Iowa's Oldest Building Traditional Geocache
Iowa.Landmark: The cache owner is not responding to issues with this geocache, so I must regretfully archive it.
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(small)
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This cache is a spin off of one of our favorite local caches.
Dating from at least 1833, the Louis Arriandeaux Log House originally stood at what is now Second Street and Locust Street. It was moved to Eagle Point Park in 1915, and then to the grounds of the Mathias Ham House in 1967. It is the oldest building in Iowa. It has been skillfully restored and authentically furnished.
The frontier village of Dubuque was typical of all settlements, composed of renegades and adventurers as well as people of quality who had come to establish mining claims and to prosper. The original town of Dubuque, consisting of one square mile, lay between the bluffs and the river. These bluffs were dotted with miners' shanties.
A common early rural domestic building style was a single room log house, or pen as the architects call it. Often the attic was used as a sleeping loft. As the family grew, a second log house would be built adjacent to the first. The two buildings, or double pens, could be joined by a common roof and a wood floor between the buildings could be added. The space created between the two buildings is called a dogtrot. This breezeway of sorts would, in winter, allow the dogs to get in, out of the rain and snow, or in the summertime, let them find some shade.
Also located at this site is the 1856 Italianate mansion of entrepreneur Mathias Ham. With its elegant Victorian furnishings, reflects the splendor and beauty of nineteenth century life along the river. Enjoy tours of the home led by costumed guides. A one-room school house is also located on site.
Tours are available daily May 1-October 31. Open 10 a.m., last tour is 4:30 p.m.
The log cabin and school house are free of charge to view.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
1 VAPU GHOR VA GUR EBPXF