Cary Cottage is one of those places that many people have driven past but no one stops. This is too bad because it played an important part in the history and settlement of the North College Hill area which was originally called Clovernook Farm.
The Cary family settled to this area in 1813 about 10 years after Ohio became a state. Two of the daughters who lived in Cary Cottage, Alice and Phoebe Cary, were well-known poets of their day. In fact, Edgar Allan Poe was a fan of the Cary sisters poetry and called Alice Cary's 'Pictures of Memory', "one of the most musically perfect lyrics in the English language".
Pictures Of Memory by Alice Cary
Among the beautiful pictures
That hang on Memory's wall,
Is one of a dim old forest,
That seemeth best of all:
Not for its gnarled oaks olden,
Dark with the mistletoe;
Not for the violets golden
That sprinkle the vale below;
Not for the milk-white lilies
That lean from the fragrant hedge,
Coqueting all day with the sunbeams,
And stealing their shining edge;
Not for the vines on the upland
Where the bright red berries be,
Nor the pinks, nor the pale, sweet cowslip,
It seemeth the best to me.
Early in the 20th Century, Florence and Georgia Trader opened the first home in Ohio for blind women here which became The Clovernook Center For The Blind and currently operates on this same property behind the cottage. Across the street is Laboiteaux-Cary Cemetery which has many graves from the Cary family and one of the first geocaches I ever found.
Read more about the history of Cary Cottage on the historical signs and markers on the property next to the cottage to get the final coordinates.
39 AA.21B
084 CC.D64
How many years did Alice and Phoebe Cary live here? Subtract 5 from the answer to get AA.
Last digit of the year that the time capsule will be opened:205B
Built in 18CC
Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 19D3
You can check your answers for this puzzle on Geochecker.com.