February is Black History Month. This sculpture celebrates Ingersoll's history, and includes our black history. The Underground Railway did come to our town, and stopped across the road from this spot.
A local artist, Duane Kamala-Thomas, created this sculpture in 2023, and described it using these words, "the sculpture aims to represent Ingersoll's involvement in accepting, aiding and growing, amongst a new and increasing black population in the 1800s and beyond. The visual of train tracks breaking through the soil and springing up into the Ingersoll air, present viewers with the emphatic feeling of a journey travelled in discretion and concluded where/when in this place travellers come up for air, settled and planted new roots."
The dates on the sculpture are significant ones in our town's history. In 1793, our founder, Thomas Ingersoll, arrived and built a cabin on what is now Thames Street. In 1852, the growing community was incorporated as a village. 1868 marks the year that the famous American abolitionist, John Brown, visited and delivered a speech about slavery. In 1916, Battalion 168, called "Oxford's Own" was formed, with "B Company" being based in Ingersoll. Unlike other Battalions at the time, "Oxford's Own" welcomed black men to enlist. There is a photo in the gallery of Fred Moore, one of the black soldiers from Ingersoll.
To log this virtual cache, you must either post a photo of yourself or at least one person in your group with the sculpture, or simply post a photo of your geocaching name written on a piece of paper and placed onto the sculpture.
Virtual Rewards 4.0 - 2024-2025
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between January 17, 2024 and January 17, 2025. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 4.0 on the Geocaching Blog.