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Cemetery Caches


Keruso

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There have been a lot of threads devoted to this subject in the past, but I am always glad to add my opinion.

 

I like visiting cemetaries, especially old ones. We like to stroll around, discussing the era these people lived (and died) in, and the hardships they might have faced, or comment on the dates.

 

Some cemetary caches have gotten bad names, sometimes from cachers not using what I could consider the proper respect or behavior I would expect from a person in a cemetary.

 

A cache, well done, brings a person to a local bit of history they might not have seen otherwise, especially if you are pointing out some local trivia or history that people might not know about otherwise.

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I like the cemetery caches. That may be because the main team hiding cemetery caches in Indiana does a great job of respecting the cemeteries and helps educate you on the history of the place at the same time. Some of the cemeteries I have seen while caching have been very cool to see!

 

I did run across something that was a little different to me since I am from a Yankee state. I have seen lots of civil war & revolutionary war graves with American flags on them. However, last week I was in Texas caching with friends and saw Confederate flags on graves for the first time. I had never seen that before. Kinda neat historically speaking. Seeing a confederate flag on a confederate vet's grave in Texas carries a whole different meaning than seeing a rebel flag flying on a pickup truck in Indiana!

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I did one that had me check out a few stones and then took me off to a discrete area to look for the cache. I did enjoy that one.

 

Another was just off into a scrub bush area. Not really that much fun.

 

Consider why you want to bring people to that area. Not just because it's available.

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I like them, my wife loves them. While I search for the cache she wanders around and reads all the headstones and takes in the local history. It's hard to get her back to the car so we can go to the next cache.

Many of the ones I've done are in small rural cemetaries. They have been place well, with respect for the area. My experience is that cachers treat the area with respect and enjoy learning the rich local history that one can get by visiting an old cemetary.

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4f4f6230-7231-4642-b6e8-34c1173c9dbe.jpg

 

This picture was taken at Over The Centuries, a cemetery cache with a private lot ... where, to my suprize, almost all the graves had my last name on them!!!! No real relatives ... but real FUN.

 

Koikeeper and I did a 2 part muti cemetery cache the other day. Almost did not get the final .... it was buried under some light ground cover. Very fitting for a cemetery cache.

 

One of my favorites led us to Jane Mansfield's grave in Penn Argyle (near Bangor), PA.

 

Most of the graves are never visited .... say hello while you are there.

 

Beetlejuice, beetlejuice, betlejuice! :P ImpalaBob

Edited by ImpalaBob
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I like the cemetery caches. That may be because the main team hiding cemetery caches in Indiana does a great job of respecting the cemeteries and helps educate you on the history of the place at the same time. Some of the cemeteries I have seen while caching have been very cool to see!

 

I did run across something that was a little different to me since I am from a Yankee state. I have seen lots of civil war & revolutionary war graves with American flags on them. However, last week I was in Texas caching with friends and saw Confederate flags on graves for the first time. I had never seen that before. Kinda neat historically speaking. Seeing a confederate flag on a confederate vet's grave in Texas carries a whole different meaning than seeing a rebel flag flying on a pickup truck in Indiana!

OK, I was over in your neck of the woods this past weekend, now you need to come over to mine.

 

Believe it or not there are several confederate graves in Indiana. You might try looking in NW Hendricks and Montgomery counties. Look at Indiana Spirit Quest #282: Confederate Railroad: "In this group are 18 Union vets, 3 of which are from the 28th US Colored Troops, and 6 Confederate vets."

 

If we are ever successful in getting Crown Hill Cemetery in Indy to let us place some caches, you might get to see 1,616 confederate graves that were associated with the POW camp in Indy. I was shocked to see how many confederate graves there are in the north. It looks like many moved north following the war.

 

I love cemetery caches! Of my 88 caches, 82 of them are in cemeteries.

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I like the cemetery caches. That may be because the main team hiding cemetery caches in Indiana does a great job of respecting the cemeteries and helps educate you on the history of the place at the same time. Some of the cemeteries I have seen while caching have been very cool to see!

