CJS - Great Bridge Lock Park Traditional Geocache

This cache has been archived.

offline.cacher: This cache has been disabled for quite some time now. Should the CO find out that it will be replaced, please contact me for unarchival.
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Hidden : 6/2/2011
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size: regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:

The Captain John Smith Geotrail
Great Bridge Lock Park



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 30 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 Captain John Smith Geotrail, National Park Service, Chesapeake Bay Office located at 410 Severn Avenue, 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 hide. This facility is open 7 days per week and there is no fee to enter the park. Please no night caching.

Nearby is the historic site of the Battle of Great Bridge. This location host yearly re-enactments of the Historic Battle during the month of December.

Great Bridge Lock Park sits on a peninsula surrounded on one side by the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal and on the other by the Elizabeth River. The lock connects boats traveling the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, coming up from North Carolina through the canal, passing through the lock to the Elizabeth River, and then onto the Chesapeake Bay.

The park itself is a 19-acre stretch of land containing picnic tables and shelters, a playground, boat launches, and restrooms. Visitors can walk up and look over the lock, where there are also interpretive signs, describing the lock’s uses and history. In 2004, the National Park Service added Great Bridge Lock Park to its “Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network” for its historic and ecological significance.

Nearby, about 200 feet from the park entrance, the 1775 Revolutionary War Battle of Great Bridge was fought. This battle delayed development of the lock, but successfully defended the land route to Norfolk from the British. It was this patriot victory, in fact, that forced Lord Dunmore, British Royal Governor of Virginia, and his soldiers to evacuate and ultimately leave the Commonwealth. Currently, work to protect the land and interpret the history is continuing, spearheaded by the Great Bridge Battlefield & Waterways History Foundation. To get involved or simply to learn more, visit www.GBBattlefield.org.

In 1608, Captain John Smith and his crew explored the Chesapeake, including such southerly points as modern day Great Bridge Park. While we do not have evidence that they specifically stopped here, there is evidence that Smith and company were in the area. On his published 1612 map, Smith indicated American Indian villages including Mantoughquemed and Chesapeack, after whose population the great bay is named. Among the native people who lived in the region at the time of Smith’s arrival were the Nansemond, who made their home along the Nansemond River in a community called Chuckatuck, the current location of Suffolk. Part of an empire ruled by Powhatan, the Nansemond had a population of about 300 warriors and a total population of perhaps 1,200 people.

The English burned the Nansemond town in 1608, destroying houses and canoes and forcing the people to give up their corn, opening hostilities between the two groups. Over the course of almost two centuries, the Nansemond were forced to depart their tribal lands and their reservation, eventually losing it completely around 1792. Today, most Nansemond tribal members continue to live in the Chesapeake/Suffolk area. The tribe holds its monthly meetings at the Indiana United Methodist Church, which was founded in 1850 as a mission for the Nansemond, and which is adjacent to the site of earlier tribal schools. The tribe was state recognized in 1985. The members have operated a tribal museum and gift shop in Chuckatuck, and they have current plans for a tribal center and museum and living history area on ancestral lands along the Nansemond River. They co-host a powwow each June with the city of Chesapeake, and they celebrate their tribal Annual Powwow each August.

Thanks to Lord Vader & NozyRN for helping with this hide and to the Maryland Geocaching Society for assisting with this project!

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

arne n tebhc bs guerr ynetr cvar gerrf, bar univat snyyra fbzr gvzr ntb.

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)


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