Saturday, August 31, 2013


THE QUARRY CHAPEL--
at Gambier, OH

This little country church was constructed in 1862-63 during the country's convulsion of Civil War.  It was built just north of the then newly founded Kenyon College in Knox County, OH.

Some community folks of the time--evidently deficient in current events--feared it was a British fort being built "on the hill" to assist the Confederacy.

Turns out it was the innocent, spiritual growth of the community, whose new college was then regarded as a bastion of Lincoln supporters.

The chapel escaped the threat of demolition in 1972 when a restoration project began and has spanned some 40 years.  Today, while no longer serving as host of an active congregation, it continues to serve as a community center with events such as weddings, funerals and cultural performances.

Our enjoyable visit was the result of a recent search for and finding a geocache on the property's perimeter.  The interesting engraving in the smaller photo was on the sides of a post which evidently once supported a gate.

Later that same day we recorded a cache find in the Amity Cemetery which contains the grave of once, well-known TV celebrity Paul Lynde.

  
Lynde likely is best remembered for his long appearance on the show Hollywood Squares (1968-1981) where his quick wit was a staple of that program's popularity. Lynde was born in Mt. Vernon, OH.

In that same cemetery we encountered the gravestone of more fundamental design below.  It appeared to be simply two large rocks with a millstone attached on which were engraved the names of the decedents.



Note the date of birth of the Blairs; 1790.  That's a year during George Washington's first term of office as the country's first president.  Mr. Blair died just as the somewhat nearby Quarry Chapel was being completed.

Later that same day we concluded our caching by scoring a find with a level 5 of difficulty--the highest in the caching activity.  That one was near Brinkhaven, OH and required a very steep descent from an abandoned railroad grade then an immediate, challenging climb up an equally steep deposit of shale where we found the camouflaged cache container hidden in a crevasse in the rock formation.

With respect to Mr. Lynde and his achievements, experiences such as ours on that geocaching day are far more rewarding than being a couch potato and enduring today's version of TV "entertainment"...

...especially with our day's crowning moment being the sight of mother whitetail deer leading her fawn across a very pristine Kokosing River, sun dappled in the rural, afternoon's soft light.
    

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