Rhode Island Geo-History
While in Rhode Island, check out these geocaches and learn a little history along the way:
1. The First of the Mohegans. Located on Block Island's Mohegan Bluffs. In 1590 a war party of 40 Mohegan Indians was driven over these bluffs by Block Island Indians - the Manisseans.
2. William Blackstone Memorial (Virtual Cache). As indicated in the cache description, Blackstone was born in England in 1595 and came to the new world in the 1620's. He is considered the first European settler in what is now Boston and also what is now Rhode Island.
3. Beavertail Light. There have been watch houses and lights near this spot since 1705. The present lighthouse dates back to 1856.
4. Catch a Wave. You'll go through Watch Hill, named during King George's War between the British and the French in the 1740's when a watchtower was built to warn against naval attack. You'll also see the 20th century military ruins near the cache itself.
5. The Legend of Hannah's Rock. A cache commemorating forbidden love in the 1760's.
6. Stillhouse Cove (Virtual Cache) and
Americache. Both caches are near the site of the burning of the HMS Gaspee, a British ship, on June 9, 1772.
7. Heritage Park Cache. The Battle of Rhode Island took place in the area on August 29, 1778. Among those receiving commendations was the
First Rhode Island Regiment which at the time was a nearly all-black unit.
8. Fort Barton Geocache. A plaque near the park entrance indicates that in 1777 the site was fortified by the colonial army to defend against British troops then occupying Aquidneck Island, and from here was launched an ill-fated invasion in 1778, which came to be known as the Battle of Rhode Island.
9. Drum Rock Cache (Archived). The "drum rock" was used as a communication device by the Coweset Indians.
10. Suspense. See military ruins from the Revolutionary War and World War I.
11. RI-CT-MA Tri-State Marker (Photo) (Virtual Cache). The marker includes the year "1883", and that's good enough for us!
12. Cliff Cache. Visit the mansions of Newport and experience the gilded age of the early 1900's.
13. War Tour. A three leg multicache that visits major military ruins of Conanicut Island.
14. A Rose by any other name and Two If By Sea (both at Point Judith). On May 6, 1945, the USS Black Point was torpedoed less than four miles off of the coast of Point Judith by a German U-Boat, the U-853. (The following day, the Nazi sub was attacked and destroyed.)
15. Walkabout Cache. Sailors from the Royal Australian Navy helped to create the Walkabout Trail in 1965 while waiting for delivery of their ship.
16. Shannock Falls (Virtual Cache). In order to log this cache as a find, you'll need to discover what historical event took place here. (Photo)
17. Brenton Point. Here your can find the oldest geocache in Rhode Island, hidden on December 16, 2000.
(If you are placing a cache in the vicinity of an historical site, remember geocaching.com's recommendation: "Please do not place caches on archaeological or historical sites. In most cases these areas are highly sensitive to the extra traffic that would be caused by vehicles and humans. If you find a cache in one of these areas please remove it and replace it a safe enough distance from the site to ensure that the site will not be impacted by people searching for the cache and unknowingly traveling over or through a site.")
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