A Pleasure House for the Soul Traditional Cache
A Pleasure House for the Soul
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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This cache is hidden on the grounds of the General Lew Wallace Study and Museum. Permission to place it there has been granted by the museum staff. The museum is open from February 1st to mid-December, Tuesday through Saturday 10-5. Gates are locked at 4:45. Grounds also usually open Mondays 10-5. Closed to public on Sundays. The grounds where the cache is located can be visited for free; there is a nominal fee to tour the museum and study.
The cache is a small waterproof box that is large enough for small trade items.
"A PLEASURE HOUSE FOR THE SOUL . . ."
GENERAL LEW WALLACE
Lew Wallace was a soldier, a governor, an ambassador, an inventor, an artist, a best-selling author—a true Renaissance man. Military exploits marked the first half of his life. As a teenager he fought in the war with Mexico. At the outbreak of the Civil War he organized the first six regiments from Indiana to fight on behalf of the Union. Wallace re-entered the army as a colonel and quickly rose to the rank of Major-General of U.S. Volunteers. His troops saw action in several theaters, notably at Romney (VA), Fort Donelson, Shiloh, and Monocacy. At war’s end he served on the military court that tried and convicted those involved in the plot to assassinate Lincoln; he also presided over the trial of Henry Wirz, commandant of Andersonville Prison.
In 1878 Wallace was appointed Governor of the New Mexico Territory by President Rutherford B. Hayes. His main task as governor was to defuse the conflict known as the Lincoln County Wars. One of the hired guns in that conflict was William Bonney, known to us today as Billy the Kid. Bonney was eventually captured, tried, and convicted of the murder of the sheriff of Lincoln County. His death warrant was written and signed by Wallace.
Wallace had begun writing his first novel in the late 1840s. The Fair God, a novel about the Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire, was published in 1873 and was tepidly received. His second novel, however, made Wallace internationally famous. Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ was published in 1880 and went on to become the best-selling novel of the 19th century. It has been translated into at least twenty languages, has never been out of print, and has thrice been made into a movie, most famously the 1959 epic starring Charlton Heston. Wallace did most of his writing under a beech tree that was located not far from where this cache is hidden.
Wallace continued to write, but in 1881 he returned to public service when President James Garfield appointed him Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. The three years he spent in that role informed his third novel, The Prince of India: Or Why Constantinople Fell. In 1885 he returned to Crawfordsville.
He spent much of the last part of his life indulging his recreational and intellectual interests. Already in 1879 he had written to his wife Susan:
I want a study, a pleasure-house for my soul, where no one could hear me make speeches to myself, and play the violin at midnight if I chose. A detached room away from the world and its worries. A place for my old age to rest in and grow reminiscent, fighting the battles of youth over again.
Construction of his "pleasure-house," known today as the Lew Wallace Study, began in 1895. It was designed by Wallace himself and combines elements of the Greek, Roman, and Byzantine architecture that he saw in his travels. Lew Wallace enjoyed his refuge for the last ten years of his life. He died in 1905 and is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Crawfordsville, not far from cache GCVTJ8. Today the study contains original artifacts from Lew Wallace’s life. It is a unique place and well worth touring.
NOTE: The main gate and best parking option is on Elston Street at: N 40° 02.430 W 086° 53.605
The cache is not located on or near the Study. The cache can be found without disturbing the carefully landscaped grounds and gardens. Please respect this beautiful property.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Rira bhe nivna sevraqf arrq n cyrnfher ubhfr.