On Memorial Day, Diane and I visited the Place It All Started (here in the States):
The Prayer Rock Letterbox, planted by The Vermont Viking in September of 1998, in Bristol, VT.
Judging by the entries, it appears The Vermont Viking has since passed on. I wanted to take a minute to remember the fellow who started us all on this track of silliness and fun. His carving was very good, and his placing was well chosen. We also visited The Enigma Stone and, on the way, Diane spotted the Mad River Lookout Letterbox - both by The Vermont Viking, though they are now 'unlisted'.
Thanks to the Drew Clan for adopting Prayer Rock - a piece of our history. They were all in good condition. We don't go that way very often, or we'd adopt the other two for maintenance. Any Vermonters interested?
DaveThe von der Insels
P9 F180 X93 H5 E1
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
The Vermont Viking
6 messages in this thread |
Started on 2004-06-02
The Vermont Viking
From: dave & diane (vonderinsel@cox.net) |
Date: 2004-06-02 07:39:41 UTC-04:00
Re: [LbNA] The Vermont Viking
From: (marthabeau@aol.com) |
Date: 2004-06-02 17:05:24 UTC-04:00
Any chance in sending me those unlisted Vermont clues? I'm going to be in that area.
Mookie Fish
Mookie Fish
Re: [LbNA] The Vermont Viking
From: dave & diane (vonderinsel@cox.net) |
Date: 2004-06-03 07:28:16 UTC-04:00
The Enigma Stone was in the Basement clues. By pure Cosmic Chance and sharp eyes Diane saw the Mad River Lookout under a short stone overhang halfway up to Enigma.
Both boxes have you start at the top of the Appalachian Gap on Route 17 in Buell's gore. Take the Long Trail north, halfway up to the top of Baby Stark Mountain. The climb is almost like a staircase for the half-mile or so. Enigma Stone is a multi-ton boulder balanced precariously on the East side of the trail. From it's south-pointing tip, "bear 345 for 32 hiking paces to bend, then 37 for 15, then look below an uplift, within 5 feet of trail (in a gneiss location?)."
Dave
The von der Insels
P9 F181 X93 H5 E1
----- Original Message -----
From: marthabeau@aol.com
To: letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2004 5:05 PM
Subject: Re: [LbNA] The Vermont Viking
Any chance in sending me those unlisted Vermont clues? I'm going to be in that area.
Mookie Fish
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Both boxes have you start at the top of the Appalachian Gap on Route 17 in Buell's gore. Take the Long Trail north, halfway up to the top of Baby Stark Mountain. The climb is almost like a staircase for the half-mile or so. Enigma Stone is a multi-ton boulder balanced precariously on the East side of the trail. From it's south-pointing tip, "bear 345 for 32 hiking paces to bend, then 37 for 15, then look below an uplift, within 5 feet of trail (in a gneiss location?)."
Dave
The von der Insels
P9 F181 X93 H5 E1
----- Original Message -----
From: marthabeau@aol.com
To: letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2004 5:05 PM
Subject: Re: [LbNA] The Vermont Viking
Any chance in sending me those unlisted Vermont clues? I'm going to be in that area.
Mookie Fish
Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
ADVERTISEMENT
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
a.. To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/letterbox-usa/
b.. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
letterbox-usa-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
c.. Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: The Vermont Viking
From: team_new_hampshire (gingerbreadjunk@yahoo.com) |
Date: 2007-08-09 13:07:20 UTC
i would hate for this to become an arguement of any sort, but is
prayer rock truely the first letterbox in the states. on AQ, it would
seem that someone in NC claims that NC has the first in the states.
i know that VT has valleyquest, but i keep hearing everyone calling
prayer rock a letterbox. can someone answer this question for me
please, or can we debate this without getting into a hissy?
its kinda like who invented the hamburger.
david (team new hampshire)
http://teamnewhampshire.blogspot.com
--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "dave & diane"
wrote:
>
> On Memorial Day, Diane and I visited the Place It All Started (here
in the States):
> The Prayer Rock Letterbox, planted by The Vermont Viking in
September of 1998, in Bristol, VT.
>
> Judging by the entries, it appears The Vermont Viking has since
passed on. I wanted to take a minute to remember the fellow who
started us all on this track of silliness and fun. His carving was
very good, and his placing was well chosen. We also visited The
Enigma Stone and, on the way, Diane spotted the Mad River Lookout
Letterbox - both by The Vermont Viking, though they are
now 'unlisted'.
>
> Thanks to the Drew Clan for adopting Prayer Rock - a piece of our
history. They were all in good condition. We don't go that way very
often, or we'd adopt the other two for maintenance. Any Vermonters
interested?
