As an added bonus, I will send the first 10 finders a Fitz Hugh Lane painting postcard, if you send me your mailing address via Geocaching.com.
Perched on Duncan Hill, overlooking Gloucester Harbor, is the ___(B) - gabled granite house, built in the year 184___(E), for the artist Fitz Hugh Lane. He lived here until his death in 1865.
Born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 180__(F), the son of a sail maker, Fitz Hugh Lane became one of America's preeminent marine painters, associated with delicate, brilliantly lit luminist seascapes. However, he was not nationally recognized until long after his death.
The Cape Ann Historical Museum of Gloucester, located at 27 Pleasant Street, exhibits the largest collection of his paintings (39) and drawings (100). His paintings can also be found on exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Peabody Museum of Salem, MA, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the National Gallery of Art, Washington, among others, and some are included in the White House Collection. One of his paintings recently sold at auction for more than $3.5 million!
The Lane family can trace its roots back to the first settlement in the 17th century.
Fitz Hugh Lane was crippled by a childhood disease, probably polio, and always walked with crutches, which explains why he was depicted as he was in the sculpture. The Fitz Hugh Lane Memorial Sculpture is unique in many ways. It was not commissioned but was a “gift of the heart” from the sculptor to the City of Gloucester. Unfortunately, the sculptor died unexpectedly just after having completed the giant clay model from which this bronze casting was made.
Take a walk up the granite staircase and spend some time sitting on one of the park benches or enjoying a picnic at one of the “Flintstone” granite tables. You can enjoy the same view of Gloucester Harbor that Fitz Hugh Lane loved to paint and watch the daily activities of the local fishermen here.
Look closely at the sculpture and the surrounding area and then fill in the blanks above and answer the following questions below:
1. What is the last name of the sculptor? His name can be found in two places on the sculpture.
Convert his last name into numbers, using a telephone keypad. Example: A-B-C = 2, D-E-F = 3, etc. Add all of the numbers together until you have reduced them to a single digit and use this number for (C).
Example: LANE = 5263 = 5 + 2 + 6 + 3 = 16 = 1 + 6 = 7
2. What type of building is Fitz Hugh Lane sketching on his sketch pad? Convert this answer to numbers and reduce to a single digit as in Question #1. Use this number for (G).
3. "Step into my shoes and become _________(H)." Convert this answer to numbers and reduce to a single digit as in Question #1.
Stage 2 coordinates:
N42° 37.ABC
W 070° 40.DEF
A = (H - F)
D = (G - B)
The coordinates for Stage 2 will bring you to Fitz Hugh Lane's final resting place. The cache is hidden very near here.
Note: His correct name, Fitz "Henry" Lane, was not used until recently. Historians claimed to have discovered this information in 2005.