 

I did run across something that was a little different to me since I am from a Yankee state. I have seen lots of civil war & revolutionary war graves with American flags on them. However, last week I was in Texas caching with friends and saw Confederate flags on graves for the first time. I had never seen that before. Kinda neat historically speaking. Seeing a confederate flag on a confederate vet's grave in Texas carries a whole different meaning than seeing a rebel flag flying on a pickup truck in Indiana!

OK, I was over in your neck of the woods this past weekend, now you need to come over to mine.

 

Believe it or not there are several confederate graves in Indiana. You might try looking in NW Hendricks and Montgomery counties. Look at Indiana Spirit Quest #282: Confederate Railroad: "In this group are 18 Union vets, 3 of which are from the 28th US Colored Troops, and 6 Confederate vets."

 

If we are ever successful in getting Crown Hill Cemetery in Indy to let us place some caches, you might get to see 1,616 confederate graves that were associated with the POW camp in Indy. I was shocked to see how many confederate graves there are in the north. It looks like many moved north following the war.

 

I love cemetery caches! Of my 88 caches, 82 of them are in cemeteries.

 

Thanks for the cool info! Did not know about the confederate graves here.

 

Wow, you really were in my neck of the woods. The Cucumber Tree is 4.9 miles from my house.

 

Where is your neck of the woods?

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Like others have posted, I have always found cemeteries to be very interesting. A respectful cache brings two interests together in a neat way. Fortunately, I've never found one close to the markers. They have always been placed on the perimeter of the grounds.

 

I did have to suspend a multi-cache hunt on Memorial Day weekend. The final stage was in a cemetery and there were many people there to pay their respects. I didn't want to intrude so I left and picked up the final stage a couple of weeks later.

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I love exploring those cemeteries off the beaten path. There is a quiet little rural cemetery at the end of the road by my home, with many tombstones dating from the early 1800's. I spent many hours of my childhood exploring it, and later it became a place of solitude when teenage angst got the best of me. I still return with my husband and children to wander among the markers, and feel that we are walking through pages from the past.

 

If there is a micro cache by or near an old tombstone or gravesite, I feel no disrespect was intended - rather that it served to draw attention to something interesting one might otherwise miss. In the old cemetery mentioned above, there are several unusual markers - a very weathered, handcarved wooden marker for a baby (1880), the marble tombstone slowly disappearing into a tree (1929), the rock gravesite under the old cedar tree with an unknown resident. Those resting here surely do not mind sharing their stories with the living, if living are brave enough to look.

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We've usually enjoyed hunting caches in cemeteries. I've always been uncomfortable about the idea of hiding our own in a cemetery, but we may end up hiding some soon.

 

But... I can also tell of caches that make you think twice about caching in cemeteries:

 

We once found a cache inside a marker. Mind you it was a great cache and the marker belonged to the cache hider (and hopefully won't be used for a very long time.)

 

More recently we went to two cemetery caches in Ohio. The first we absolutely loved. Then we crossed the street to the second three part cache and at part one, the tombstone fell on my daughter. It sounds like this stone is still down. My daughter was (and is) fine. It also bothered me that the stone fell due to caching (that and the tree that had damaged it over the years.)

 

SH ~ Hill Grove Cemetery

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Being the American Civil War nut that I am, I love getting into a cemetery that I've never been in just to see what war vet has been buried there. Also, I placed my first cache in one using a Civil War vet as the first stage of the hide. Many people love it and thank me for the history lesson so the hide, in my estimation, is a huge sucess.

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I own 2, both were placed with the upmost respect in mind. This one: The Ghosts of Frost is one of my favorite placements and has become my most-watched cache. It's the creepiest cemetery I know of, I have yet to come across one like this. The cache is hanging from the fence surrounding the cemetery.

 

My other cemetery cache: Morris Murder Mystery Gives you info on some local history. The cache is hidden in the back of the cemetery where there are NO graves. Everyone so far has seemed to enjoy it.

 

I know feelings are mixed on them, but I personally love them, it may seem morbid but cemteries are full of history, take some time to explore an older one and you can learn a lot, the placements above were to bring someone to the neat cemetery, NOT for the hide itself.

