Indiana Spirit Quest #75: Old Baintertown Traditional Geocache

The Indiana Spirit Quest series of geocaches will take you to a number of small, rural, historic cemeteries built by Hoosier Pioneers in central/Northeast Indiana. PRAIRIEPARTNERS has set a record for one-day ISQ finds on 10-16-2004 at 55! 86 cacher teams have logged over 1,200 finds.

TOP TEN FINDS

2. 65 --Sweetie Pie, Dragon Ryders Three
3. 61 --Itzme
4. 55 --Prairepartners
5. 48 --One Angel & Family
6. 45 --Bluegillfisherman
7. 42 --Team Tigger International/Awsome Ev
8. 41 -- Just Mee/ Hutt
9. 40 --Mattster
10. 34 --Jplus14

FTF's

1. 30 --Anonymous
2. 14 --Buddaman
3. 8 --Pinestrail

This quest will take you to a small cemetery in Elkhart and Jackson townships, Elkhart County. Elkhart County was named for the Elkhart Indian Tribe, was established in 1831 and the county seat is Goshen.

I couldn't find many vets in this cemetery, but there is a WWI soldier buried up near the front. It was established in 1831 though, so there must be some civil war guys around here somewhere. Doesn't appear to be active anymore, but there's still some room. There isn't really anything left of old Baintertown anymore, everyone either moved to Elkhart or ended up here, I guess. --Kodiak Kid & Sunny (Photos by Kodiak Kid)

At CR29 and CR42 there is a stone marker commemorating the village of Potawotami War Chief Onaska, "Five Medals" (his remains lie somewhere nearby).

Near old Baintertown on the Elkhart River, before Indiana was a state, before Elkhart County was platted, stood the village of the Potowatomi war chief "Five Medals" whose Indian name was "Onaska". This decorated chief ceased hostilities against the United States government after signing the Greenville Treaty in 1795. He met with presidents George Washington, in 1796, and Thomas Jefferson in 1801, to discuss living at peace with white settlers, separate but side by side. Five Medals remained peaceful toward the U.S. Government even though his village was destroyed by U.S. troops in 1812 and again in 1813. His remains are forever embraced nearby by Mother Earth which the Potowatomi so cherished.

Not long after his death another community of people came to live near the Elkhart kRiver, who also wished to remain separate yet live side by side with others. Their beliefs were forged during the Reformation in Switzerland. These were the Anabaptists (Swiss Mennonites, Amish) who remained unwelcome in Europe until none were left. For the last century and a half these prosperous people have forged a home in Elkhart County, living among yet separate from their neighbors. They have been seminal in creating the character of Elkhart County's unique personality. Now another wave of immigrants of Hispanic decent has come to find economic opportunity in Indiana in the last decade of the 20th century. They too wish to remain separate, maintaining their own lingual and family traditions, while becoming contributors to the economy. How their assimilation is handled will define much of the area's history into the 21st century.

Elkhart County, Indiana, bisected diagonally by the Elkhart and St. Joseph Rivers, was made square by Thomas Jefferson's penchant for geometric shapes in his political designs for the Northwest Territory. This simplicity continues to hide a most unique and diverse community of men and women...

UPDATE 8-8-06: CACHE HAS BEEN RELOCATED.

UPDATE 3-21-09 CACHE HAS BEEN RELOCATED

The cache container was a 2" diameter plastic container covered with camo duct tape, then a small cylinder, now a plastic tube. BYOP. Park with care. If you find a fallen US flag, please stick it back in the ground. As always, please be respectful, and cache in, trash out.

Cache In - Trash Out!

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NIGHT CACHING NOT ALLOWED IN CEMETERIES