Avast me landlubber friends and all you Captain Jack Sparrow wannabes.
There’s hidden treasure in Chadds Ford that’s waiting to be discovered in the growing high-tech game of Geocaching.
According to Nancy Sakaduski of Pennsbury Township, “Geocaching is a worldwide outdoor hide and seek game. A geocacher places a “geocache”, usually a box containing trinkets to trade and a log book to sign, in a good hiding spot and then pinpoints its location using GPS technology.”
The location coordinates are then posted on a website http://www.geocaching.com, where others can use the coordinates to find the geocache. When they do, they sign the logbook and report their find on the website.
“Geocaches are generally placed on public land or parks, always with permission,” she explained. “They cannot be buried, but are usually hidden so that passersby not involved in the game do not accidentally discover them.”
If you enter the zip code 19317 on the official web site, you will find fifteen GPS coordinates to caches with names like “Chadds Ford Countryside,” “Pennsbury By Request” and “It's OK to Wine.” Each cache listing has comments left by those who have found it often telling about the fascinating people they meet there.
Sakaduski recently hid and registered a new Chadds Ford geocache on Saturday, June 13, near an area museum known for its quirky collection, with the coveted “FTF” or First to Find prize.
Less than 24 hours later, four individual geocachers looking for new sites, had already found the hidden cache, left geocache IDs like “JerseyJoey” and “Squirtgun,” and registered their comments on line.
There are over 826,000 Geocaches located around the world, but just to confirm, I entered the name of the village of Brackenheim, Germany, where I had lived one summer. And sure enough, coordinates for 20 sites were listed with familiar names like Burg Neipperg, Zabergäu and Dürrenzimmern.
My sister Pat and her husband were introduced to the game when they stumbled across a geocache quite by accident on the island of Jost van Dyke, British Virgin Islands.
As she recounts, “Brian and I decided to hike to the highest point of the Island, 2,000 feet above the ocean. We got to the highest point and leaned back against a big bolder, and there in the crevice in the rock was a small plastic box.”
“We were curious and opened it and it was just full of these little trinkets and a piece of paper explaining Geocaching. We followed the directions on the paper, rummaged through our backpacks and left a trinket that would be fun for someone to find. We took a plastic Tyrannosaurus Rex and tucked the box back in the crevice “
Sakaduski got her GPS device for her birthday a couple of years ago and made her first find that day and adds, “Since then, my husband and I have found more than 40 geocaches, and have hidden several of our own,” she said. “It’s a great family sport that often involves hiking through the woods …[and] often takes you to new parks, secluded spots, and interesting locations you might never have visited otherwise.”
So what be ye waiting for matey?
Get your hand-held GPS, some trading trinkets and start treasure hunting!
And for a really great article read : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocaching.
About Sally Denk Hoey
Sally Denk Hoey, is a Gemini - one part music and one part history. She holds a masters degree cum laude from the School of Music at West Chester University. She taught 14 years in both public and private school. Her CD "Bard of the Brandywine" was critically received during her almost 30 years as a folk singer. She currently cantors masses at St Agnes Church in West Chester where she also performs with the select Motet Choir. A recognized historian, Sally serves as a judge-captain for the south-east Pennsylvania regionals of the National History Day Competition. She has served as president of the Brandywine Battlefield Park Associates as well as the Sanderson Museum in Chadds Ford where she now curates the violin collection. Sally re-enacted with the 43rd Regiment of Foot and the 2nd Pennsylvania Regiment for 19 years where she interpreted the role of a campfollower at encampments in Valley Forge, Williamsburg, Va., Monmouth, N.J. and Lexington and Concord, Mass. Sally is married to her college classmate, Thomas Hoey, otherwise known as "Mr. Sousa.”
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I certainly hope when they find the cache near the Sanderson Museum, they will stop by and sign our register on Sat or Sun. Chris would expect it!