Fort Macon Letterbox

Date:  October 26, 2002

Location:   Fort Macon, Atlantic Beach, NC

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Fort Macon is at the eastern end of the Atlantic Beach island.  The Fort is opened from 9 am to 5:30, and there is no admission charge.  No pets, no food, no drink, though.  You will need to be discreet in finding, removing, and rehiding this box, as Fort Macon is the most visited park in North Carolina!  You should take some time to look around the Fort while you are there, and out on the beach the inlet is usually busy with people fishing, and kiting flying on Sundays. 

Go in to the Fort area as if you were visiting the Fort.  You will pass the restroom building and pass the Cistern to your right keep going.  There is a sign for the Elliott Coues Nature Trail to the right.  Take a look at this sign interesting stuff, and the Nature Trail takes you back out to the parking lot, but the box is not hidden there.  Now, instead of going on the Nature Trail, and instead of going down the brick and stone path to the Fort, you will walk on the grass up so you are above the top tier of the Fort.   There will be the upper tier wall of the Fort dropping off to your left, and a woodland edge to your right as you walk on the mown lawn.  The top of the wall that is on your left points straight to a cedar tree, a little taller than the other vegetation that is covered in vines.  Walk up to this far corner of the Fort, and admire the view and the breezes.  You will have to be extra cautious to watch for park rangers and other visitors as you look behind the base of the tallest tree in the bunch.  There you will find the Fort Macon letter box with a handcarved stamp.  It is wrapped in felt, covered with a few twigs and a seed head from a weed.  You will need to be DISCREET to remove the box to protect its hiding place, and you will need to carefully hide it again. Please reset the sticks and weed to provide some cover. 

ENJOY!