Benigna or Mahantongo / Valley or Creek Traditional Cache
Benigna or Mahantongo / Valley or Creek
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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This cache site is at the highest point of the agricultural rich
Mahantongo Valley.Parking is a short distance from the cache on
level ground.Almost a C&D.
It is recommended that you pick up this well stocked ammo can in
daylight hours,the view is fantastic.On a near clear day one can
see across the Susquehanna River many miles west. Here is a bit of
history of the area I found interesting. . The Mahantongo Creek
flows on the south side of the valley. This trout stream was once
named Benigna’s Creek. In the middle 1700’s, a man by the name of
Nicolas Von Zinzendorf came to the colony of Pennsylvania from
Bavaria . He brought his 16 year old daughter, Benigna, with him to
Pennsylvania. They traveled to Bethlehem Pa. From Bethlehem,
Zinzendorf traveled the Tulpehocken Trail north through Indian
country to the Indian settlement of Shamokin (present day Sunbury).
He planed to bring the Gospel to the Indians. It appears he did not
have much success evangelizing the Indians in fact narrowly escaped
with his life on several occasions. On his trip north he passed by
what would one day be the location of the cache site. When he saw
the beautiful stream that flows here, he named it Benigna’s Creek.
There is actually a copy of an old map that is displayed in a
museum in Germany where the Mahantongo Creek is named Benigna’s
Creek. The map is displayed nearthe cache site along with photos of
Benigna and her family. Zinzindorf eventually left Pa and went home
to Bavaria. Benigna settled in the Bethlehem area. She would start
the first all girls’ school in America. George Washington actually
sent a letter to Benigna asking if his grand nieces could attend
her school.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Va gur sybjre orq arkg gb gur cbfg
Treasures
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