CacheCrazy.Com

I'm a big fan of geocaches which take me to a place I never knew existed.  As a history buff, being able to combine two of my favorite past times into one is my idea of a good time.  So when I read the description for the Camp Nordland cache, I was game.  The cache is hidden in the woods at Hillside Park, in Andover, New Jersey.  It is located at the site of a former German Bund camp.  It's also five minutes from my office.

The German Bund movement was a World War II-era movement which embraced the ideals of Nazi Germany, and which pledged its allegiance to Adolph Hitler.  At its peak, the Bund had a membership of over 10,000.  Bund camps sprung up in the middle, to late 1930's.  The mission of the camps were to promote solidarity among members, and also were used as training and recreational facilities.  Camps were located across the nation, in areas with a large German-American population.  With the Bund headquarters in nearby Manhattan, New Jersey found itself with the highest concentration of camps.  Hackensack, Passaic, Newark and Clifton were home to Bund camps, as well as Andover, in Sussex County.  The Bund movement did not last long, as the camps disappeared in the early 1940's and were completely gone by the end of the war.

Camp Nordland, circa 1938.

GC38ZGG- Camp Nordland Cache brings us to the abandoned Bund camp in Andover. Camp Nordland is tucked away in the woods, and if you weren't specifically looking for the area, you'd never know it was there.  I made the short .25 mile hike in and quickly identified the area, once I was there, by the partial structures which still existed.  There were identical stone objects which still existed, which I made out to be stoves.  Oddly enough, these stoves consistently stood next to stone steps.  Over the embankment still stood a pavilion.  Standing at the site gave me an odd feeling.  Most like it was knowing what stood here in the past, and the sentiments of those who walked in these woods.

Cornerstone?

Stone & cinder stoves.

Old housing foundation.

The cache itself was an easy find.  This one was all about where the cache brought me.  This area is a remnant of the past.  It serves as remembrance of ideals, and philosophies which were around at a time in the not-so distant past.  Certainly, place like these are hidden gems and geocaching allows us to reveal them for all to see.