Hello to our friends and geocachers in the Myrtle Beach area,

Although we last left you traveling the Natchez Trace to Godlettsville, TN, we are skipping ahead almost two years to the present. We’re starting anew this newsletter, beginning our narrative after we last left Myrtle Beach to start our caching travels again. We’re taking you along with us, as we explore our country by RV, caching along the way!

On March 3^rd, we left Myrtle Beach, and headed south to the campgrounds in Yemassee, SC. Once we were settled, it was time for caching!

The first interesting cache we started with was a virtual cache just a few miles from us, GC2D54 “Sheldon Ruins”, which was at the Prince Williams Parish Church. The walls remain today and it is a spectacular place to visit. For Chaplain Joseph Furse, the great-grandfather of Pierce Countian Sam Owens, and other Confederates, the local history around Pocotaligo did not seem to be the most important item in their lives in 1861. For the Englishman William Bull, born 1683, who had helped establish the Sheldon Church, the Pocotaligo vicinity was now home. This location had become the core of his family’s existence. Here, entombed inside “his” church, are the remains of a man who had been an honorable member of the Colonial House of Commons from 1706-1719, colonel of the Berkley County Regiment during the Tuscadora and Yemassee wars, Lord Proprietors Deputy, and holder of various other leadership positions.

This place had been sacred to William Bull and his family, who had emigrated from Warwickshire, England. Happenings here, as the colonies became states, meant a great deal to him, but he was dead and buried beneath a slab in his church. He would not know that a renowned military man, Robert E. Lee, would visit here, or that a General William T. Sherman would burn it a second time in 1865. Neither would Sam Owen’s Great-Grandfather Joseph J. Furse, whose letters had ended before either officer’s campaigns. Today, the majestic outline of the old Sheldon Church still stands in the deep forest. These ruins, reported not to be on any map, was once Church of Prince William’s Parish, built between 1745 and 1755, before the American Revolution. It followed the Greek temple imitation in America, with impressive Tuscan columns, towering walls and massive arches. The British army burned it in 1799, during the Revolutionary War. It was rebuilt in 1826, and renamed Sheldon Church of Prince William’s Parish, only to face conflagration again at the hands of Sherman’s arsonists in 1865 during the Civil War.

Joseph, writing from the same area in 1861, speaks of getting items from home: “… I received the Carpet Bag – with articles sent. You can have no idea how dirty it gets in Camp. Standing (at) our lightwood knot fire, we are smoked almost black….” Then the serious note: “…the Yankees are in sight all of the time and often fire on the guards….” Pocotaligo, missed today if one blinks his eye while traveling the trail, stands tall now. It is pinpointed as a battlefield. It will be remembered in many places in years to come as the place where “21 men were killed and 37 wounded or captured by the Rebs in the Battle of Pocotaligo.” Lehigh County’s Pennsylvania’s Soldiers & Sailors Monument underscores it just as it does those lost at Antietam and Chancellorsville; however, many of the Yanks who were involved in this section of the world saw it as the Battle of Tullifinny, referring to the Tullifinny River that runs through the area.

But, now Joseph Furse, along with the others at Camp Martin in Pocotaligo, wondered where this coming conflict, which now seemed to be lengthening, would take them. Had he lived, this farmer-minister-soldier, like all his peers, would have witnessed the tragic ending of one way of life and the beginning of another, vastly different existence. “I often get homesick. …,” the soldier confessed, adding that a friend says that it is evident because “…he says he can see it in my countenance very plainly. … Our company will all be uniformed in a few days. We are not armed … At night, some are enjoyed in reading the Bible or prayers – some playing on the violin – some singing all sorts of songs – and a great many other amusements, all going on at the same time.” Then an abrupt change in the letter: “The cars are now passing –Good bye. We are just called off to attack the Yankees at Mackey’s Point….”

On December 6, 1861, again from Camp Martin, Pocotaligo Station, South Carolina: “… I have been quite sick with influenza since I last wrote you, but I am happy to say that I am much better. … I know not what moment I may be called into battle. Should I be killed, I know that I will die in a glorious cause and find that God will be with me through all trials and finally save me in His kingdom. I often dream and think of you all. Though absent in person, I am present in thought and feeling with you….” Chaplain Furse’s last letter, December 10, 1861, reveals that his “cold is much better” and that the weather is most changeable at Pocotaligo Station. “…There is a good deal of sickness in camp, mostly colds, nothing of a serious nature. Some sixty men from this regiment went down on Beaufort Island the other day. This Colonel, with several men, went on ahead scouting the Yankees and ran into an ambush. … One man was shot several times, and it is reported that we killed him and wounded some others….” Victory was not achieved this day “for the Yankees ran.”

The Unionists, at this time, were stationed at Port Royal, near Beaufort, South Carolina. As the fighting narrowed for the Rebs and Yanks, Colonel Martin, Furse’s commanding officer, heard the Northern officer shout, “Stop! You damned rebels!” Furse writes for the last time: “We are in the midst of exciting times. Our country is in a prickly condition, and it becomes every man to come to its (care). …” Furse is dead of one of the many diseases that are a curse of camp life. It is the late fall of 1862 when Colonel Robert E. Lee, on assignment to establish defenses along the Southern coast, visits the home of Mrs. George C. Mackey, near Pocotaligo. This locale is again described as one ready for attack: “As fortification, the Coosawhatchie River was blocked with heavy timbers, and guns were mounted along Bees Creek and adjoining streams. Local action began in May, 1862. A Federal force came up Broad River from Port Royal Sound and landed at Mackey’s Point. Then they proceeded along the road to Pocotaligo, hoping to destroy the then- new Charleston and Savannah railway track. A small force of 110 Confederates managed to stop them by encirclement at the Tullifinney River bridge…,” records Grace Fox Perry. Pocotaligo is no more the village it was during the Civil War years. In fact, very little is found to show where once- upon-a-time Camp Martin’s fires lit the darkness, and where, during one of America’s saddest eras, a young chaplain, in that firelight, wrote to “My dearest wife.” It is well worth a day trip to see this church and do this cache some weekend.

GCJRGE “The Missing Buoy”, was another virtual cache we did that had kind of a fascinating story behind it. This buoy, on or about April 20, 1970, broke free from its moorings in Port Royal, SC, and traveled 6000 miles to Scotland. One year and one day later it was observed off the coast of Scotland and towed to port by a British ship. The buoy was returned to Charleston late in 1973 at a cost of $92.01 and then returned to Port Royal. In June 1992, the buoy was placed in the F.O.P. Memorial Park, where its light is kept burning in commemoration of all fallen police officers in the United States.

The next day we drove outside of Beaufort, SC to St. Helena Island to see another old ruins, which was called The Chapel of Ease which has some interesting history, although there was no cache there, it was supposedly haunted. The story that is told that during the Colonial period, chapels of ease were constructed by rice and cotton planters as houses of worship because their plantations were located so far from the churches in Beaufort. This tabby walled church was constructed between 1742 and 1747 for the planters of St. Helena Island.

A forest fire destroyed most of it in 1886. All that remain today are its tabby ruins and an adjacent cemetery. This ruin is significant as a relatively intact example of mid-eighteenth century tabby construction and for its association with the St. Helena Parish, both as a secondary and primary place of worship for inhabitants of the parish. This tabby church was built ca.1740 as a chapel of ease, to serve planters in St. Helena Parish who did live a great distance from the parish church in Beaufort and could not regularly attend services there. By 1812, the population of St. Helena Island had increased to the extent that the chapel of ease was designated a parish church. The church was virtually abandoned when the planters evacuated the island in the fall of 1861.

During the Federal occupation of St. Helena, the church was used frequently by several of the Northerners who had come to the island to educate and train the freedmen. It was also used as a sanctuary by Methodist freedmen as early as 1868, but was burned by a forest fire in February 1886 and was never repaired. Much of its historic fabric, including the church walls and much of its plaster, remains. A small cemetery adjacent to the church ruin contributes to the historic character of the property. This site was also supposed to be haunted and as the story goes when workers tried to seal up the crypt behind the church, they would find a surprise awaiting them the following morning. The bricks used to seal off the crypt somehow got put neatly in a little pile. All of their work seemed to be in vain for this happened numerous times. Other people have reported strange sensations when walking through the church’s graveyard. No such feelings for us as we walked through it.

The next day we were off to Savannah, GA and Skidaway Island State Park. The campgrounds here were lovely, with huge sites so you weren’t right on top of the person next to you. The next morning we were off into Savannah to do a few of the great caches in the historic section of the city. The first cache was GC194GA “The Dueller’s Cache” . This cache was a multi-cache and was located in the Colonial Park Cemetery. The cemetery is also known as The Old Cemetery and The Brick Cemetery. The Colonial Park Cemetery is the second cemetery in Savannah. It was founded in 1750 and was closed for burials in 1853. It was then reopened as a park in 1896.

