Spruce Bluff Pioneer Cemetery Offset Multi-Cache

You are looking for a small lock-n-lock at Spruce Bluff Natural Area. The cache is a short distance off the North Pioneer Trail near the Pioneer Cemetery. Please close all latches and re-cover the container.

This is an offset cache. The posted coordinates will take you to the cemetery; use the information there to determine the location of the cache.

Spruce Bluff Natural Area
Spruce Bluff is a 97 acre Natural Area managed by St. Lucie County. There are two trails with interpretive brochures: the North Pioneer Trail and the South Ais Trail. The Pioneer Trail includes a riverfront area and the site of an early settlement, including a cemetery. The Ais Trail takes you through a more diverse range of habitats to a large Ais indian mound. The area is open every day from sunrise to sunset.

Use the parking area on Dar Lane (see waypoint). There is an informative kiosk, picnic table, and trash can at the parking area.

Part of the Pioneer Trail is an old two-lane divided asphalt road listed on maps as Victory Blvd. It is presumably a relic of a never-built housing development. Previously the land was managed by SFWMD.

History
One of the earliest settlements in what is now Port Saint Lucie was located in this area. Spruce Bluff was founded in 1889 by John Enos Fultz, Jr. Settlers mostly grew pineapples. There were no roads to connect to other communities; everything came and went via the river to Stuart. The community eventually became large enough to have a sawmill, school, post office, and doctor. The buildings and farms covered 600 acres at the community's peak. Flagler's railroad reached Stuart in 1894 without coming close to Spruce Bluff. The pineapple crop was hard hit by the winter freeze of 1894-95 and most of the residents had left by 1905. The modern City of Port Saint Lucie was started by the General Development Corporation in 1958 and incorporated in 1961.

The only known remnant of the community is a small cemetery. There were originally 7 graves here with 6 headstones. Due to vandalization, the headstones have been replaced by a granite monument.

One of St Lucie County's earliest caches was located near here (GCHQZD).

Cache Location
The cache is not located within the cemetery fence. It is located at N 27 15.ABC W 80 20.000

"Early Pioneer Settlement WXYZ" (where WXYZ is a year). A = X - Z - W

B = number of burials of Charles Blakeslee's children listed on the monument

Gertrude Fultz Winter born 18CD.

Congrats to billedm for FTF!