 

I did 2 of the Indiana spirit quest caches today, the first ones I've ever done, and I have to say the ISQ members do a very good job on making the caches educational, and hiding them respectfully.

 

I would be very dissapointed if cemetery caches were gone.

Edited by Tsmola
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I too go along with the general feeling that caches in cemeteries should add to your experience of being there rather than just using it as a source of numerical information. Should any of you make it across the pond I can recommend Coffee At St Michael's, particularly if you are a fan of Dorothy L Sayers as several of her Lord Peter Whimsey novels are set in the area. It is also quite close to the two largest American Towns in England (RAF Mildenhall & RAF Lakenheath). A great Scottish example would be The City of the Dead in Glasgow.

 

Here in southern England some churchyard caches are a bit clichéd: description gives coors of lynchgate at graveyard entrance, you hunt around to find the numerical equivalents of ABC & XYZ then walk half a mile to tupperware box in in hollow tree. When you come across a good one it therefore does stand out. The only one of mine I would proffer is St Aethan, in northeastern Scotland: it's a multicache and I wanted the cachers doing it to both get a sense of the continuity of the place but also the constant threat of mortality that exists in a fishing community.

Edited by Jango & Boba Fett
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...I did 2 of the Indiana spirit quest caches today, the first ones I've ever done, and I have to say the ISQ members do a very good job on making the caches educational, and hiding them respectfully.

 

I would be very dissapointed if cemetery caches were gone.

 

I have done 14 ISQ caches so far and they (ISQ) do a wonderful job if being respectful of the cemeteries.

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Here's a cache in a very well-known cemetery (it's a virtual, but still...) if you are in DC, this is one you should visit. Arlington has drinking fountains, guided tours, bathrooms, and even a gift shop! When you take all that into consideration, how can you consider caching in a cemetary disrespectful?

 

The Other Unknowns

 

It's good to see the majority of the community appreciates cemetary caches and what they can bring to the sport. If you don't go in to find the cache, and refuse to do so because you think it's disrespectful, at the very least take a moment to walk around the cemetery your GPS has led you to. Fix any fallen flags, take a moment to brush dirt or grass off an old stone and remember those buried there.

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it's good to read about ones all over the world, but now i want to hear about the ones close to home, being Pittsburgh,PA or anything surrounding.....it

Then you will probably want to make another post over in the New England area of the forums, where people who live in your area are more likely to see the post and respond to it.

Edited by Team Neos
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Cool cemeteries are always nice. Those that teach history are even more nice. I have been to some places that are absolutely wonderful to wander around. Unfortunately there are cemetery caches -- and this includes some ISQs -- are basically just cache'n'dashes. They are put in a cemetery simply because the property is more or less public. So I have mixed feelings about cemetery caches and thus usually put a limit of finding around 5 in any given caching day.

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What would be nice to have (and maybe it's there but I just don't know it) is a way to search cache listings by type, location, subject matter, etc. I like the cemetary caches and it would be nice to search for and get a listing of them in my area.

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I hid a multi stage one in an old pioneer cemetary in Tempe, AZ.

 

Full of the founders of the town, horse thiefs, politicians and the like.

 

A very educational place and gives you an idea of what life was like in the 1900s around here.

 

But, the actual cache is hidden on a butte overlooking the cemetary.

 

I love them, as long as they are respectful of the inhabitants!

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Cemetary caches I have visited: Patron 'Aint GC7C73 Virtual Doc Holliday's marker Glenwood Springs CO.

Shine On Doc GCN6VK (just outside the cemetary) Pioneers At Rest GCGMJH Milton-Freewater OR (edge of the cemetary) Lonely Cemetary GCRR7Q (miles from anywhere along US97 in OR).

The idea of a virtual (famous or infamous person's stone) as part of a multi is a good idea.

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Oh yeah, and theres a cemetery cache where my extended family is located. Not mine, but it's okay with me!

 

Check it out:

 

Found this one while visiting Hicksville today.

