nine years before John Washington arrived at this site on the Potomac, Captain John Smith and his crew made a four-week long exploration of the river. Traveling upstream on the south bank (the Virginia side), Smith and his men were enticed to go up Nomini Creek, a few miles south of here. There, many warriors ambushed them and Smith and his crew fired gunshot low over the water. At this, the warriors put down their weapons and an exchange of hostages was made. The English hostage, James Watkins, was taken to meet a chief where it was learned that the ambush was ordered by paramount chief Powhatan. For the rest of the journey upstream, Smith kept the barge to the northern bank, away from the reach of paramount chief Powhatan’s influence.
The George Washington Birthplace National Monument is open year round from 9:00 to 5:00 pm. A Visitor Center includes exhibits, film, bookstore, and restrooms. Ranger talks are offered on the hour 10:00am to 4:00pm. The property includes a one-mile nature trail and picnic area with tables, grills, pavilion, and restrooms. The Potomac River beach offers views of the river and Maryland, walking, sunbathing, and fishing; however, swimming is not allowed.
Thanks to GreyKitties for helping with this hide and to the Maryland Geocaching Society for assisting with this project!