Tribute To A Legend Mystery Cache

Tribute To A Legend

One of the legends of Country music, Hank Williams had a unique style unlike anyone else. This cache will take you on a journey into the life of this artist and give you insight into the story behind the legend.

This is a multi-part mystery cache. The coordinates above will take you to the first step in this journey. You will have to follow these instructions to find the cache. Print this out and take it with you. Don't forget your pen so you can take notes as you go!

Site #1 (N 32 22.065 W 086 15.935) Rufus Payne was born in 1884 on the Payne Plantation in Lownes County, Alabama. His family moved to New Orleans by the time he was six years old, and his father worked as a mule skinner there. While living in New Orleans, Rufus learned to play blues and jazz. During this time he also earned the nickname “Tee-Tot” for his drinking habits. By 1915 he was living back in Alabama near Greenville.

During the 1930s Rufus Payne befriended a poor white shoeshine boy named Hiram Williams, who went by the nickname of Hank. The boy was inspired by Rufus’music and asked Rufus to teach him a few chords. This began a long friendship between the two. Hank’s mother bought him a guitar when he turned eight. She gave food to Rufus in exchange for music lessons for Hank.

By the late 1930s both men were living in Montgomery. Eventually, the two lost contact with each other. In March 1939 Rufus died from heart problems in a Montgomery charity hospital, and was buried in an unmarked grave somewhere in this cemetery. Hank later made inquiries about Rufus, but learned that he was dead and that no one knew where he was buried.

In recent years Hank’s son began an inquiry as to the location of Rufus Payne’s grave. A librarian named Alice Harp researched government papers and found that Rufus was buried in this cemetery. These markers were then placed here as a tribute to the blues artist who was a mentor to the legendary Hank Williams. Although the exact location where Payne is buried is not known, behind the granite marker to your left is a grave which serves as a tribute to the great blues artist.

Behind the granite marker is another grave which belongs to Robert B Sadler. Please get the date that this person died and place it here in numeric format (for example "12/17/2003"):

Site #2 (N 32 22.585 W 86 18.672) Sadly, the Theater is long gone that once stood at this location and even the single marker that was previously here has been replaced. It was at here, during the Christmas of 1937, that fourteen year old Hank Williams won fifteen dollars in a talent show. After this, Hank put together a band called “Hank and Hezzy’s Drifting Cowboys”. The group began singing on Dad Crysell’s WSFA show, where Hank was known as “The Singing Kid”. Soon Hank got his own show and made fifteen dollars a week. Hank struggled with his music career until February 25, 1949, when his song "Lovesick Blues" was released, which was number one on the charts for 42 weeks straight.

On the monument that stands at this site, another historical event is listed that occurred at this same location. Please list the date that this event happened below, as you did in step one:

Site #3 (N 32 23.128 W 086 17.464) On December 30, 1952 bad weather grounded a flight that was headed from Montgomery to Charleston, South Carolina, in Knoxville, Tennessee. Hank had a car sent to pick him up and drive him to Charleston. Seventeen year old Charles Carr took Hank’s car to Knoxville and proceeded to drive Hank to Charleston. At about 5:30 am on January 1, 1953, Carr stopped in Oak Hill, West Virginia to ask for directions at a service station, when he discovered that Hank was dead. Hank was buried on January 4, 1953 at this site. Over 20,000 mourners came to Montgomery to mourn the loss of the legendary Hank Williams that day.

Just south of this grave near the curve in the road, you will find a marker (N 32 23.091 W 086 17.463). Read this marker and write down the last two digits of the number of people buried at this site:

Ok! You’re ready to go find the cache! At this point you should have two dates and one number. The date from the first site is represented in this formula as the letters A through H. The date from the second site is represented in this formula as the letters I through L and Q through T. The number from the third site is represented as the letters Y and Z.

Now replace these letters in the formula below and do the math to get the values of uu, vv, www, and xxx:

You're almost there! Now take the values of uu, vv, www, and xxx and place them in the following coordinates: