Dear Visitors,
I hope nobody has been looking for the letterbox this weekend (August 3 - 4, 2013), or some days or weeks before. Apparently, some wildlife smelled something yummy in the fingerprints, maybe, and decided to take the letterbox apart looking for food. A good Samaritan found the letterbox completely dismantled and quite wet, and kindly called me on Saturday morning. I picked it up, dried it out, but decided that the book was nearly full any way. I built a new book, cleaned everything up and dried it all out. I will re-install it as before tomorrow morning.
I don't know if I will be able to scan the previous letterbox visitors' stamps and notes. Many are washed beyond recognition by their time in the rain. Some have really weathered the experience well. A good reason to use water-proof ink, if you letterbox! But the pages are quite curled and damaged. So sorry about the loss. Back in business soon, with a new book.
Bop
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Saturday, October 13, 2007
PAX Letterbox Clues
The troubles of the day are sufficient unto themselves.
* Beginning point is the gravel parking lot at Turner’s Pond, on Central Avenue in Milton, Mass, just opposite Hinckley Road.
* Take the path away from the lot that follows a row of large pine trees.
* About an tenth of a mile down this path, you will see a 10 foot tall hollow stump, a tree killed when a wire fence cut into it – you can see the marks around the trunk. Keep going, you are fine.
* 15 short paces after the hollow stump, you will notice a small path off to the right, with an uprooted tree near the entrance from the main path. You can see a row of large boulders, probably boundary markers or the remains of an old stone fence. The boulders make a neat corner.
* The eighth boulder from the left side (the edge of the corner), between 8 and 9, you will find what you are looking for!
! Always poke into hidden spaces with a stick before reaching in with your hand! Remember to watch out for poison ivy, too! There was none here today, but it may grow later.
! Be discreet. Lots of Muggles in the area.
! Please carefully reseal and hide as you found it.
! If the contents are damaged, or the box is empty or gone, please call 617-698-3075.
PAX VOBISCUM : PEACE BE WITH YOU. Enjoy!
* Beginning point is the gravel parking lot at Turner’s Pond, on Central Avenue in Milton, Mass, just opposite Hinckley Road.
* Take the path away from the lot that follows a row of large pine trees.
* About an tenth of a mile down this path, you will see a 10 foot tall hollow stump, a tree killed when a wire fence cut into it – you can see the marks around the trunk. Keep going, you are fine.
* 15 short paces after the hollow stump, you will notice a small path off to the right, with an uprooted tree near the entrance from the main path. You can see a row of large boulders, probably boundary markers or the remains of an old stone fence. The boulders make a neat corner.
* The eighth boulder from the left side (the edge of the corner), between 8 and 9, you will find what you are looking for!
! Always poke into hidden spaces with a stick before reaching in with your hand! Remember to watch out for poison ivy, too! There was none here today, but it may grow later.
! Be discreet. Lots of Muggles in the area.
! Please carefully reseal and hide as you found it.
! If the contents are damaged, or the box is empty or gone, please call 617-698-3075.
PAX VOBISCUM : PEACE BE WITH YOU. Enjoy!
PAX Letterbox - information (see next entry for clues)
I placed my first letterbox today: PAX, at Turner’s Pond in Milton, Mass.
I edited this (and the "clues" entries here on August 8, 2011.
Please come visit. Stamp your logbook and leave your stamped sign in the little box in the letterbox.
* I used to offer a paperback book exchange at this letterbox, but had to quit. Our previous box which accommodated the books proved too difficult for people to seal completely. We had a disaster in the summer of 2011 where the box was left completely unsealed and everything was sitting in inches of rainwater when we checked it! Amazingly, the paperback book was so carefully wrapped that it survived unscathed, but the letterbox booklet was quite soaked. Many of the earlier stamps have become nearly illegible. So. New box. No books.
Turner’s Pond is very accessible... Easy walking - no hills. Probably accessible with motorized wheelchair or cart. Kid friendly, pet friendly, bicycle friendly. Beautiful plantings of native plants - a lovely setting.
Bicycle/Walking: Cycling route around Turner’s Pond, a half-mile loop. Links to the Neponset River Greenway bike route.
Public Transit: You can use a number of MBTA buses to reach Turner’s Pond by public transit. See the map at this link and zoom in on Turner’s Pond to see the bus routes that go past.
Easy to reach by car, with parking at either end. The parking lot on Central is gravel, and is currently in good shape. In the past, it has gotten rutted and I have had a car stuck there in winter once. The lot is on Central in Milton, MA, just opposite Hinckley Road. The pond is visible from the road and this lot has a sign for the Pond as well. The Central entrance is the starting place, so use this lot.
Be aware that the area is heavily used around 8:30 - 9 AM and again 2:30 - 3 PM to drop off and pick up students at the nearby Glover Elementary school. Traffic can be a bit hairy along nearby Brook Road at those time, as well, with school buses and parents, pedestrians and crossing guards all busy. Lots of walkers, too, so guard against discovery!
The Pond is beautiful, and you might want to walk the loop path (1/2 mile) while you are there. If you are in a wheelchair, beware that the path beyond the letterbox location has lumpy roots, but not much hill. It might get muddy on the trail beyond the letterbox location in winter, or after lots of rain.
Lagniappe (a little something extra):
History:
During the 1800's, harvesting ice from New England’s ponds became big business. Farmers and laborers cut ice and stored it in sawdust. Some was used locally to cool dairy products and such. But ice became big business as well. The “Ice King,” Frederick Tudor, of Boston, shipped ice all over the world, as far as India, the Philippines and Singapore. The ice shipped at very favorable rates as otherwise, ships traveled empty from America to the east to import Asian goods to the west, or to the southern states and Caribbean to import cotton and rum to New England. See Harvard Business School’s site and this blog from India discussing the history and book, The Frozen-Water Trade: A true story, by Gavin Weightman.
As ice became more valuable, Jacob Turner found it worth while to dam a brook in a wetland area of Milton, to create a shallow ice pond. He built an ice house and harvested the ice that formed each winter in the 1-2 foot deep pond. (See Turner’s Pond Quest developed by Janet MacNeill for the Milton Historical Society. You might want to try her quest while you are there.
More recently, the pond was deepened and stocked with fish. There is still a brook that passes along the side of the pond, and into which the pond feeds. Several years ago, a family of coyotes denned at Turner’s Pond, producing a litter, and preying on neighborhood cats and small dogs, as well as the garbage from Glover School. The coyotes left when Glover School underwent an extensive renovation, and heavy machinery moved lots of dirt and destroyed a number of trees in the area of the den. Janet MacNeill oversaw the creation of Schoolyard Habitats, beginning with Glover School. The school is planted with native plants and school lessons can be planned to take advantage of the setting.
Turner’s Pond also includes a science experiment disguised as a swan. See this link from U-Mass, Boston for info and a link to a Boston Globe story about the partnership between the University and Milton school children developing the swan and its monitoring equipment.
I edited this (and the "clues" entries here on August 8, 2011.
Please come visit. Stamp your logbook and leave your stamped sign in the little box in the letterbox.
* I used to offer a paperback book exchange at this letterbox, but had to quit. Our previous box which accommodated the books proved too difficult for people to seal completely. We had a disaster in the summer of 2011 where the box was left completely unsealed and everything was sitting in inches of rainwater when we checked it! Amazingly, the paperback book was so carefully wrapped that it survived unscathed, but the letterbox booklet was quite soaked. Many of the earlier stamps have become nearly illegible. So. New box. No books.
Turner’s Pond is very accessible... Easy walking - no hills. Probably accessible with motorized wheelchair or cart. Kid friendly, pet friendly, bicycle friendly. Beautiful plantings of native plants - a lovely setting.
Bicycle/Walking: Cycling route around Turner’s Pond, a half-mile loop. Links to the Neponset River Greenway bike route.
Public Transit: You can use a number of MBTA buses to reach Turner’s Pond by public transit. See the map at this link and zoom in on Turner’s Pond to see the bus routes that go past.
Easy to reach by car, with parking at either end. The parking lot on Central is gravel, and is currently in good shape. In the past, it has gotten rutted and I have had a car stuck there in winter once. The lot is on Central in Milton, MA, just opposite Hinckley Road. The pond is visible from the road and this lot has a sign for the Pond as well. The Central entrance is the starting place, so use this lot.
Be aware that the area is heavily used around 8:30 - 9 AM and again 2:30 - 3 PM to drop off and pick up students at the nearby Glover Elementary school. Traffic can be a bit hairy along nearby Brook Road at those time, as well, with school buses and parents, pedestrians and crossing guards all busy. Lots of walkers, too, so guard against discovery!
The Pond is beautiful, and you might want to walk the loop path (1/2 mile) while you are there. If you are in a wheelchair, beware that the path beyond the letterbox location has lumpy roots, but not much hill. It might get muddy on the trail beyond the letterbox location in winter, or after lots of rain.
Lagniappe (a little something extra):
History:
During the 1800's, harvesting ice from New England’s ponds became big business. Farmers and laborers cut ice and stored it in sawdust. Some was used locally to cool dairy products and such. But ice became big business as well. The “Ice King,” Frederick Tudor, of Boston, shipped ice all over the world, as far as India, the Philippines and Singapore. The ice shipped at very favorable rates as otherwise, ships traveled empty from America to the east to import Asian goods to the west, or to the southern states and Caribbean to import cotton and rum to New England. See Harvard Business School’s site and this blog from India discussing the history and book, The Frozen-Water Trade: A true story, by Gavin Weightman.
As ice became more valuable, Jacob Turner found it worth while to dam a brook in a wetland area of Milton, to create a shallow ice pond. He built an ice house and harvested the ice that formed each winter in the 1-2 foot deep pond. (See Turner’s Pond Quest developed by Janet MacNeill for the Milton Historical Society. You might want to try her quest while you are there.
More recently, the pond was deepened and stocked with fish. There is still a brook that passes along the side of the pond, and into which the pond feeds. Several years ago, a family of coyotes denned at Turner’s Pond, producing a litter, and preying on neighborhood cats and small dogs, as well as the garbage from Glover School. The coyotes left when Glover School underwent an extensive renovation, and heavy machinery moved lots of dirt and destroyed a number of trees in the area of the den. Janet MacNeill oversaw the creation of Schoolyard Habitats, beginning with Glover School. The school is planted with native plants and school lessons can be planned to take advantage of the setting.
Turner’s Pond also includes a science experiment disguised as a swan. See this link from U-Mass, Boston for info and a link to a Boston Globe story about the partnership between the University and Milton school children developing the swan and its monitoring equipment.
Welcome!
Namaste and hi! This is Boppo’s Letterboxing blog. If you want to learn more about letterboxing, visit www.letterboxing.org I have a special interest in letterboxing. I have a lot of arthritis and other joint issues, so I can’t go hiking up hill and down dale. It’s kind of hard to find letterboxes (at least in my region) that are accessible to less able folks like me. So, my mission is to add more letterboxes that all kinds of folks can reach. So far, I have only been able to reach one letterbox, at Mosswetusetts Hummock, in Quincy, Mass. It’s a wonderful place that I am so glad I got to see. And I could do the walk and find the letterbox. This is my ideal. I will be looking for accessible spots of all kinds that also encourage folks to see special spots all around my area. Wish me luck!
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