What Is the History of Letterboxing in America?
In April, 1998, Smithsonian Magazine ran an article on Dartmoor letterboxing. Several people who read the article gathered together, exchanged e-mails, and started a couple of web sites. . Groups and individuals independently placed letterboxes at this time in Tennessee, Vermont, and Oregon. Shortly thereafter, in June 1998, the EMS Store in the Crystal Mall, in Waterford Connecticut, independently placed and began listing letterboxing clues of their customers in Connecticut and Rhode Island. From this time forward is known as the “post-Smithsonian” Era. Letterboxing existed in North America prior to the post-Smithsonian era. Dr. Sobel’s Valley Quest program, for example, dates from 1989, and I have found boxes planted in 1997 as part of that program. Moreover, since letterboxing is 150 years old, and a bit secretive in England, it is clear that there are other boxes from the olden days lying around this country, you just have to find the clues 🙂 Generally, however, when people speak
