Gilliland Cemetery Mystery Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(micro)
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This is an Off-Set cache. There is no container hidden at the above coordinates since the Cemetery is on National Park property and it is illegal to hide a physical cache inside the Park.
This Off-set cache will take you to an old Cemetery. The reason for the 3 rating on terrain is because, although the road to the Cemetery is generally in good condition, you do have to cross 2 shallow streams to get there. I would not take a low rider car to this one.
A little background on Cemeteries inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park...
The property originally given (aquired) for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, was public land. Most of it was donated by the Rockefellers. The rest was purchased with public money raised by a group of local philanthrapists. There is a story that school children even helped raise money by soliciting pennies for the fund raising effort. Since the Park was bought with public money, that is why it is the only Park in the NPS that does not now, nor ever will (legally), have an entrance fee. Both North Carolina and Tennessee Legislatures had that put in the deed at the time of purchase. Let's hope they don't figure out a way to circumvent the legality.
All that was fine and good but not everyone who lived in these mountains wanted to sell their land. Most were of Scots-Irish decent, and were fiercly protective of their land and their "people" who were buried there. Of course some did sell, some were given "lifetime leases", and some were forced out by act of "imminent domain". The ones who had the "lifetime leases" were eventually forced out mostly by tourists that kept showing up on their doorstep thinking they were an "Exhibit".
One other thing that the "powers that be" had to do, in order to get the "deal" done, was promise to maintain public access to the existing Cemeteries so the people who were forced out could come back and visit their dearly departed. Also, their decendants were and are still allowed, to this day, to be buried in the family plot, even though the Cemeteries are in the Park now, as long as there is still space available.
On "Decoration Day" as the old timers call Memorial day, you will see many processions of vehicles parading up these old roads to pay their respects to their long buried relatives.
One thing you will see in alot of these old places are misspellings on the headstones. Some are kind of funny, I think anyway.
To find the final coordinates, you will need to find the misspelled word on Sgt. W.M. Gilliland's headstone. Take the first 2 letters and count the number each letter would be in the alphabet. For example if the misspelled word was "dyde" the first 2 letters would equal 4 and 25 respectively. (d is the 4th letter of the alphabet and y is the 25th)
Add both of the numbers up from the first 2 letters and minus them from 76 to fill in the X's below:
N 35 47.XXX
Now do the same thing with the last letters. Add them then subtract from 194 to fill in the X's below:
W 083 12.XXX
The answer to the above will take you outside the Park boundary to a micro. There is only a logsheet so bring your own pen.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)