A Nobel cache: Tribute to Jane Addams Multi-cache
A Nobel cache: Tribute to Jane Addams
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(regular)
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This is an easy, and hopefully educational, 3-stage multi-cache. It is dedicated to Jane Addams who was born, grew up, and lies buried in the town of Cedarville, IL. All stages are located within a half mile range. They lie either on or just off of Mill Street which turns into Red Oak Road as you head North and West out of Cedarville.
Born in Cedarville in 1860, Jane Addams grew up to become one of the world’s most-famous humanitarians and pioneered the field of social work. She is probably most remembered as the founder of Chicago’s Hull House which provided many services to early U.S. immigrants, the oppressed, and the poor of the city. She also fought for the rights of workers, women, and children and was instrumental in organizing the end of World War I. Four U.S. Presidents and several heads of states in Europe had all worked with Miss Addams.
In 1931, Jane Addams became the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. She’s also the only Prize winner to have been born in Illinois. In 2000, LIFE magazine historians and editors ranked Miss Addams as the most important American woman EVER!
Stage 1, Site of childhood school. (Use the listing coordinates.)
This is the Cedarville Historical Museum which was once a school house built on the original site of the Cedarville Union School that Jane Addams attended as a child. Much of the museum’s displays are devoted to the life of Stephenson County’s most-famous resident. It is opene 1-4pm on Saturdays and Sundays from May thru October or can be toured by special appointment by calling (815)563-4485. An admission fee is requested. Some playground and picnic equipment also make the grounds a nice place to have a picnic.
At this stage, you will need to record the 4-digit year that the museum/schoolhouse was built as shown on the outside of the building to be used to determine stage 3 coordinates.
Stage 2, Birthplace and childhood home. (See “additional waypoints” at the end of the description.)
These coordinates take you to the entrance of the driveway to Jane Addams’ birthplace and childhood home. She lived here until leaving for college in 1877. (This is private property so please DO NOT enter the driveway to respect the owners’ privacy. You can see the large house and yard quite well from the main road.) The house, built in 1854, is listed on the National Register of Historical Places. It is now painted white but was originally grey brick. The barn was built in 1848.
At this stage, you will need to record the numerical portion (4-digits) of the address written on the owner's mailbox to be used to determine stage 3 coordinates.
Final/Stage 3, Burial site and woods. (See below for coordinates calculation.)
Next go to N42°22.996’ W089°38.471’. (For recommendations on parking, see my January 8, 2008 note posted in the on-line cache logs below.) This is the burial site of Jane Addams in the Cedarville cemetery. The cache container is hidden within easy walking distance from here in the adjacent woods where Jane often played as a child. The bridge to cross the creek that had been here is now gone. I have posted the coordinates for a natural bridge (large fallen log over creek) to help with crossing. Note that it will be easiest if you don't follow the most direct route to the cache or this natural bridge; bushwacking may still be required. The woods are private property, but I have received permission from the owner to place the cache there.
The cache container is hidden at: N42°23.0YY’ W089°38.XXX’
where YY is the date from stage 1 minus 1877 (that is YY = date – 1877)
and XXX is the address from stage 2 minus 897 (that is XXX = address – 897)
The container is an ammo box containing a logbook, a pencil, and starts with several nice trading items. Please return the cache to its original location and state of concealment. Please trade fairly.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
V ubcr lbh nera’g gjb fghzcrq.