2006-05-06T09:52:00.000-07:00

"I have stepped out upon this platform that I may see you
and that you may see me, and in the arrangement
I have the best of the bargain."

Abraham Lincoln
February 16, 1861 - Remarks at Painesville, Ohio

Placed: May 12, 2006 for ONE DAY ONLY!
Location:
Number of boxes: 2
Status: Alive and well

Background

One of our personal historical heroes is Abe Lincoln. There is so much that history has recorded about this humanitarian, president and self-educated man. You have probably read all there is to know about Abe, so it's useless for us to reiterate facts that you already know about this wonderful human being and one of America's best presidents.

We decided, instead, to let you in on some little known facts about Abe:

* The clutter in Lincoln's law office was notorious, and a continual source of irritation to his partner, William Herndon. On his desk, Lincoln kept one envelope marked "When you can't find it anywhere else, look into this."

* At 6 feet, 4 inches, Abraham Lincoln was the tallest president.

* There are no direct decendents of Lincoln despite the fact that Abe had four sons.

* Lincoln was the first president to wear a beard

* Abraham Lincoln was the first major leader in our history to favor extending the vote to women. In 1836 - a full 12 years before the first woman's rights convention had even convened - State legislator Lincoln gave an Illinois newspaper a statement endorsing "female suffrage."

* Lincoln was the only president to receive a US patent - for a device used to lift boats over shoals.

* Frederick Douglass, the celebrated abolitionist and former slave, was invited by then President Lincoln to the inaugural reception in 1865, but when Douglass tried to enter, policemen man-handled him and forced him back out. Making his way in again, he managed to catch Lincoln's eye. "Here comes my friend Douglass," the President exclaimed, and leaving a circle of guests, took Douglass by the hand and began to chat with him.

* Lincoln wore a size 14 shoe

* The contents of Lincoln's pockets on the night of the assassination weren't revealed until February 12, 1976. They contained two pairs of spectacles, a chamois lens cleaner, an ivory and silver pocket knife, a large white Irish linen handkerchief (slightly used) with "A. Lincoln" embroidered in red, a gold quartz watch fob without a watch, a new silk-lined leather wallet containing a pencil, a Confederate five dollar bill and news clippings of unrest in the Confederate Army, emancipation in Missouri, the Union party platform of 1864, and an article on the presidency by John Bright.

Clues

ONE DAY ONLY - for May 13! Look for this series in VT sometime this summer!

From Hebron Avenue (Route 94,) at the intersection of Manchester Road (Route 83) go south on Manchester Road (this is a right onto Manchester road if headed East on Hebron Avenue toward Hebron away from Glastonbury Center.) A short way up on the right is the Old Eastbury Burying Ground (975 Manchester Road.) If you reach Shoddy Mill on the left you have gone a bit too far (but bring clues to the Shoddy Mill Letterbox.) Park off the road on the right side, or across the street. Please be discreet.

Begin at the rear of the cemetery, and note that nearly every stone faces the rear away from the street. In the next-to-last row of stones, near the woods at the rear, find the large/wide stone with the likeness of four boys carved thereon as a remembrance of the four Holmes boys who all died in their youth. Four stones to the right of this sad stone is the resting place of relative Elijah Holmes. Behind Elijah's stone is a second stone propped against it, and between these two stones you will find "Cameo Lincoln."

Facing the front of the cemetery from Elijah's stone, go to the far left edge of the burying ground and walk forward a short distance until you reach the only stone "table" in the cemetery. The Reverend is leaning on one corner of the table, and beneath the Reverend betwixt the stone and the table leg is "Sideways Lincoln."

Special thanks to MayEve and Wild Rover, who braved the pouring rain Friday evening and graciously planted these boxes for us! You both are the best!

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Pinecone Productions

Lotsa Lincolns