Many famous Revolutionary War heroes are buried in Colonial Park Cemetery. Button Gwinnett was buried in the cemetery in 1777. He is one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He was also the acting governor of Georgia during the Revolutionary War. He was not on good terms with General Lachlan McIntosh, the leader of the Continental troops in Georgia. Gwinnett challenged Mclntosh to a duel. Gwinnett died three days later of a leg wound suffered in the duel. General Lachlan McIntosh died in1806 and was also buried in Colonial Park Cemetery.

The remains of Major General Nathanael Greene were laid in the Graham vault until they were reburied at Johnson Square in 1901. There were also many ordinary civilians buried in Colonial Park Cemetery. Over 700 citizens died during the Great Yellow Fever epidemic of 1820. They were all buried in Colonial Park Cemetery. Even though there are only about 600 burial markers still standing in the cemetery, over 10,000 bodies are buried there.

During the Civil War, Union troops were stationed at the cemetery because it was ideal for horses. The troops often searched for valuables among the graves. Since most of the soldiers were mischievous, they switched a number of dates on some of the tombstones. If the tampered dates are correct, then the oldest person buried there lived to be 1700!

This place has many colorful stories to tell and is the home of several hauntings. During the Civil War, when Sherman’s troops made their encampment inside the cemetery. They used the headstones for target practice, destroying many. They also defaced several markers, changing the dates or the letters on the stones. Also, when General Sherman’s troops were occupying the cemetery, they broke off or removed many of the tombstones to make room for their tents. There is graffiti written by the soldiers all over the gravestones.

The people resting here all played a part in making Savannah what it is today, a vibrant, historic, cosmopolitan city, beautiful and proud, a true treasure! One such story of a haunting goes like this. A couple was seen floating/walking in the graveyard after it was closed. The couple was decapitated and was missing their arms from the elbow down.

Enough history on the cemetery so on to the cache. The cache itself was called Duelers Cache and as the title indicates had to do with some of the duelers that had died dueling and were buried in the cemetery. First stop was probably the most famous person in residence here. His name is Button Gwinnett, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He died in a duel with General Lachlan McIntosh. He was shot in the leg and suffered for three days before dying. Mr. McIntosh is also buried in Colonial Park.

Next stop was where we paid a visit to Mrs. Grace Belcher. Her headstone is made of slate and has stood the test of time well. She died in the late 1700’s at the age of 45. Her 4 year old son died only five weeks later. Things were indeed tough back then.

On we went to the next area called “The Wall.” which is where all the markers go that nobody knows where their proper location is. There are about 200 markers that have been broken, torn up or just plain vandalized. They are standing against, cemented to, or affixed in other ways, to the outside wall of the cemetery. The wall used to go around the entire cemetery, but this is all that is left. The rest of it has been torn down over a century ago.

Now on to the Rev Jean Baptiste LeMoine family vault.The good reverend is not actually in there, but rests a little south of here in the “Catholic sector” of Colonial Park. Rev LeMoine was a refugee from the Revolution in France. Formerly Cure of Morley Le Roi and was the first Catholic priest in Savannah and died in 1794.

Then it was on to the Duelist’s Grave. Lieutenant James Wilde died defending his honor in a duel with Captain Roswell P. Johnson on January 16, 1815 on the Carolina side of the river near Savannah. Wilde was shot through the heart in a fourth exchange of fire by Johnson, referred to in the epitaph, in bitterness, “as a man who a short time before would have been friendless except for him”. The duelists were officers in the 8th Regiment U. S. Infantry. The nature of their quarrel is unknown.

Then we walked across the street to the location of the final cache which was on the old dueling grounds. It is a long skinny piece of land and is now a playground for children. Dueling was legal, but you had to buy a permit and conduct your business only here. How convenient to put it next to the cemetery. Dueling lasted from 1740 to 1877! This was a wonderful interesting cache and we enjoyed doing it very much and learned a little bit of some of Savannah’s history.

Next cache we did in Savannah was a 4 part virtual cache, GC70DA “A Tragedy of the War”. Our first stop was the The Marshall House Hotel. In 1851, businesswoman Mary Marshall, noting that Savannah was woefully in need of visitor accommodations, built the four-story Marshall House Hotel. It served as a hospital for soldiers toward the end of the Civil War. It was also home to Joel Chandler Harris, author of the famous Uncle Remus stories. The Marshall House was named as a National Historic Building on April 1, 2000.