>
> DaveThe von der Insels
> P9 F180 X93 H5 E1
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
prayer rock truely the first letterbox in the states. on AQ, it would
seem that someone in NC claims that NC has the first in the states.
i know that VT has valleyquest, but i keep hearing everyone calling
prayer rock a letterbox. can someone answer this question for me
please, or can we debate this without getting into a hissy?
its kinda like who invented the hamburger.
david (team new hampshire)
http://teamnewhampshire.blogspot.com
--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "dave & diane"
>
> On Memorial Day, Diane and I visited the Place It All Started (here
in the States):
> The Prayer Rock Letterbox, planted by The Vermont Viking in
September of 1998, in Bristol, VT.
>
> Judging by the entries, it appears The Vermont Viking has since
passed on. I wanted to take a minute to remember the fellow who
started us all on this track of silliness and fun. His carving was
very good, and his placing was well chosen. We also visited The
Enigma Stone and, on the way, Diane spotted the Mad River Lookout
Letterbox - both by The Vermont Viking, though they are
now 'unlisted'.
>
> Thanks to the Drew Clan for adopting Prayer Rock - a piece of our
history. They were all in good condition. We don't go that way very
often, or we'd adopt the other two for maintenance. Any Vermonters
interested?
>
> DaveThe von der Insels
> P9 F180 X93 H5 E1
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
Re: [LbNA] Re: The Vermont Viking
From: (mjpepe1@comcast.net) |
Date: 2007-08-09 13:19:31 UTC
First of all - Valley Quests have nothing to do with Prayer Rock. Prayer Rock is a letterbox as some of our boxes in VT. Valley Quest is its own entity - you must purchase their book to get the clues - something The Vermont Viking was against. His idea was that letterboxing should be available for all - even those without much money - where they could go to their local library and print out clues.
This is the story about the first US letterbox as told to us by Susan Davis, who along with her husband, The Vermont Viking, Erik, planted the box. Prayer Rock was the first box that was put on the talklist/early website. After that - several days later, Max's Patch appeared with a planting date of 1 day before Prayer Rock. I'm sure there will be other opinions.
Prayer Rock is a hand-carved stamp by Susan; Max's Patch is a store-bought stamp, from what we've been told.
In our humble opinion, Prayer Rock is the first letterbox and the first hand-carved box at that! We're proud to have it in our logbook and to have gotten to be good friends with Susan in recent years. We have no reason to doubt Susan's veracity or version of the story. She is not the competitive kind.
Hope this helps.
Mark
-------------- Original message --------------
From: "team_new_hampshire"
i would hate for this to become an arguement of any sort, but is
prayer rock truely the first letterbox in the states. on AQ, it would
seem that someone in NC claims that NC has the first in the states.
i know that VT has valleyquest, but i keep hearing everyone calling
prayer rock a letterbox. can someone answer this question for me
please, or can we debate this without getting into a hissy?
its kinda like who invented the hamburger.
david (team new hampshire)
http://teamnewhampshire.blogspot.com
.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
This is the story about the first US letterbox as told to us by Susan Davis, who along with her husband, The Vermont Viking, Erik, planted the box. Prayer Rock was the first box that was put on the talklist/early website. After that - several days later, Max's Patch appeared with a planting date of 1 day before Prayer Rock. I'm sure there will be other opinions.
Prayer Rock is a hand-carved stamp by Susan; Max's Patch is a store-bought stamp, from what we've been told.
In our humble opinion, Prayer Rock is the first letterbox and the first hand-carved box at that! We're proud to have it in our logbook and to have gotten to be good friends with Susan in recent years. We have no reason to doubt Susan's veracity or version of the story. She is not the competitive kind.
Hope this helps.
Mark
-------------- Original message --------------
From: "team_new_hampshire"
i would hate for this to become an arguement of any sort, but is
prayer rock truely the first letterbox in the states. on AQ, it would
seem that someone in NC claims that NC has the first in the states.
i know that VT has valleyquest, but i keep hearing everyone calling
prayer rock a letterbox. can someone answer this question for me
please, or can we debate this without getting into a hissy?
its kinda like who invented the hamburger.
david (team new hampshire)
http://teamnewhampshire.blogspot.com
.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [LbNA] Re: The Vermont Viking
From: Randy Hall (randy@mapsurfer.com) |
Date: 2007-08-09 09:25:13 UTC-05:00
> i would hate for this to become an arguement of any sort, but is
> prayer rock truely the first letterbox in the states.
No. Max Patch, in North Carolina, was placed several days before
it. The dates, from memory (tho I have notes somewhere), where
Apr 12, 1998, and Apr 26, 1998.
Obviously, Valley Quest was placing boxes before 1998 (I have
references to as far back as 1995, and clues from 1997), as were
others who preferred to keep the hobby under the radar well before
all of this.
We speak of Max Patch being the first box of the "Post Smithsonian
Era", whatever that means.
> or can we debate this without getting into a hissy?
There is never need for that.
Cheers
Randy