The Sydenstricker Schoolhouse Wherigo Cache
The Sydenstricker Schoolhouse
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(regular)
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The Sydenstricker Schoolhouse
In this wherigo, you’ll learn the history of a community told through the lens of this building.
The Sydenstricker School, or what was officially called Pohick School #8, replaced an earlier schoolhouse on this site from 1897. Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012, the Fairfax County History Commission has called the Sydenstricker Schoolhouse “the best preserved example of an early twentieth century one-room schoolhouse in Fairfax County in nearly original condition and still on its original site.” This was in fact the last one-room schoolhouse built in the county.
Through this wherigo, you will learn not only about the building itself, but you will get glimpses of life at this school and learn a bit about education in early twentieth century, rural Fairfax County.
You’ll also learn a bit about the neighboring chapel & graveyard, with which the schoolhouse shares a long, intertwined history -- as well as sharing the name Sydenstricker. Schoolhouse and chapel pairs like this were once a common sight across rural America, including here in Fairfax County, but ones that have survived together into the 21st century are rather rare, making this site particularly special.
Finally, this wherigo will introduce you to this community in the decades following WWII and before rapid suburbanization, when the Upper Pohick Community League repurposed this building as a community hall that served as the center for many social and civic activities.
Today, the UPCL still owns and maintains the schoolhouse and is the oldest continually operating community association in Springfield and among the oldest in Fairfax County. Together with the Friends of the Sydenstricker Schoolhouse, the UPCL’s main mission is the preservation of the schoolhouse as a historical building and hosting events for the community, including musical performances, lectures, trivia nights, yard sales, and holiday parties. Visit the Sydenstricker Schoolhouse website for more information.
Parking is available on site and permission for you to visit these grounds has been granted. If anyone is in the schoolhouse, stop in and say hello. You may even get to ring the school bell from the 1920s.
Before leaving, also consider completing The Sydenstricker Schoolhouse Adventure Lab and finding its associated bonus cache (GC91MJ8).
To take this tour and find the location of the geocache, you must download the Wherigo cartridge found at the link below and play it using the Wherigo app (Apple) or WhereYouGo app (Android).
Alert: You are about to download a file that contains details needed to find this geocache. As the geocache owner, I ensure that this file is safe to download. It has not been checked by Geocaching HQ or by the reviewer for possible malicious content. Download this file at your own risk.
DOWNLOAD THE CARTRIDGE HERE: 
Once on the above webpage, sign in, click the Download button on the left, select Pocket PC Device, and click Download Now.
This is a dawn-to-dusk cache. Absolutely no night caching. Please let me know if anything is amiss.
NoVAGO
Nominee for Best Historical/Educational Cache
2020
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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