Duck Creek by Mike Ott

Duck Creek - Delaware C.A.C.H.E.- Hundred (GC10PDR)
by MikeOtt
rating 2.5/2.5
container size 3 (regular)
photos by The Dam Trolls, Instant Coffee and Drrichardh
as posted on www.geocaching.com

This month we continue with our reviews of the Delaware Geocaches selected by our members as examples of outstanding geocache construction. Duck Creek, created and placed by Mike Ott on February 1st, was voted best geocache for the 1st quarter of 2007. Those who visit the site description page on www.geocaching.com will see it now displays the Delaware Geocaching Award Icon making everyone aware of this honor.

Just before this edition of the Delaware Geocaching Web Site went on line Mike Ott found it necessary to temporarily deactivate this cache. Reports had been received that the container was missing. Mike posted a notice indicating that he would be making a site visit to check on this but it might be several days before this could happen. Due to this it might be best to check the listing on geocaching.com before you make a visit to this site. As you will discover from this review, there's a long hike awaiting you.

Despite the site temporarily being unavailable we are presenting this review in tribute to it garnering the honor of being voted an example of outstanding geocache construction.

Duck Creek is the name of two geographical landmarks in Delaware. The first of these is the creek itself. Those who drive through Smyrna are familiar with this tidal river which crosses Del 13 and Del 1 just north of the town. A not-too-well-known fact about this river is that it marks the boundary between New Castle and Kent Counties. Kent County residents know that this river snakes its way to the northeast and eventually empties into the Delaware River.

The other geographic landmark is Duck Creek Hundred. What is a Hundred? Several scholars have given us their answers but this one from the Delaware Genealogical Research Guide (p. 5) is the most concise. It states:

On 25 Oct 1682, William Penn directed that Delaware be divided into townships occupied by 100 families where each family would have an average of about ten members (including servants). These townships were referred to as "hundreds" in a 9 Apr 1690 order by the Provincial Council. Originally, there were five hundreds in New Castle County, five in Kent County and two in Sussex County. As the population grew, several of the hundreds divided, creating new hundreds. In 1875, the total number of hundreds had grown to the present-day thirty-three hundreds. Their boundaries have essentially not changed since and no longer serve as judicial or legislative districts.

 

Mike Ott created this geocache site to be one of the 24 geocaches placed as part of the Delaware Geocaching Event called Cache Around the Colonial Hundreds Event. While being designated a "Hundred" gives this area historical significance, the Duck Creek area has a much older history and has played an even deeper role in Delaware developmental history. Like most of the North American continent this area was originally native American territory. How it became part of Delaware, it turns out, was quite a series of events.

As those who visit New Castle (the town) are reminded Delaware was claimed at various time by the Swedes, the Dutch and the English. As each of these groups made their claims to the area that would become Delaware they "purchased" land from the native american tribes living here. In 1629 a Dutchman negotiated with a council of chiefs of the Sickoneysincks and purchased all the land between Duck Creek and the present day Lewis, Delaware. On March 29, 1638 Peter Minuet met with representatives of the Minquas nation and purchased this same area. The following year Peter Hollender Ridder negotiated with these same people for the purchase of all land between the Christiana River and Duck Creek. During the time when the Duck Creek area (and all parts of the state south of it) were claimed by the Duke of York they were again purchased from the native americans. And on October 2, 1685 William Penn also negotiated for these land. Penn however purchased all land between Chester Creek and Duck Creek. He felt that he already had clear title to the lands south of Duck Creek due to earlier purchases by the English. So while this area may seem calm and even remote today, know that over the centuries its has been a center of much activity.

Activity of another kind flourished here also. With the Duck Creek emptying into the Delaware River there has been much waterborne activity here. It is even rumored that Captain Kidd used this entrance from the Delaware to find spots where he could bury his plunder. Alas, none has ever been found. After the Civil War steamers plowed the Delaware bringing excursionists from Philadelphia and Wilmington here. As a result a lighthouse was erected near Duck Creeks entrance with the Delaware.

Shown here is the lighthouse and and its outbuildings. Notice how the lighthouse emerges from the roof of the keepers house.

The lighthouse was constructed by the U. S. Government in 1829. President Andrew Jackson appointed the first keeper (Duncan Stewart) in 1831. Steward and his family lived at the site. Apparently living here had much appeal despite being so isolated. In 1850 Stewart's daughter Margaret took over as the keeper. Keeping the light was a manual process during these times. This included supplying fuel for the light (which was a flame) and keeping the wick in good condition.

This old postcard, which was posted by geocacher MonkeySea, shows the lighthouse as seen from the Delaware River. Mike Ott has designed this cache so that you will visit this same area. Just don't expect it to look anything like this now.

In 1878 an unexpected hurricane hit this area producing a tidal wave that destroyed the hotels at Collins Beach and other resorts that were the attraction for those coming down from Philadelphia and other northern points.

A second major change factor was the emergence of the railroads through this area. Suddenly shipping activities up and down the river disappeared. The lighthouse lost its usefulness.

In 1912 the manual days of lighthouse keeping were over as the government "discontinued" the light house. The new Smyrna River range lights took over its former duties. The lighthouse and its buildings, no longer needing constant care, were also declared surplus property by the U.S. Government and were eventually sold to a private individual. Eventually these lands became the property of the state of Delaware but as with many old structures, especially those in remote locations, the lighthouse became the target of vandals. In 1970 vandals set it on fire. The State of Delaware left it in its ruined condition for a few years but in 1974 it was decided to level the remaining structure. And yet, when you come here today you can still find evidence of this ancient structure. As you do, know that you are looking at artifacts that date back more than 100 years.

Hopefully the above description has whet your appetite and curiosity. Visiting Mike Ott's description page on geocaching.org is recommended. He has, with help from MonkeySea provided much more historical background information. And then there are the maps.

You might be wondering why you'd need one. After all this cache can be found at the end of a two mile hike along a dirt road that has few side roads. The answer is that there are a number of additional geocaches all along the way to this cache as well as several that can be found on one of the other of the side roads. Check out the maps and see what's there. You may find yourself planning to make a full day of it. But our recommendation is to go for Duck Creek first. The road you will travel is dirt but its well graded and provides an easy to walk pathway. There are places to rest if you find the two mile hike too much for an unbroken trek. And there's a great spot along the Delaware River for a lunch break (after you've made the find - of course).

From the logs posted on line it has been obvious that while this one will test your hiking skills, everyone who has done it has had a good experience. Here's a sampling:

February 3 by tacklemom
Robster06 (my son) convinced me that this would "be cool" to do at sunrise.... I was a bit apprehensive about it but it turned out another cacher had the same idea and graciously waited a short distance up the trail to meet up with us for this journey. Hike was MUCH easier than I expected and actually very enjoyable even though it was VERY COLD since there was nothing along the way to block the wind. I had heard about this area from some of the folks I fish with; apparently up until just a couple of years ago (or less) they could drive down the road and fish at the end. They miss fishing this area but it is too far to carry all the gear .... I loved all the wild daffodils and seeing the ruins of the structures that had been here. We took a few minutes to appreciate the view from the beach and then headed back to the warmth of our cachemobiles. SL TFTC Thanks for bringing me here, I'll come back when it's warmer and bring a bike to get the cache further along the trail.

February 4 by 1Wheel
That's what I'm talkin' about! What a great cache. Third of the day for Bookworm and I. After proceeding down the wrong road to the beach and hitting a gate 3.5 miles away, I realized the gas tank was not only below 'E' but below the dial range. We managed to get back out to route 13 and fill up, then got to the correct gate at 4:30pm. With the sun going down we figured we MIGHT make it back before dark. We were wrong. However, the hike was great, but with the sun going down we passed SO MANY caches - ouch. TNLN at the cache, I picked up two bugs since I knew I'd be traveling soon; I'll check their missions and deliver accordingly. These DE100 caches are great works of art! Well past dusk, we stopped for a cache just off the road and managed to find it - made the walk back worth it! It was so dark, upon arrival at the parking site we nearly walked right into the gate! Safe and sound, now time to go home and watch the Superbowl......

February 18 by rehobch (1554 found)
Well we finally got out to the Duck Creek Hundred cache. This was our last one of the hundreds & we are now FINISHED! Took the LONG hike out on a cold & very windy day. Even decided to grab a few others in the area (including Delaware's longest), so we had a VERY long walk. Got to the cache site & we checked out the ruins- pretty neat. Searched for a minute or two & then my wife spotted it. Nice hide.

March 9 by docdesi
A fun night of caching with the O, Lep, CAB, chsmathwisch, and Rachelhead !! What a beautiful night for this group of caches. The stars were out and it wasn't too cold. It was a great way to focus on fun and caching with friends and forget your troubles. This was a great one. We loved the sound of the water and even headed to the beach after logging the cache to play in the sand and take some pictures. TFTF !!

March 11 by ngauger Words can't truly describe the fun & camaraderie we shared nor the beauty of the area... What a great place.. and a history lesson too!!! The others were amused as to how close the nuclear reactor is as the crow flies. We can truly say we would have never known - let alone visited - this place without the C.A.C.H.E. event!! Thanks for the cache!!! Took Pics, Took TB, Signed Log! I was about to leave a sig coin, when FioraY showed me one of mine that someone else dropped off :) Too Cool!!!!!

March 24 by FoolCircle
15 of 15 today with wosiii doing about half of the Delaware C.A.C.H.E. Full on Duchon Mandik and Bundles McFister were raging at this point. With no medicine left there was nothing to do but take the long walk, what a cache for the final one of the day. This would be a great cache to have a bike for, or a big-wheel, or even a llama. Anyway, took a bit to get get out to the site but not too bad. Once at the site, be prepared to spend some time because there is lots of neat stuff to look at, plus you want to make your long walk worth it, right? Anyway, we shuffled back to the car just before hard-core dusk and decided to call it a day. That was a serious attempt at all of the Sussex County and Kent County caches in one day. We would have pulled it off if it wasn't for Muggled caches too. Oh well, then it was time to go to Iron Hill Brewery in Newark on the way home to help loosen up some sore muscles. Until next time - TFTC - Fool Circle

March 25 by drrichardh
The team drrichardh was joined by geocacher Wahkegan today as we walked the 2 miles out and 2 miles back and FOUND IT!
As those who have read our other logs know Mary of the drrichardh team has difficulty doing long walks. For this one we came prepared with a folding chair. She used it for a few minutes at 1/2 mile intervals and it help quite a bit.
After finding the cache we walked back up the trail a bit, spread a ground cloth and had a picnic lunch before heading back.
Wahkegan was a fine addition to our team. We had lots to discuss on both legs of the trip.
As for the cache, it was good to see that the folks who flattened the lighthouse at least left a sizable reminder of where it had been. Looks like a good place for some kind of historical marker.

Our thanks to Mike Ott for placing a geocache that combines the fun of geocaching combined with a visit to an historical location, and good old-fashioned exercise in an award winning design.