
Our first geocaching adventure was a success! We managed to finally find the cache after learning that bug spray is an important part of geocaching!
But we found the cache! We were ready to give up, but I wanted to take one more look around. We had pinpointed the location to a small area, but just could not see it. I spotted it, and at first I didn’t even think it was the cache! (There was a lot of trash in the area.)
In the end we left a trackable tag for the next person to take, and I took a little clay cow who now resides on my desk.
Waltham History (Sort of):
Apparently, just down the road from us is an old tower. It is rumored to have been built by the Norse; however, the man who said this was a guy by the name of Prof. Eben Norton Horsford. He was a hobby archeologist, and apparently just as bad at it as his true profession- entomology. All the same the plaque on the base of the tower reads:
“A.D. 1000 A.D. 1889
NORUMBEGA
CITY·COUNTRY·FORT·RIVER
NORUMBEGA = NOR MBEGA
INDIAN UTTERANGE OF NORBEGA THE ANCIENT FORM
OF NORVEGA·NORWAY·TO WHICH THE
REGION OF VINLAND WAS SUBJECT
CITY
AT, AND NEAR WATERTOWN
WHERE REMAIN TO-DAY
DOCKS·WHARVES·WALLS·DAMS·BASINS·
COUNTRY
EXTENDING FROM RHODE ISLAND TO THE ST. LAWRENCE
FIRST SEEN BY BJARNI HERJULFSON 985 A.D.
LANDFALL OF LEIF ERIKSON ON CAPE COD 1000 A.D.
NORSE CANALS·DAMS·WALLS·PAVEMENTS·
FORTS·TERRACED PLACES OF ASSEMBLY REMAIN TO-DAY
FORT
AT BASE OF TOWER AND REGION ABOUT
WAS OCCUPIED BY THE BRETON FRENCH IN THE
15TH 16TH AND 17TH CENTURIES
RIVER
THE CHARLES
DISCOVERED BY ··············
LEIF ERIKSON·1000 A.D.
EXPLORED BY ··············
THORWALD LEIF’S BROTHER·1003 A.D.
COLONIZED BY ··············
THORFINN KARLSEFNI·1007 A.D.
FIRST BISHOP ··············
ERIK GNUPSON·1121 A.D.
INDUSTRIES FOR 350 YEARS
MASUR·WOOD [BURRS]·FISH·FURS·AGRICULTURE·
LATEST NORSE SHIP RETURNED TO ICELAND IN 1347.”
So truth be told, no one really knows whether the tower is from the vikings or not. But because I think it is cool that maybe they came to my town, I am willing to stretch my historical beliefs.
For more pictures simply go here.