It happened a long, long time ago but it was an event that would
never be forgotten by the residents of Fairchance, Pennsylvania.
The legend of Polly Williams and the White Rocks is an intriguing
bit of local folklore that makes a great cache location even more
interesting. One account is a novel by A. F. Hill which was
published in 1865 and can still be found in some libraries. This
account may be more fluff than fact but it's based on a story
that's very real indeed. You will be walking in the footsteps of
Polly on this cache hunt.
August 10, 1810 was Polly's wedding day. It was a Cinderella
story. Almost... The blushing bride was a blonde beauty from a very
poor family who would be just eighteen years old when she took the
plunge. She had fallen in love with the handsome and wealthy
Phillip Rogers of New Salem, Pennsylvania who was five years older
than she. Their relationship had been a rocky one. He had promised
that they would be married but that was much easier said than done.
Phillip's family did not like Polly and opposed the pending
nuptuials. They scolded their son for "taking up with trash".
Phillip got cold feet and postponed their wedding. Polly waited
impatiently for two years but it just wasn't happening for her.
Poor Polly didn't know what to do. Her family had moved away and
left her behind with the expectation that she and Phillip would be
getting married. She was left to live with the Jacob Moss family
who had given her employment as a servant. The Mosses were like a
second family to her but she was not content to live with them
forever. Polly confided to Mrs. Moss that she was beginning to
believe that she and Phillip would never be married. Mrs. Moss
suggested that she should break off the engagement and find
somebody else but Polly was smitten and said that she must marry
Phillip because she just could not live without him. Her devotion
did not go unnoticed by Phillip who finally came to Polly one day
and told her that he had arranged for them to get married by a man
up in the mountains. Polly happily put on her best clothes and
headed out with Phillip on the long walk into the hills to
elope.
The conclusion to this story will be found in the
cache…
The first stage of this cache hunt is a regular cache hidden in
the vicinity of White Rocks. White Rocks used to be a popular
hangout for locals and rock climbers but it has fallen out of favor
in recent years due to logging in the area. Instructions for
locating the second and third stages will be found in the cache.
The second and third stages are "virtual". Logged finds shall be
authenticated to ensure that these virtual caches are actually
visited. The authentication procedure will require you to obtain a
password that will be found at the final stage of the cache hunt.
You should email this password to the cache owner to authenticate
your find and earn your smiley face. The second stage is very
challenging. You should bring along a flashlight for this one and
expect to encounter some difficult and potentially dangerous
terrain. Please be careful. You do not need to be an athlete to be
successful here but you will need to have that flashlight and a
sense of adventure. Children should be able to make it with
assistance. The final stage should be pretty easy if you follow
instructions. Good Luck! Enjoy the Hunt!
Directions: The best place to begin a hike to White Rocks is
from an unpaved road that goes to the Hi-To Club which is located
on the outskirts of Farichance, PA. Take North Main Street from
Fairchance to East Elm Street and turn right. Follow this road to
an informal parking area adjacent to the Hi-To Club at 39° 49.583,
-79° 43.788.
Warning: This cache hunt is not easy. There is a jeep trail that
goes right to the cache but you will be very lucky to find the
correct route on the first try. The GPS has its limitations. I got
some waypoints but I decided to keep them to myself so that you can
enjoy getting lost like I did. You should expect that you will have
to backtrack more than once to find the correct trail. It’s all
part of the fun. The topo map may help but it is confused in this
area and many of the trails are not marked. That said, I strongly
recommend that you should not leave the trail and attempt to
bushwhack your way to the cache. You probably won’t make it and you
could get lost. The undergrowth in this area is brutal due to the
recent logging activity. You will do well to stay out of this
mess.
