Launch coincides with Emancipation Day observances on August 1
Atlantic Canada’s first GeoTour will include stories from Greater Fredericton’s Black History. The tour will launch on the July 30 weekend, ahead of Emancipation Day on August 1, 2022. It will feature six locations from the region where geocaches are hidden and participants who find all six geocaches will earn a geo-coin inspired by the design of an anti-slavery halfpenny.
Part of the “Atlantic Canada Hidden Histories GeoTour”, the Greater Fredericton tour segment is based on research by Graham Nickerson, a Master of Arts candidate in History at UNB and the City of Fredericton’s community inclusion liaison. This GeoTour is made possible in part by a $3,000 grant from National Trust for Canada, as well as substantial support from Fredericton Tourism. The geocaches in this tour segment were placed and will be maintained by the Capital Region Association of Geocachers.
Locations include:
- Salome’s Well (or Salome’s Tub) in Penniac, NB,
- The Gordon House at Kings Landing in Prince William, NB,
- Saint Peter’s Anglican Church on Woodstock Road in Fredericton,
- The New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame, in Downtown Fredericton,
- Saint Anne’s Chapel of Ease, also in Downtown Fredericton, and
- The mouth of the Nashwaaksis Stream on Fredericton’s northside.
Geocaching is a perfect way to explore roads less travelled, enjoy scenic views and experience the great outdoors. It is a treasure hunt, using a map, GPS (global positioning system) unit and a sense of adventure. A GeoTour expands to include a series of caches that are designed to bring geocachers to a specific location and give them a “tour” of the area through geocaching.
The design of the geo-coin is inspired by the halfpenny produced by the abolitionist movement and circulated between 1790 and 1797. The reverse side of that halfpenny depicted a pair of clasped hands that are encircled by the words “May Slavery & Oppression Cease Throughout the World.”
Participants of the GeoTour can download a passport document from the Fredericton Tourism website – www.TourismFredericton.ca/Geocaching. Once they have visited all six locations and found the hidden caches, they can then return their completed passport to the Fredericton Tourism Visitor Information Centre in City Hall to receive their geo-coin.
The “Atlantic Canada Hidden Histories GeoTour” is expected to grow to include more locations over time. In addition to the six locations in the Fredericton area, this phase of the Geotour also includes ten locations in Nova Scotia. Special Geocaching events are being held on July 31 at Kings Landing and Birchtown,NS in celebration of the launch of this phase of the Geotour.
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