This cemetary is also the burial site for the Wilton (Consumnes) band of Miwok Indians. In other words my family and ancestors. My grandfather, grandmother, greats, etc are all buried on the east side of this plot. McKean, Blue, Taylor, Daniels. These are all original Native American families that lived in this area. I've been to more than one funeral and watched the hand-digging of graves in the hot sun, and the pouring rain.

 

Although the cache page indicates Hicks as settling this land, I believe the cemetary plot was actually put aside by land owner Valensin for the Miwoks who worked his farm, and other locals. At least according to my father.

 

Thanks for a great two-for. Visit my family and log a cache.

 

TNLNSL

Creepy Crypts

Edited by Marcie/Eric
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If you are ever in the Finger Lakes region of NY then you really need to check out this cache, G.O. Cache (GCND8D). It is a cemetary cache and by far the best cache I have done. I actually think these people have too much time on their hands from the amount of thought and time they put into their caches!

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We were in a national forest yesterday and found a cache near a historical cemetary in the woods. The cache was tastefully placed away from the graves. While hubby searched (he's the one who found it.) I looked at the graves. I ended up doing some internet research and found that the young mother and child who were memorialized there had died in a landslide in 1916. I also found that there was major flooding in that area at that time.

 

It connected me to some Carolinian history. I never would have gone there if not for geocaching. I think that caches placed respectfully can help us learn a little something about the depth of our history, and remind us that life is not just about US.

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I don't like them because I think they disrespect the graves that are there. Unless the cache is close to the graveyard but like 50 feet away from there. I don't mind them as long as there aren't peopling looking through the gravestones for the cache if they are around the perimeter that is better.

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While I am a little leery of placing the actual cache in a cemetery, I think gathering clues from a cemetery is a great way to appreciate past lives and stories. Being of Scottish background, I was raised to view cemeteries as placed where personalities were captured for future generations to appreciate. A walk through the graveyard in Fraserburgh revealed humor, wit and intelligence captured on the gravestones. Insight into life and times of time past framed for others to ponder. It was never considered disrespectful to walk amongst, touch the stones or laugh out loud. If a cacher can lead me to such places to enjoy, appreciate and understand - I'm all for it.

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just wanted to know what some of you guys think of cemetery caches, as i had just placed one and now waiting for it to be published

I enjoy the multi/puzzle type ones that make you read info from gravestones to find the cache. I think the container itself would probably be best hidden either at the perimeter of the cemetery or just outside the cemetery though. I don't have a good reason. I just think so. I'll still do a cemetery cache even if it's not.

 

As an aside, I've been in a number of cemeteries lately, because I've been Waymarking Texas Historical Markers and 1/3 to 1/2 of those are cemeteries.

 

My wife likes to prowl cemeteries and look at all the gravestones too!

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I see nothing wrong with a cemetary cache, PROVIDED the hider and all those searching show proper respect for the location. Many cemetaries are off-limits or have restricted hours due to vandalism problems. Often, you will find much history, founding families, family ties, or historical markers at these locations. Makes for a more interesting hunt, I like to take the time to read everything (not into the numbers games, yet!).

 

And remember, practicing CITO in a cemetary will always curry favor with the management, the families visiting, and fellow cachers.

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We love cemeteries. We're ghosthunters.

 

It's important to be respectful but there's nothing wrong with placing a cache (we just placed a cemetery one). It's good to remember that it's not your place, it's theirs, and there are a lot of them still there. Next time you check on your cache, bring a digital recorder and see if anyone (who didn't seem to be there at the time) talks. If you're so inclined, just ask them if anyone has any objection to the cache being there. Please share the wav if you get an answer! :angry:

 

- HauntHunters

Edited by HauntHunters
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I really don't believe anyone is there. Permanently. Maybe if you come looking for them, they'll be there.

 

I have two cemetery caches. I never thought of them as being disrespectful. The history of each family involved has been studied and presented. They are the founding families of my town, with a history that is being forgotten.

 

When I'm dead, I'd be really surprised to find myself in a graveyard getting annoyed about the people who are there. That's not exactly how I picture it.

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