Each Summer weekend, avid letterboxers hit the backroads of Ohio - visiting cemeteries, public parks and other scenic areas. As they search for the hundreds of letterboxes scattered across the state, they are also often learning valuable lessons about Ohio history and culture.

Letterboxing, according to Wikipedia, is a hobby which “…combines elements of orienteering, art and puzzle solving.” It began in mid-19th century England, and became popular in this country following a National Geographic article in the late 1990s. As of the present time, there are more than 20,000 letterboxes hidden across the United States. In each, a log book and official site stamp await the visitor who follows directions to their whereabouts. Clues can range from simple instructions (such as “Go ten steps from the hollow tree toward the farmhouse in the distance”) to more complex clues that can include, for instance, numbers and names from gravestone inscriptions. The hobby is inter-generational, and attracts both families with small children and senior citizens alike.

Ohio has became a hotbed of letterboxing, and many of the boxes across the state are located in sites with connections to Ohio history. The Old Church Cemetery Letterbox in Waterford, a tiny hamlet on the Morrow/Knox County border, includes a narrative of the settlement of the area - which occurred during the “Ohio Fever,” in which “thousands of emigrants, mostly from Pennsylvania...flocked to this part of Central Ohio in search of cheap and fertile land" after the War of 1812.  The Ohio and Erie Canal Letterbox Series in Cuyahoga County takes searchers on a trip to find 4 letterboxes while teaching them about the history of canal transportation in Ohio, while many of the covered bridges in Fairfield County are also letterbox locations.

Click here to learn more about letterboxing, and how you can take a trip through Ohio history.

Photo:  Letterbox uncovered in northern Franklin County - Thomas Palmer