GCA841 Virtual Cache Douglas #7 Franktown
Type: Virtual | Size: Virtual Virtual | Difficulty: 2 out of 5 | Terrain: 1 out of 5
By: Jim Reeb @ | Hide Date: 11/13/2002 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N39° 23.352 W104° 45.157 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 62

This is number seven in a series of historical points within Douglas County Colorado.

This has a difficulty of 2 because it has two points to find. The first point is the monument at the above coordinates and the second is the grave of James Frank Gardner at: 39 23.587, -104 45.075.
Cemetery gate location: 39 23.483, -104 45.139. Remember to close the gate.

Franktown came into being in 1859 when James Frank Gardner established the California Ranch south of present Highway 86. The ranch had a stage stop, a jail and a courthouse. In 1874, Castle Rock became the county seat. They got the county seat and Gardner's courthouse. There was no road between Franktown and Castle Rock so they had to haul it north, up the valley to current Stroh Road, west across the valley and hills and came out about a mile north of Castle Rock. The courthouse still stands in Castle Rock on Fourth Street near the current courthouse.

In 1863, the town burned down, save one building, which still stands. It is west of the monument and at the south end of Kelty Road.

When the Indians went on the warpath in 1864, a fort was built on the west edge of Franktown straddling Cherry Creek. Until a few years ago, posts were still visible.

At first, Franktown was called Frankstown until around 1900 when the post office dropped the 's'.

To claim this geocache, email what the monument is made of and the dates on the stone to the left of James Frank Gardner’s stone. Also, mention one item of information that you find interesting.
Photos are fine. JimReeb@ecentral.com

Thanks Geocaching Colorado for the Geocache of the Month Award, as the second series to win!

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 Logs

23 Logs: Found it 22  Write note 1  

Found it 06/27/2019 By Pinerypros
Never knew this cemetery was there. Walked around for quite awhile looking at the interesting monuments. Never was much of a history buff until I started geocaching and now I find it very cool. TFTC. Sent email with answers.

Found it 06/24/2019 By mrboo99
Yesterday, we were stuck for an hour on I-25 near Larkspur because of an accident.

We decided to head back up to Denver via Hwy 83 today. When Cynsayshi mentioned the marker to the side of the road was a virtual, I pulled over. It was a nice break and fun learning about your local history. Plus, we got a smiley. Cynsayshi sent along the info to the CO for both of us. TFTV! Smile

Found it 06/24/2019 By Cynsayshi
Found today with mrboo99 while on the first day of a multi-state sightseeing and caching trip. Answers sent for both uf us. Interesting history.

Found it 06/20/2019 By suntantoes
Tftc always live doing these types of caches

Write note 06/19/2019 By DaCachingNana
At stage 2 ... a deer completely fooled me... thought it was fake until I got within 30’, then the buck ran off!!

Found it 10/20/2018 By Room1009
I came up to Castlewood Canyon for the CITO event today. Afterwards I hunted a few caches. This one was really awesome, a virtual multi cache. I was already in the cemetery hunting the CSQ cache there so I stopped there first then drove over to the monument. I don't think I've ever seen anything like that. I'm so glad I stopped for this virtual. Thanks so much for this. I'm going to have to make some time to get the rest of the virtuals around here. Answers will be sent shortly. Favorite added.

Found it 09/29/2018 By vorlon40
Nice place to stop on our way back from CO Springs to Parker. We love history and cemeteries so this one really hit the spot. I like looking for really old headstones when we visit. Answers were emailed. TFTC.

Found it 09/23/2018 By Rock Chalk
Our Colorado vacation continued today with a beautiful day between Colorado Springs and Golden. Sunny skies and warm temperatures. Great way to spend a day.

Enjoyed checking out several of the 'Douglas' virtuals today. Answers are on the way. TFTC!

Found it 09/08/2018 By The Retireds
We are on the way home to Arizona after attending a memorial service for Mrs. R,'s Aunt (She was her last living Aunt and her favorite). Quickly found all involved sections of this virtual and what "FUN" it was. Email answers to follow. TFTC.

Found it 09/04/2018 By Firemnky
On a Fall trip through Colorado doing some caching and seeing the sites. A beautiful scenic drive through Rocky Mountain National Park. Visiting the downtown areas of Boulder, Denver, Castle Rock and Colorado Springs to name a few. We enjoyed a beautiful hike on the Barr trail at the Summit of Pikes Peak. It was a wonderful trip with quite a bit of caching thrown in along the way. Another fun stop on our journey through Colorado. Answers sent.

Found it 09/02/2018 By alpinemm
Interesting history lesson. I love virtuals. They take you to so many places you wouldn’t see otherwise. Note is on the way.

Found it 09/01/2018 By FresnoDancingFool
Nice two-stage virtual; my answers will be arriving shortly. Good job and TFTC!

Found it 08/30/2018 By tehjoester
TFTC! Answers sent!

Found it 07/22/2018 By shelleah
I cached with LilRyRy and CDRSheppo on our way to a birthday party in Denver to finish the Hidden Creatures event. I sent answers, happy I guessed it correctly. :) Thanks for the virtual!

Found it 07/21/2018 By JSQuack
A fun find with CShare today as we wrapped up a few days in the Douglas County area.
We enjoyed a walk through the old cemetery collecting answers, then visited the published
coordinates to complete the find.

TFTC! Smile

Found it 07/21/2018 By CShare
JSQuack and I are back doing more Douglas County caches today.

We used the parking coords to find the Cemetary Gate an then walked to the far corner to get the first answer. Then we drove to the second waypoint to find an interesting monument. This gets a Fav from me.

JSQuack is sending in the answers for both of us. TFTVC

Found it 07/21/2018 By tc54915
Caching trip with AJ Perla out west in Colorado.. managed to.get my triple jasmer, hike up mountains that I never imagined I would do. I am truely a flatlander...Tftc. and
the adventures..

Found it 07/21/2018 By AJperla
TFTC WITH TC

Found it 07/14/2018 By Memfis Mafia
Thanks to Jim Reeb for the cache. We always appreciate the effort that goes into publishing and maintaining a Virtual. This year we are trying getting out with the family more. I’m all we have found 6665 Geocaches.



July 14, 2018
Memfis Mafia

We will add our extra pictures (or ones with spoilers) to our family Instagram @memfismafia

We are also very likely to talk about our experiences on our weekly podcast. Geocache Talk

Geocachetalk.com

Found it 07/04/2018 By Mr, Peabody
Fun wandering the cemetery on a hot day. TFTC

Found it 07/04/2018 By VirginiaS
A beautiful old cemetery! And the monument was interesting. Headed out to do our first power trail.

TFTC

Found it 06/28/2018 By Scaber
Drove down to Castle Rock in order to get some finds for the enchanted creatures challenge. Thank you for placing this cache and helping to keep our recreation going. Email sent.

Found it 06/28/2018 By AwesomeFlossie
Found it! Will e-mail the answers to your questions.