My family and I just returned from vacation in NY and parts of New
England where, despite my non-boxing family, I managed to find and
place a few boxes. But the biggest surprise was finding boxes at
Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, a NPS park located on Long
Island not too far from NYC. The boxes were placed by the park staff
and were part of the Junior Ranger program. When I saw a notice
about it on a bulletin board I asked the Ranger for more
information. He said they started the letterboxing program about 1
year ago and proceeded to hand me a kit with everything I would need
to make my own stamp and find 3 boxes. He kidded me about becoming a
Junior Ranger, but I told him I was still just a kid at heart and
took the kit. The clue booklet was very well written and gave a good
description of letterboxing; even referencing the LBNA website. The
clues were designed to help kids learn more about the park (it is
Theodore Roosevelts house) and the stamps were great (professionally
made for the park).

After stamping in all three boxes, I returned to the Visitor Center
and returned the kit, then complimented them on it. I asked for and
received the email of that park's superintendant so I could thank
him, too. I have since emailed him my gratitude along with a
suggestion to have his staff submit the boxes to LBNA so letterboxers
will know about them. It would not contain the actual clues, but
could say something like "get clues at Visitor Center". I also asked
him to forward my email to other parks to see if they would start
similar programs. I have not heard back yet, but am hopeful.

I think this is a great compromise between the NPS and letterboxers,
and could possibly open the door for us to provide boxes to parks if
they adopt this program. In the mean time, anyone going near this
park should check it out. The park is free, but for a small fee you
can tour the house (well worth it). There is also a good museum
(free) and nice picnic area. We spent 4 hours there before catching
our flight home and really enjoyed it.

Silver Eagle