Letterboxing - Save the Date!

Letterboxing - Save the Date!
April 25, 2009

The Middletown Conservation Commission is happy to announce our first Letterbox on City Conservation Land! A spring Letterboxing launch will be held on April 25, 2009 at 1pm in the afternoon at the Daniels-Schwarzkopf Conservation Area. This area, located off of Millbrook Road on on Old Johnson Lane, has a tightly packed network of relatively flat, easy trails. The Commission has been very busy with land preservation efforts, and is excited to encourage use of the City's conservation areas by the community through activities like letterboxing. This will be a fun event for the entire family, and anyone who likes the woods and nature and wants to learn more about Middletown's trails and open spaces.

Letterboxing is a fun way to enjoy our parks and natural areas. Letterboxes, small weatherproof containers with a logbook, rubber stamp and stamp pad, are hidden in remote or scenic places. The planter of the letterbox leaves clues about its location by word of mouth, on websites or via other means. Clues range from easy to difficult, and finding a letterbox may require a combination of skills such as map reading, orienteering, and puzzle-solving. Letterboxers carry their own logbook and personal stamp when hunting for hidden boxes. When they find a letterbox, they stamp their own logbook using the stamp inside, and leave their own stamp or mark in the letterbox's logbook. Some artistic letterboxers carve and even design their own stamps and logbooks. Letterboxes are hidden in various locations throughout the world.

Letterboxing information courtesy of Mark and Sue Pepe.

Middletown's Conservation Commission is an all volunteer land use commission with an emphasis on environmental quality and natural resource protection, which acts in an advisory capacity to the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Agency. The Commission is responsible for indexing all open space areas and wetlands, monitoring their use and overseeing their development. The Commission facilitates the acquisition of open space property.

The Conservation Commission also maintains a Trail Guide for the City's open space areas, now available online: www.middletownplanning.com/documents/MdtnTrailGuide.pdf.