“P” Marks the Spot-Parkers Lake Multi-cache
Piglet&Tigger&Pooh: This cache has had a good run and was my favorite from the series, but it seems to have gone missing and be liable to go missing again if replaced.
“P” Marks the Spot-Parkers Lake
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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This Geocache is part of a series of caches about the history of Plymouth.
This cache is intended to mark the location of and share information about historical locations in the Parkers Lake area.
The idea for this cache comes from You Gotta Love Golden Valley History (GC1C2Q8)!
Also, thank you very much to mnfishnutz and Troutonthebrain for help with the location of the final.
The final cache is not at the listed coordinates; they are for stage one.
Stages 1 through 5 may be found in the order you find to be most convenient. There are multiple parking locations in the area, and you could probably park pretty close to each stage, at least in the summer, but they are all close enough to walk between as well.
I hope you enjoy learning a bit about Plymouth’s history as find this cache!
Stage 1: Gilfillan House N44°59.796 W093°28.640
John B. Gilfillan was born in Vermont in 1835 and was admitted to the Minnesota Bar in 1860. He was named University of Minnesota Regent by Governor Pillsbury in 1880. He served in the 49th congress (1885-1886) and in the Minnesota State senate for ten years prior. He purchased 530 acres of land in Plymouth between 1891 and 1893 and acquired more in 1913. His farm called "Ben Avon" was sold to Earle Brown in early 1920's and was then sold to the city of Minneapolis for a new Workhouse in 1923 for $250 per acre. The Gilfillan house was torn down and replace with a new house for the superintendent of the workhouse in 1933. This was later torn down when the land was made into a park and replaced with a pavilion.
Go to this location, and you should see a fireplace. Count the reddish stones around the fireplace—you should get a two-digit number. Subtract the first from the second to get “B”
Stage 2: Minneapolis Work House N 44 59.705 W 093 28.641
Inmates from the Camden Workhouse were transferred daily on milk trucks for work daily on the dairy farm until the workhouse was built here 1931. Work on the farm ceased in 1970 and the property was transferred to Hennepin County on a trial basis in 1975 and permanently in 1977. Part of the property was transferred to the City of Plymouth in 1987 to create Parkers Lake Park.
Don’t go anywhere it says no trespassing; stay off the county property.
Add the last two digits of the address you can see from this location together to get “A”
Stage 3: Messiah Methodist Church N44°59.859 W093°28.310
It was established in 1868 to be called Plymouth Methodist church. The first church built was destroyed by fire 1871. Services were held in private homes and Grange Hall from 1877 until 1889 when a new church was build. Earle Brown donated an acre of land to build the parsonage in 1920 and sold the land to the west to build the workhouse. The church burned again while an addition was being built for a school in 1947 but was rebuilt.
Divide the number of identical (same height and size generally) pine trees you can see from this location by 3 to get “C”. (You should get a whole number)
Stage 4: Log Cabin N44°59.708 W093°28.573
The Old Log Cabin was located on County Road 6 just north of the Women's Detention Center. J. B. Gilfillan built it about 1900 for his three children as a play log cabin. It was also used as a hunting shack; as the family called the woods around it Deer Park. The current log cabin is a re-creation of the old log cabin. It was donated to the people of Plymouth by Carol Creelman, who played in it as a small child.
While you are facing the cabin at this location, there should be a sign behind you. Read it to locate the information you need. Multiply the first digit of the cost to build the original cabin by two to get “D”.
Stage 5: Parkers Lake Joy Club N44°59.380 W093°28.316
The Joy Club was built circa 1915 and located on the southeastern side of Parkers Lake. It was a popular destination for summer events because it was build on the new Electric Short Line Railroad that had reached Parkers Lake in 1914. The Joy Club burned down in the late 1920’s.
Notice a nearby object overlooking the lake and name it. Take the first letter of its name and turn it into a number (A=1, B=2, etc.). Subtract two to get “E”.
Final Stage: Substitute the numbers from above into the formula.
N44°59.ADE W093°2B.DCA
This is my Girl Scout Gold Award Project (like an Eagle Scout Project). It is a Historical Tour of the City of Plymouth through Geocaches. Plymouthmnhistoricalsociety.com has more information on other historical sites in the city. Currently, it also has approximate GPS coordinates of other sites as well as information and pictures of them. In the future, more Geocaches will be added.
I hope you enjoy the cache and learn something too!
The contents of the cache include some small inexpensive trinkets and a logbook and pencil.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)