A Great Day of Caching with Rosie & Mom 8/24/2008

Sunday morning Mom and I decided to do some caching and we asked any of Tim's family if they would like to go along but the only one that did was Rosie so off we went to Auburn, NY. Our first cache was in Cold Spring Cemetery on the outskirts of Auburn and Rosie had her first ever find as the cache was located in a tree stump with a rock over it, although she did have her first injury also as she got stuck by a thorn vine. Cold Spring Cemetery was the first Irish Catholic Cemetery in the area and was the burial place for many Irish immigrants and also many Civil War Veterans.
Our next cache was located in Auburn and was a multi-cache that had us going to several of the murals painted on the walls of the buildings in Auburn. We went to the 3 murals and collected our information last time we were in Auburn caching but couldn't find the cache so after logging it the owner of the cache gave us a clue that helped us find it this time.
Next stop was a small park in the city and a cache Rosie found hanging in a pine tree. Next stop was actually a puzzle cache that we were given the coords for because some of the information needed to figure out those coords was missing. We found the cache on the backside of a guardrail and we were off to Sacred Heart Church and a light pole cache that Rosie again found.
Next cache was again in a very small cemetery which was located on the old Porter Farm Circa 1813-1817. When we got there we found the cache and its contents scattered all over the ground. We assume, by the way the cache container looked that an animal got at it and opened it the best way he knew how. We replaced the container with one we had in the car and rehid the cache where it was supposed to be.
Then we were on to Owasco, NY, just outside Auburn, and Emerson Park on Owasco Lake. This is a very lovely park and it was practically deserted when we were there on Sunday which we found to be very strange. This park has many many activities and attractions such as an 18 hole disc golf course, the Ward O'Hara Agricultural Museum, the Sterling Nature Center, swimming, boating, boat launches, picnic areas, fishing piers and also the Merry-Go-Round Playhouse. The Playhouse is a professional non-profit theater and will open for its 37th season in the historic Carousel building. The musicals and plays this year included All Shook Up, Les Miserables, The Producers, Little Shop of Horrors and Church Basement Ladies. I know Mom and I have been several times and we loved it as it is small and your close to the stage, which makes it very nice and cozy and makes you feel as if your part of the play. The park also holds many many events such as pig roasts, art shows, circuses, bike races, fireworks, doll exhibitions, many car shows, a tomatofest, dances, and several Christmas activities. Well anyway our first cache there was a virtual where we had to find a monument and get some information off of it. Next was a cache along the newly installed brick walkway along the inlet, next was a cache in a vent pipe at the entrance and the last cache was across the street at the museum hidden in a tree which again Rosie found. Then we drove to one of the boat launches and Rosie found a cache hidden in some rocks near the picnic area. Next cache was again in a cemetery hidden in the woods in a tree.
Our last cache was a multi-cache and has quite a history behind it. First the cache where we had to visit a small cemetery behind what used to be Sand Beach Church, which is a Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, and is now part of the Springside Inn. In 1852, the pastor of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church on Sand Beach Road bought a 70-acre farm next to the church and built a boarding school for boys. Over the years, the school became a private home and a restaurant that has changed hands several times, and is now the Springside Inn. The beautiful church was built in 1852 and dedicated in 1855. It is in the Gothic Norman style and the estimated cost of construction back then was $7000. Bricks came from the brickyard operating behind the present-day Harriet Tubman Home. The church served its faithful congregation until ’97 when it closed its doors after over 150 years of service. It was acquired in July ’07 by the owners of Springside Inn, Sean and Beth Lattimore, who are making the church part of the Springside Inn business. The Lattimores have restored the interior of the church to accommodate both wedding ceremonies and public space for business use and private parties. The foyer was brought back to its 1930s beauty with its original wainscoting, period sconces and chandelier. It is the perfect welcoming area with seating. The integrity of the interior is being maintained with movable pews that can seat 100. It can be converted for tables and chairs for parties, corporate meetings, seminars and business events. The floors were refinished and the original brick is exposed on the back wall. Wood panels and sconces adorn part of the front wall and four original lights that were found in the attic hang from the ceiling. We went into the cemetery and got the information we needed from a burial site (more on that later) and we were off to the second site which was a private home built around 1846. We got that information and we then had to go to a statue of William Seward in downtown Auburn to get the last piece of info we needed. We got it all and now all we had to do is email the cache owner with the answers.
Now back to the history behind this cache. Site 1 was the cemetery where we had to find a grave stone with the inscription "All murdered on the night of March 12, 1846" "Mysterious Providence indeed, Thou called us here to lie, Here where our bodies must remain Until the Judgement Day. But thou art righteous oh our God And doest naught in vain For whilst to us to live was Christ To die in Christ is gain. These mangled forms again shall rise At the last trumpet's sound, To dwell forever in the skies Where pain nor death is found. Farewell dear parents; children; friends. We'll not be parted long May we all meet in heaven again A saved and happy throng." This has to do with the William Freeman murder trial and this burial site was of the people he murdered. In 1846 William Freeman, a young man of African and Native American descent, stabbed to death four members of the Van Nest family with no apparent motive. They were an elderly woman, a pregnant daughter and her two year old grandson all named Van Nest. The second site was the house where the murders all occurred and site 3 was of the man who tried to make sense out of all this but never received the historical credit, William Seward. In 1846 in Auburn, NY, Seward used the insanity plea to defend the former enslaved American, William Freeman. Freeman killed several members of a local white family while stealing a horse. William Seward did not win the case but won another trial. Unfortunately before this happened, Freeman died. An autopsy later disclosed scar tissue on his brain that experts from Bedlam, England testified could have explained his actions. William Freeman received the injury after being struck in the head several years before. Freeman had been whipped many times by his employers, police and in prison. "Such a life, so filled with neglect, injustice and severity, with anxiety, pain, disappointment, solicitude and grief, would have its fitting conclusion in a madhouse" was Seward's summary to the jury. Later in 1859 U.S. Representative Daniel E. Sickles, from NY would be credited as the first defendant to use the "temporary insanity" defense in the United States. In 1859, Daniel E. Sickles shot and killed Phillip Barton Key, and pleaded temporary insanity. Phillip Barton Key was the US Attorney who prosecuted the owner and captain of the Pearl. He was also the son of Francis Scott Key, the composer of our National anthem. To everyone's surprise, Sickles was acquitted of the murder following a twenty-day trial. A very interesting cache with a lot of historical background.
Then we were on back to Camillus with a stop at McDonald's for lunch and a stop to pick up sweet corn for dinner. We had yummy mushroom, bacon cheeseburgers, corn and salt potatoes for dinner.........very yummy indeed. Then it was off to the RV and I read for awhile as I was putting heat on my back which has been killing me now for about a week because of sciatica. Well time to say until next time and we love you all.


Picture List:1-Rosie at "Lest We Forget", 2-Rosie & Mom reading the Van Nest grave site inscription on the burial stone, 3-Rosie found "Cor Sacratissimum", 4-Rosie & Mom looking for "Swift", 5,6-Looking for "Starry, Starry Night", 7,8-Wandering through the woods looking for "I Can See Clearly Now", 9,10,11-Sand Beach Church Circa 1807, 12-Grave marker of the Van Nest family, 13-Grave marker of Zipporah wife of Elisha Walton died 1827, 14,15-Ward O'Hara Agricultural Museum, 16,17-Porter Farm Cemetery Circa 1813-17, 18,19,20,21-Cold Spring Cemetery Auburn, NY.