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Geocaching has been a great opportunity to pick up fallen flags and clean up garbage in cemeteries. My five year old niece has also become interested in the stone artwork and she makes up stories about the lives of people who are buried in them. She’s learning about history and she loves going from veteran marker to veteran marker. In fact, she’s significantly more interested in cemeteries than geocaching at this point. It has even helped her deal with the concept of losing a pet at home.
I think when I started last year there was a very long topic on this subject and the best thing I read was that cemeteries are meant to be visited. Europe and other countries have cemeteries as “tourist” destinations for the historical aspect. We encounter so many with stones dating back to the 1800s and it is unlikely people are left to remember or visit those individuals. If a WSQ can give me some info. on the churches, people, causes of death, or community info related to that particular area it is greatly appreciated. Even with PNGs we take the time to walk through and pick up trash.
Last year a fellow college student spent days looking up information on a family who lost a large number of children within two years, looking for the cause of death and history in Whitewater.
I’ve read logs where people have had the opportunity to stop and talk with the resident pastor of a church location they were visiting and had nothing but positive experiences.
Anyone that treats them as a playground is no better than emo teens that wander around them at night. It comes down to individual intent and responsibility. I’m thankful for the WSQ experiences geocaching has given me.
Well, I guess it is just a matter of preferences.
If the cemetery cache is a field solve puzzle that takes me to some interesting markers, I MIGHT do it to learn some history. And even then, I’m not sure if I’ll go look for the final, depending on where it is.
If there HAS to be a cemetery cache, it should never be a bison in a large pine tree. God knows how many of those Marc 5-Digit had put out. I know I spent time looking for some of them. I’ve walked away from a few as well.
Cemetery caches should always be an easy find after making the solve. Just grab it, sign it, and go. Not likely to attract attention.
But when I have to look and look for a bison in a pine tree, that’s likely to attract attention and that is where I got the evil eyes from a maintenance guy. So yeah, that’s why I stopped doing it.
Tough hides and clever hides have no place in a cemetery and that is where the controversy starts.
I would rather just pass by a cemetery cache rather then attempt it only to find out it’s a micro in a pine tree. No thanks.
I personally love cemetary caches. I really enjoy the real old cemetaries like Forest Hill. The ones that are in the middle of nowhere and the most current headstone dates 1960 something. Those places are very cool!
Cemetery caches were a way for me to get my husband more interested in geocaching. He has always enjoyed wandering cemeteries, he even used to make rubbings of headstones with his cousin when they were younger. When we cache in a cemetery we always walk around and look at the history and the craftsmanship of the stones. We ALWAYS try and be respectful, not cause damage to the grounds or step where we shouldn’t.
Not all who wander are lost. -J.R.R. Tolkien
We try if at all possible to hide at least a small container at our Cemetery hides. at least 50% of them are regular containers. We only hide a micro if there is not a place to hide a larger container. We also try to hide them in the woods or bushes surrounding the Cemetery and keep them far away as possible from the “residents” there. When we do hide a micro, they are hidden in a way that very little searching should be needed. We have found some that IMO should be archived. last weekend we found one that was hanging in a pine tree directly above a headstone, Very bad taste in our opinion, but found it respectfully and stayed away from the stone it was above while retrieving and replacing it.
@sweetlife wrote:
We try if at all possible to hide at least a small container at our Cemetery hides. at least 50% of them are regular containers. We only hide a micro if there is not a place to hide a larger container. We also try to hide them in the woods or bushes surrounding the Cemetery and keep them far away as possible from the “residents” there. When we do hide a micro, they are hidden in a way that very little searching should be needed. We have found some that IMO should be archived. last weekend we found one that was hanging in a pine tree directly above a headstone, Very bad taste in our opinion, but found it respectfully and stayed away from the stone it was above while retrieving and replacing it.
Agree with this approach, and this is what I do as well.
The problem is not just the bisons in pine trees with bad coords that Todd mentioned. I have actually found caches in cemeterys that featured unique containers such as severed arms and such. I wonder how that would look to the curator if they came across it?
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It’s another example that how things appear is very important to the acceptance of this game by the non caching public.
On the Left Side of the Road...I’ll still visit Sweetlife’s WSQ caches because I know from my past finds that their hides are quick and easy and away from the “residents” of the cemetery. No problem.
But I usually avoid the others for the most part, especially if the description says I’m looking for a bison tube. Odds are, it’s in a pine tree.
I know some municipalities ban the placement of cemetery caches. If I’m not mistaken, I believe a whole state has banned them as well. North Carolina, maybe? A lot of that has to do with geocachers and hiders being disrespectful to the cemetery itself while looking for the cache.
Another thing about caching in cemeteries, it’s best if only 1 or 2 people go look for it at a time. A group of cachers definitely will attract attention, no doubt about that.
It is SC. My friend got into geocaching about 6 weeks ago primarily because she saw all of my WSQ photos and liked the idea. Then she found out they weren’t legal.
@ashen15 wrote:
It is SC. My friend got into geocaching about 6 weeks ago primarily because she saw all of my WSQ photos and liked the idea. Then she found out they weren’t legal.
Not legal? please elaborate. what is not legal? or are you noting that ALRs are no longer accepted to log the cache? (ALR-additional logging requirements)
Disclaimer : Always answering to a higher power.
There is a state law regarding what activities can and cannot take place in cemeteries. It was passed in direct response to geocaching I believe but is broader than just one activity. No time to google at the moment…
ah, I see, I misread the quote being an answer to a previous question… Yeah, I remember that SC did ban cemetery hides. people taking pictures of people sitting/standing on markers and stuff like that…. sure that would seem proper, wouldn’t it???
Disclaimer : Always answering to a higher power.
It appears the SC bans geocaches on ALL DNR property also if I read that correctly. The DOT also bans anything in the right of way.
Let’s see – No cemeteries, DNR Land, right of ways, etc. That doesn’t leave much if I exclude all my finds in these areas.
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