History of Letterboxing

It started in 1854 in Devon, England, when a gentleman hiker told his friends, “I have placed my calling card in a bottle at Cranmere Pond (a good 6 miles across Dartmoor, each way), and I advise you find it. Just leave your own card when you get there.”  The game gradually caught on and today there are over 10,000 organized treasure hunts. In Devon, the hunts are called “Letterboxes”. The idea was brought to northern New England by David Sobel in 1993, in response to a plea from friends far away to increase people’s appreciation of their communities. At present, there are over 200 Quests in the Upper Connecticut River Valley, in Vermont and New Hampshire.