Clues lead to fun and learning

Lakes Region residents: Don't be clueless about local history this summer. Go letterboxing around Sebago Lake.

Learn not only about places and people of historical interest, but also enjoy scenic spots and get some exercise while participating in a fascinating - and growing - national pastime.

"It's a really fun thing to do," said Debbie Blanchard, a teacher at Raymond Elementary School, who spearheaded the creation of the Lakes Region Letterbox Trail about five years ago.

Those using the trail follow clues to search out letterboxes hidden at sites of historic and scenic interest.

The roots of letterboxing go back 150 years to the moors of Dartmoor in England, where a gentleman left his calling card in a bottle for someone to find, according to the Letterboxing North America Web site.

The activity - which the site describes as "an intriguing pastime combining navigational skills and rubber stamp artistry in a charming treasure hunt- style outdoor quest" - is very popular in England. It also has taken off in the United States since April 1998, when Smithsonian Magazine carried an article on the practice in Dartmoor, according to the Web site.

The site lists more than 300 letterbox sites all over Maine, from Aroostook to York County.

The basic concept behind letterboxing is finding the hidden waterproof boxes, containing logbooks, ink pads and rubber stamps, in locations that are interesting because of history or scenic beauty.

With the aid of clues, a searcher carrying a rubber stamp and logbook finds a box and uses that personal stamp to record his presence in the logbook at the site and may also write something in the book. The searcher also uses the rubber stamp in the letterbox to mark his own logbook.

The Lakes Region Letterbox Trail, roughly 26 sites in various communities around Sebago Lake, is a seasonal one. Blanchard said she and local schoolchildren hide the boxes in June when school ends and collect them again in October on Columbus Day. Blanchard said the number of letterboxers using the trail has grown from 50 when it first started to 250 last year.

She said she got the idea for letterboxing while working on a project to develop history trails in the Raymond area. "We were looking for a way to make them more accessible," Blanchard said.

After an Antioch College professor told her about letterboxing, Blanchard took a sabbatical in 2000 to go to England and find out if it would work in the Lakes Region. She concluded it would, with a few changes.

For example, people in England may walk 10 miles to get to a letterbox site, using compasses to navigate. By contrast, the Lakes Region trail combines walking and driving and the directions are detailed.

Also, Blanchard said, clues in England can be "very, very tough." She said that for the Lakes Region trail, which was developed with the aid of the Raymond-Casco Historical Soc- iety, "we wanted more user-friendly clues."

For example, one of the clues on the trail is: "If you listen carefully, you may hear clip-clops - these would have come from the carriage factory and blacksmith shops. The Watkins family homestead farm, is an example of big house, back house, little house, barn."

The letterbox for that clue is at the Watkins house and cabins in South Casco. The historical society says the homestead, built in 1815 and now on the National Register of Historic Places, shows how agricultural enterprises in the Lakes Region gave way to small-scale industries and later tourism, when rental cabins were built on the site. Clues can be found at the Letterboxing North America Web site, www.letterboxing.org, or in trail booklets sold in the season at two Raymond stores, the Good Life Market and Sunset Variety.

"It's a really nice thing for the town to have this," said Linda Manchester, co-owner of The Good Life Market, who has explored the letterbox trail with her children. Her store is in one of the oldest buildings in town and is one of the letterbox sites on the trail. Blanchard said, "It's a really fun kind of family thing to do or you can do it all by yourself."

Staff Writer Tess Nacelewicz can be contacted at 791-6367 or at: tnacelewicz@pressherald.com

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