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2004 signature stamp

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poll:

When it comes to the find what difficulty level do you prefer?
Strenuous hike (hills, water-crossing, bushwacking), tough clues
Strenuous hike (hills, water-crossing, bushwacking), straight-forward clues
Undemanding hike (most of the hike is on a trail, no bushwacking, minimal or no hills), tough clues
Undemanding hike (most of the hike is on a trail, no bushwacking, minimal or no hills), straight-forward clues
Easy hike (short hike on a well-groomed trail, no hills), easy clues
  
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L0ne R letterboxing information page

History
current L0ne R history | past L0ne R history | letterboxing history 1854-present

My letterboxing history

2010
Ran out of space

I've run out of space on this site, so I continue my letterboxing adventures on my blog

Past history

1997
  • While living in the United States discovered rubberstamping and rubberstamping listservs and websites.
  • Via rubberstamping I learned about carving Mars Staedler erasers with an exacto knife to create a stamp.
1998
1999-2000
  • Back in the Great White North. No letterboxing action in my area. I keep checking the LBNA listserv. Not sure how to go about hiding a box. Didn't want to jump into it, especially if no one was going to go looking for it. So I wait.
2001
  • This may be my first post on the LBNA yahoo group: Message #8979 Canadian Letterboxes Thu Nov 29, 2001 9:01 am
  • Found out about geocaching, a high tech version of letterboxing (minus the carved stamp).
  • We go out and play high-tech hide n seek on Christmas Eve 2001. The growth of geocaching in our area accelerates exponentially. Saw things we would never have experienced if it wasn't for geocaching.
2002
  • After finding a few, we plant our first geocache in January.
  • October 3 a letterbox is hidden in a nearby conservation area and posted on the LBNA listserv.
  • I find my first letterbox - 3rd Date. Fantastic location. 2 wonderful stamps. I am inspired.
  • I plant my first letterbox a couple of days later - Silvercreek Trail (now retired) - see image of Silvercreek's logbook cover. Then a few days later planted another one - Arboretum. (still active).
2003
  • No new hiders in the area. Most of my letterboxes are being found by folks coming up from the United States.
  • Joined the Wes Garrison site - now defunct.
2004
  • An increase in the number of Great White North boxers, both finders and planters. The list of hidden boxes is growing into the double digits.
  • Start up email contact with a LB hider in our area (Lil). We help each other out with feedback and inspiration regarding our hides.
  • Joined Atlas Quest and started posting letterboxes on the AQ and GC.com sites (and LBNA) for maximum exposure.
2005
  • Continued to enjoy the outdoor adventure of letterboxing and geocaching.
2006
2007
  • 2007 was a busier year thanks to an increase in letterbox hiders and the opportunity to do a little travelling outside of my local region
2008
2009

Letterbox history - a chronological review

1854 James Perrot left a calling card in a glass bottle at Cranmere Pool, Dartmoor and invited friends to find it.
1888 A small tin box replaced the original bottle. Visitors left self-addressed postcards. The next person to visit the letterbox (except if it was a same-day visitor) would retrieve the postcards and mail them back from their hometown. And so the activity gets named "Letterboxing".
1894 Taw Marsh box planted
1905 Log book introduced for finder's signatures
1938 Ducks Pool box planted
1951 Fur Tor box planted
1962 Crow Tor box planted
1976 Tom Gant created a guide map pinpointing the fifteen letterboxes in existence, at which point letterboxing began to boom in a big way.
1980s Commercial rubber stamps and a notebook are used instead of calling cards or postcards. Clues are published in a clue catalogue or by WOM.
1998 Smithsonian publishes an article called "They Live and Breathe Letterboxing"
1998 The Letterboxing North America website is born. Electronic sharing of clues begins.
1998 April 30. Prayer Rock, Vermont is believed to be the first letterbox planted in the United States
2001

Feb 21. Probably Canada's first letterbox: Beaver Mountain Provincial Park Letterbox, Nova Scotia, Canada (Antigonish)
Adopted by Jiggs in 2006
2002 March 16. First postal letterbox.
2003

LB hiders can post and maintain their own clues on the LbNA site.

The LBNA site switched over from "submit your clues on the Talklist" to "submit your clues on the website" after April 25th of 2003. Here is the last archive before the switch:

http://web.archive.org/web/20030425115320/http://letterboxing.org/
2004

The Atlas Quest letterboxing website (www.atlasquest.com) is born!

The blog where it all began: http://www.geocities.com/rscarpen/Lb/

History of Letterboxing

Excerpt from Anne Swinscow, More Dartmoor Letterboxes, first published December 1986 on Mark and Sue's Letterboxing blog.

Letterboxing on Dartmoor

We Live and Breathe Letterboxing - History

First letterboxes by U.S. State

Letterboxers first finds

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