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Grace Mystery Cache

Hidden : 10/21/2011
Difficulty:
3.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1 out of 5

Size: Size:   micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

The cache is not at the listed coordinates. The listed coordinates take you to the front door of Grace Church, one of the city's greatest treasures. To find the cache, you will need to solve the puzzle below.

Grace Church was initially organized in 1808 at Broadway and Rector Street. For a quarter of a century the church flourished in its downtown location but under rector Thomas House Taylor, the decision was made to move the church uptown with the city's expanding population. While the decision to move was easily made, choosing the architect for the new facility was far more difficult. Several men with established reputations had presented bids, and yet the church commission was given to a brash young man only twenty-four years old who had supervised work on the Croton reservoir at 42nd Street, but who had never built anything. What James Renwick, Jr. did have in his favor, besides training as an engineer, was a family background full of both talent and influence, serving as a kind of guarantee for a potential that must already have been apparent. As for why the style should have been Gothic, when no such structure yet existed in New York and before the Gothic revival had begun, we can only make some guesses. For one thing, the rector, Thomas House Taylor, had spent a year in Europe soon after coming to New York, very possibly with the sole object of looking at churches, and he may have come back full of enthusiasm for the many Gothic examples he saw there. And for another, a trait which would especially mark James Renwick's own subsequently distinguished career was undoubtedly present already. When the church was consecrated on March 7, 1846, it was a much plainer structure than it is now. The windows were of lightly tinted glass, with no figures except one of Christ in the East Window. The resources of the church were sufficiently strained so that the church steeple had to be built of wood instead of marble. (It was rebuilt in marble in 1883.) The parishioners were well satisfied, however, and settled down to enjoy their new found elegance. While Grace Church's reputation as a fashionable church had begun in the old church, it was confirmed by the new one. The wedding of Tom Thumb and Lavinia Warren in 1863 even brought it a degree of notoriety. Despite loud professions of distaste for the alleged grotesqueness of the coming spectacle, most of the fashionable world contrived to be there, to jostle each other and even stand on the seats, in order to get a glimpse of it. Subsequent to the replacement of the wooden spire in 1883, there have been few changes made to the church building. in 1903, an extension to the chancel was added. in 1910 there were additions to the chantry. finally in 2003, the Marble spire from 1883 was straightened. O ninp crtel sp wccy, jo vlgk I fst'k skr cztj qe kopkav. Mcre jhcpr jeg mz, rnf jkrr, crj jhcpr krwwz zn Aennej. Jui yqy gie psz r Gqh cyo jey glgeylrg mt nieokungwy, nhqwk cecj gcsq huvs psz nivlki, bwx nzs firzgjx oj ip Cgywgl'y Uop'x rvt vlk iedirciqyy iiui ag aieoesv lod. Lgx sv hgex aoa etu gnejeeuw Zye tyrvru xgbe esaesgp zfggxnvr Dyz pow, Cgywgl, gie c wnzenh giowrj de, niyk tjie kecv ggatx sp sqyr cimi g ciqr

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

[Puzzle 1] Gurer zhfg or n xrl urer fbzrjurer! [Puzzle 2] : = + [Cache] “Bayl gur cravgrag zna jvyy...” svaq gur pnpur.

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)