Loudoun's Lost Homestead (Old Bles Home) Traditional Geocache
Loudoun's Lost Homestead (Old Bles Home)
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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Check out the waypoint below for parking info. First part of the trail is unimproved and up a small hill so I listed the terrain as a 2. Great view of Eastern Loudoun County from the top of the hill. I would recommend long pants to help fight off the briers.
Thanks to the many contributors for unraveling the mystery; this cache is near the site of Marcus Bles' old home. If anyone has a picture of the house before it was torn down, please post it!
**Seasonal Update** - FYI during the spring and summer the area does get overgrown and poison ivy is present near the cache. It is still a nice cache, just something to keep in mind. This cache will give you a rare view of Eastern Loudoun County; especially in the Fall and Winter. I am told an old homestead used to be at the top of the hill. If anyone has any historical information about this location please share!
**Update on the old homestead. Thanks to Scooter5 for contributing!** According to Scooter5, there was a beautiful home on top of the ridge as recent at the late 1970's. The home was made almost entirely made of glass, so that they had an incredible view from any angle. The owners were the Bles's, who used to own a majority of the land that is now Tyson's Corner. Not sure when they had the place built, but I believe they left sometime in the early 90's. They used to graze Beefalo (cross of a Buffalo and a cow)between the ridge and Route 7. Definitely a prime viewing spot of the surrounding area.
Little more history according to go4launch:
I fondly remember the Bles house having grown up in Vienna in the 70's and 80's. Every time we would go to Grandma's house in WV, my dad would say he wanted to retire to the Bles house as we drove by. It was a sad day when the GW campus was built. A bit of additional history, back in the '80's Mr. Bles rented the back part of his property to Raytheon to set up an antenna test range. It was considered a quiet rural area back then where they could test antennas without radio/TV station interference.
Cache originally contained a log book, pencils, foreign coins, toys, children's book, trinkets. Would love to see photos of your visit. Note to Parents: The paved portion of the trail has unfortunately been tagged with some profane language. You should be able to steer clear of this by walking alongside the paved trail. Though the area is safe, I would recommend visiting during the day so you can enjoy the view. The Cache had to be moved. New coords are in place. cache has been adopted by Psycocavr
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Fghzc