Kempsville History Traditional Geocache
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Winner of the 2007 silver (2nd place) Hidey Award for Best Historical Cache in Hampton Roads. Bring a pen or pencil to log in. The area is flat and open.
On or very close to this site a skirmish occurred on November 15th, 1775 between British troops under the command of Lord Dunmore (the last Royalist governor of Virginia), and members of the Princess Anne County militia for control of a bridge at Kemps Landing, a colonial port at the head of the eastern branch of the Elizabeth River. During this skirmish John Ackiss was killed by Lord Dunmore's troops, becoming the first Virginian casualty of the American Revolution. Encouraged by his success at Kemp's Landing, Lord Dunmore marched his troops 10 miles south to Great Bridge where on December 9th, 1775 his forces suffered a complete rout with 106 of his 600 men either killed, wounded or captured. Colonial forces had but one casualty. This has been called "the Second Battle of Bunker Hill". Lord Dunmore's defeat was followed by the capture of Norfolk by the "rebels" and the subsequent bombardment of Norfolk by Lord Dunmore on January 1st, 1776. This occurred 6-7 months before the Declaration of Independence. The church at this site, Emmanuel Episcopal Church, was founded in 1843 to serve families living in Kempsville (then known as Kemp's Landing), a busy trading port. In time, the town lost its economic importance and Emmanuel became a rural parish until the 1960's & 1970's when explosive growth transformed this area into a sprawling suburban community. Portions of the church's outer walls are original. The cemetery behind the church contains the graves of four veterans of the Civil War in the early 1860's, as well as the more recent grave of Allen Gettel, a local boy who grew up to be a major league pitcher for the Yankees, Indians, and White Sox over a 10 year career (1945-55). Please park in front of the church in the parking lot off of Singleton Way, and go around the church to the left. Cache is not on the ground, at least it shouldn't be.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Pnzb’q cvyy obggyr, whfg nobir gur nirentr fvtug yvar va prqne