Ernest Goes to "Vaucluse"
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Size: 
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This is a quick "P&G." Cache is a one-inch diameter screw-top plastic container located off northbound S.R. 155 outside of Taylorsville, KY. It contains only a log, so bring a writing instrument. There are small pull-offs and large shoulders on both sides of the road. Be careful!
On my way down to find the cache, “Little Off Track,” I passed a historical marker on S.R. 155 titled “Vaucluse.” The name intrigued me, so on my return trip I decided to stop and investigate further. The marker, whose two sides said the same thing, divulged very little, except to say that “Vaucluse” was a house built by Jacob Yoder some time around 1806 and was known as “Beechland.” (My response: “So which one is it-- 'Vaucluse' or Beechland?”)
In any case, Jacob Yoder, the marker said, was a Revolutionary soldier and Indian fighter. He left Fort Redstone (Pa.) in 1782 on the first flatboat to descend the Mississippi (I’m assuming via the Ohio, because the marker didn’t say), arriving in New Orleans with a cargo of produce.
And that was it.
Feeling somewhat ill at ease over the marker’s glossing over this history that surely must have been a bit more noteworthy than implied (elsewise, why have a marker at all?), I decided to investigate further when I got home. I would include the additional information in this write-up. So I quickly placed the cache, took several readings with two GPSr’s and took off.
When I got home, the first place I went was the net, but I was surprised to find very little. For “Vaucluse” I found entries for historical homes in Stephens City, Va. and Sydney, Australia and a bunch in France. But nothing for the area outside of Taylorsville, Ky. I did find some genealogical information for James Yoder, but nothing of substance. I found nothing relevant for “Beechland.”
Okay, thought I, I’ll check my voluminous “Kentucky Encyclopedia.” Surely, something significant will be there. Nope. There was squat for “Vaucluse,” squat for “Beechland” and squat for James Yoder, but what I DID find in the alphabetical region where I expected to dig up something on “Yoder” was a large write-up on another famous Kentuckian whose exploits have inspired people around the world: Jim Varney.
Born in Lexington in 1949, Jim Varney became a performer at Lexington’s Children’s Theatre at age eight, then made his professional debut at 16 as Puck in a University of Kentucky summer theater production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” He later left high school early, picked up his GED and, in 1980, landed his first commercial as Ernest P. Worrell, a character known for his one-sided conversations with his unseen, long-suffering pal, Vern. Varney subsequently filmed over 2,500 commercials for all kinds of products and companies. He also played the role of Ernest in a number of feature films, such as Ernest Goes to Camp, Ernest Saves Christmas, Ernest Rides Again, Ernest Goes to Jail, Ernest Scared Stupid, etc. You get the picture. Jim Varney WAS Ernest and Ernest WAS Jim Varney. He died at 50 on Feb. 10, 2000.
So now you have some history, even if has no real association with the “Vaucluse” marker. And a little history is better than no history at all. Know what I mean, Vern?
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Nera'g gur "Rearfg" zbivrf abj ba pnoyr?