The Hotel has its original staircases (some of the spindles and gingerbread have been recreated), original wood floors, fireplaces, brick walls, and the doors to each guest room are original as well. The Atrium was the courtyard and has been encased with a glass ceiling to give the sensation of what once was. The artifacts displayed on floors two and three were found during the renovation.

The second stop of the virtual was at The Green-Meldrim Mansion which was once the site of General Sherman’s Headquarters from Dec. 22, 1864-Feb. 1, 1865. The house is notable as one of the country’s finest examples of residential Gothic Revival architecture. Cost of the construction of the house in the 1850’s was $93,000. In 1892, it was acquired as a residence for Peter W. Meldrim, noted GA jurist and President of the American Bar Assoc. St. John’s Episcopal Church acquired the house from the Meldrim heirs for use as a parish house and rectory.

The third stop was one of the many cemeteries in Savannah where many of the Union and Confederate soldiers are buried. We had to find a statue with the following inscription on it: “Silence is golden. These soldiers from the other side are buried near me. We have become great friends over the years. I really wish that the four of us could have been buried next to them, as we were all Americans. Yes, time did pass and the wounds of our nation healed”.

Then it was on to the final cache site where there was no actual cache to find but we needed to get a name. The name was Andrew J. Schoonover and he was a Private in Company G of the 4th Iowa Infantry and following is his story. “I was born in Ohio on March 25, 1828. While I was still a child, my family moved to Iowa. In 1848, I married Jane Franks and we had 9 children between 1849 and 1865. I never saw my last child, a girl, as I was drafted in September of 1864 to serve in Lincoln’s army. They sent a group of us to Kentucky for training and then by rail to Vining’s Station, Georgia to join Gen. Sherman. The Battle of Atlanta was over and the army was preparing to march to Savannah. With little rations and equipment I walked, along with 62,000 other Union soldiers, to Savannah. This army seemed destined for success. “We were ready for a meal or a fight, and don’t seem to care which it is”, said one soldier. I fought at the battles of Griswoldsville, Ogeechee River, and the Siege of Savannah. In December our regiment entered the beautiful city of Savannah. I spent Christmas day with a group of friends from our small farming community in Iowa. We all wanted to go home. In January, our troops departed to invade South Carolina. They left me in Savannah with several others who had become sick and too weak to travel. We were placed in a field hospital that was, until Sherman arrived, a hotel (Marshall House Hotel). I was soon diagnosed with typhoid fever and died on February 24, 1865. My family was notified of my death, but they had no money after the war to have me sent home for burial. I was buried in the “Citizen’s Cemetery”, as it was called in the 1800s, next to three of my comrades. When the Union Army came back to Georgia in 1867 to remove the bodies of all deceased Union soldiers buried in southeast Georgia to the National Cemetery at Beaufort, South Carolina, somehow we were missed. My grave was soon “lost in time.” In 1999, my descendants, who were still living in Iowa, for the purpose of locating my grave, contacted a researcher in Georgia. On December 26, 1999, he located me and notified my family. What a great Christmas present for all of us! Don’t feel sorry for me. In 1909, my wife joined me in heaven and we watched, from far away, our children and their children grow old. The cache title was  “A Tragedy of War”…….how true. WOW, very sad indeed!

One cache we ran across in Savannah was a interesting concept and would be a nice one to do in MB. It was a cache find for all those heart-broken cachers who just can’t seem to catch a break when it comes to being the First to Find. The cache was GC18BCB “FTF (Epsilon)-Savannah”. It was only located on a long, long section of guardrail and was of course a magnetic key holder. What made it unique was that everyone who found the cache could claim it as a “FTF”. What you did was find the cache, sign the log, claim it as a FTF and then move it on to the next section of the guardrail and of course that would be a new location and then the next person who found it could claim it as a FTF, as it was in that new location, and they would move it on and the next person would find it and claim it as a FTF seeing as each section of guardrail would be a new location. The coords would stay as they were originally posted so it would take a little hunting because if 50 people found it, it would have been moved 50 sections of guardrail away from the original coords. I know we had to look almost 1/4 mile away before we found it. We thought it was kind of clever.

Well that’s about it from Savannah, and if anyone ever has it in their head to make a trip here these caches are well worth doing. Next month, we will continue south into the “Golden Isles” of Brunswick, Ga. We hope you have a great 10 year meeting and hello to all our friends in the Grand Strand Geocachers!

Dori & Dick
Tweety & Coach

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