Civil War Geocaching the Northern Panhandle

Last Saturday, for what seems like the millionth ruthless time, spring has teased us here in Appalachia. After a breakfast at the most reliable and tasty Tudor’s Biscuit World in downtown Morgantown (even people who don’t like biscuits love Tudor’s!), Chris and I needed a plan. Cabin fever has been such a terror on both of us this weekend. Given the role geocaching plays in our lives, we looked to the hobby first for something to do.

The West Virginia Department of Arts and Education has, in my mind, fully embraced the capabilities of geocaching in bringing both West Virginians and guests in touch with what West Virginia has to offer in many ways through organizing different geocaching series. The current series is the West Virginia Civil War Geotrail, which I have previously discussed on this blog. While Chris and I are not particularly competitive when it comes to completing these challenges, we usually get around to it. On this day, we discovered there were four geocaches from this Civil War series in the Wheeling area that we had not yet found.

Sold. We headed toward Wheeling in search of geocaches and DiCarlo’s Pizza.

The four geocaches in the Wheeling area part of the Geotrail are (in the order we sought them):

WV Civil War Trail Zone 1 – The Shriver Grays

This geocache is a multistage cache. How it works is that you navigate to the posted coordinates, gather some information at the posted coordinates, and then with that information compute new coordinates. In this case, those coordinates were a short walk away. Multistage caches can annoy the heck out of some cachers. However, when they are done well they can direct notice to things worthy of attention but that are not inherently suitable geocache locations; in this case, a cluster of Confederate kin in an enormous cemetery. After locating the information at the posted coordinates, it was less than 1000’ feet to the final geocache location. These are the multistage (or just “multi”) caches I like the most.

WV Civil War Trail Zone 1 – Old Wheeling Hospital

This and the remaining caches are traditional geocaches, where the coordinates take you to the location where you will find the log to sign. This cache is located where the Wheeling Hospital had originally been situated: right on the Ohio River (it relocated in 1975 to a larger, more modern campus inland). The Wheeling Hospital is the oldest incorporated hospital in West Virginia, with a history dating back to 1850 so it is expected that they played a big role in caring for Civil War soldiers in the region. Today the area is a scenic bike trail that tells little of the fascinating past.

WV Civil War Trail Zone 1 – Camp Carlisle

Similar to the previous cache, the quiet nature of the area where this cache is located tells little of its storied past. Having the geotrail to help these stories is a really neat interpretive tool. I think it is also proving to be a powerful way to share a history with people who are not necessarily local. Here, in what is now a park on Wheeling Island is where the First Federal Virginia Infantry trained for battle in the Civil War. While it does not hold the same esteem in history as where Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg address (and frankly, it shouldn’t), it’s still really interesting to interact with the sites from the Civil War that were on a human, day-to-day scale. For me, it’s easier to picture myself present in that place and time.

WV Civil War Trail Zone 1 – Independence Hall

Sadly, this geocache was missing when we attempted to seek it. Sometimes geocaches are stolen, discarded by those who do not know what they are, accidentally removed, or even carried away by natural phenomena (heavy rain, strong winds, and etc.). What this geocache commemorates is the birthplace of West Virginia and the home of the first State Capitol. When a geocache is missing or you can’t find a geocache, the right thing to do is write a log explaining that you could not find it and/or you believe it to be missing.

Once we completed our caching and pizza binge (DiCarlo’s is truly the best), we continued to head north on WV-2 to Newell, WV where we paid the Homer Laughlin China Company a visit. This is where Fiestaware is born and they have an awesome factory store. Our favorite part of the factory store is the seconds room. The seconds room is where the items with minor imperfections go to be sold at steep discounts as they’re just not quite up to the premium standards dictated by Homer Laughlin. If you’re in the market, they’re about 45 minutes from Pittsburgh or Wheeling and they even offer factory tours. It’s a real gem!