+Semper Questio Posted February 12, 2004 Share Posted February 12, 2004 I just had a thought while hitting up the virtual caches that are so often based on the roadside historical markers. How about a whole new cache type based on the same general principal as benchmarks? We band together and start cataloging historical markers, logging in their title, content, age, location, condition, and visits. This would be great for geocaching history buffs and add a whole new dimension to the game! I would not recommend pictures unless it is just something truly amazing due to storage issues, but the first person entering a marker would enter the text of the marker and sunsequent visitors would simply log thier visit like a virtual, but withoutthe confirmation question. Of course, I don't see why the site could not also be host to a virutal or any other kind of cache, but the main point here would be to get the markers located, transcribed, and cataloged. What a treasure trove of historical tidbits this would be! What does anyone else think? HW, The Kilted Cacher Quote Link to comment
+Renegade Knight Posted February 12, 2004 Share Posted February 12, 2004 It's more like a locationless cache. BM's have known locations. You go there and find it. This is the reverse. You find it and report on where it's at. In that light it's just one type of loctionless cache. But that's just how I see it and you might have something else in mind. Quote Link to comment
+Mopar Posted February 12, 2004 Share Posted February 12, 2004 (edited) Maybe you should start a petition? I hear www.petitiononline.com is a great place for that. Edited February 12, 2004 by Mopar Quote Link to comment
+Semper Questio Posted February 12, 2004 Author Share Posted February 12, 2004 Yes, I see your point and I agree exept that locationless caches can be anything. This woul dbe specifically for offical historical markers. Of course, it seems that many agencies would have some location of their markers, though if they have GPS coords. is another issue entirely. Granted, the concept needs some thought. Quote Link to comment
+RPW Posted February 12, 2004 Share Posted February 12, 2004 It might be more like benchmark hunting. I suspect that somewhere -- probably not on a computer -- are lists of all of the historical markers. But not their co-ordinates. TPTB could add the written description of the markers to the GC site and then we could go find them. Just like benchmarks I suspect there are missing or misplaced historical markers. So this could be a public service ala the benchmarks. BTW: It could be interesting within the benchmark section to have people put in the co-ordinates of the benchmark. Certainly people can do this now in their logs but a formal method would make the location more accurate for future finders. Quote Link to comment
+GEO.JOE Posted February 13, 2004 Share Posted February 13, 2004 I have thought about this same idea. I have found a couple benchmarks and I have not found it as interesting as finding geocaches. I frequently stop at historical markers and read them and would enjoy hunting them because there is the reward of learning a bit of history at the end of the hunt. I frequently use the Kentucky Historical Society Historical Marker Database http://kentucky.gov/kyhs/hmdb/MarkerSearch...unty&county=114 to learn about interesting areas to visit when traveling. Other states and counties have developed their own databases. I would welcome this as a new category of searchs on Geocaching.com. Happy Caching. GEO.JOE Quote Link to comment
+pnew Posted February 13, 2004 Share Posted February 13, 2004 like Kentucky, Texas has a website that not only lists all the historical markers but all the info displayed on them as well. It would still be fun to see how many one could actually find. Maybe someone can make a website explicitly for Historical Marker Hunting. Quote Link to comment
+erik88l-r Posted February 13, 2004 Share Posted February 13, 2004 (edited) Is this the sort of thing you had in mind? Georgia Historical Markers If we had one just called "Historic Plaques, Monuments, Markers, and other Points of Interest" we could put 'most all virts in there. ~erik~ Edited February 13, 2004 by erik88l-r Quote Link to comment
+skeeter-n-lucy Posted February 13, 2004 Share Posted February 13, 2004 I agree on having a historical markers designation. My wife teaches history and they can be used in her class. I probably would find more historical markers than regular caches. I have been wanting to find the coordinates of all of the State Trooper Memorials in Texas.(Which I believe is different from historical markers, I guess) and come up with a page with them on it. Quote Link to comment
+sodajerk Posted February 13, 2004 Share Posted February 13, 2004 In Texas, not only a web site, but I have a book with Historical Markers we take on trips. We can look up and read the markers without stopping. Always nice to know a little history of the area. I think it is called "The sign beside the road." or something like that. I guess we should start marking the coordinates in the book now. Quote Link to comment
+The Leprechauns Posted February 13, 2004 Share Posted February 13, 2004 Gee wouldn't it be nice if the design of the new website section for virtuals and locationless allowed you to set up an area for collecting "Texas historical markers" or "State Trooper Memorials"? People who like looking for these things would have an area to share information about them, and people who only like to find traditional geocaches will be able to do that, without complaining about having a "bunch of lame historic marker virtuals" on their nearest cache list. Everybody would be happy. Quote Link to comment
+skeeter-n-lucy Posted February 13, 2004 Share Posted February 13, 2004 SJ, Where did you get the book. I'll check for one in Beaumont when I go this weekend. Quote Link to comment
+Semper Questio Posted February 13, 2004 Author Share Posted February 13, 2004 My general concspet was jsut to make a database of markers, their content, location, and condition and a bonus would be to make them searchable by state (and maybe county and/or zip) and to enable searching the content sections. But other than the historical significance I see the fun in this being twofold. First there is the fun in being the first to locate and post a marker (I'd spend weekends just driving around to do that!). The second is while planning a trip, cache hunt, or whatever, you could go online and see what is along the way that you want to stop and see for yourself. Perhaps when listing markers it only gives title, waypoint info, and link to content so no content spoiler is immediately given. The biggest problem I see is where do you stop calling something an historical marker? After all, there are plenty of monuments, informational displays and so on that have as much, if not more, historical relevance as the roadside markers. I'd be of a mnd to include those, but stop short of including building such as the lincoln memorial and grave markers. Quote Link to comment
Dinoprophet Posted February 14, 2004 Share Posted February 14, 2004 There's a guy somewhere in Michigan whose goal is to visit all X-thousand of our historical markers. There was a call by a geocacher some time ago to supplement his project by providing him with coordinates. I don't think it went anywhere though. A fine idea, but this site can't handle every GPS-related activity. Like you said: The biggest problem I see is where do you stop calling something an historical marker? At some point, it's no longer geocaching and needs its own site. Good luck if you run with this, I'd certainly be interested. Quote Link to comment
+Semper Questio Posted February 14, 2004 Author Share Posted February 14, 2004 Unfortunately I don't have the time, money, resources, or expertise to pull it off. But I thought of a whole new GPS activity along those line - maybe call it GeoSpying - where people can log things of interest like the markers, giant fiberglass people, roadside attractions, unique water towers, etc. Oh well, maybe someone will be able to go for it. Quote Link to comment
Dinoprophet Posted February 14, 2004 Share Posted February 14, 2004 Check out http://www.waypoint.org. That seems to be along the lines you're thinking. Quote Link to comment
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