Kentucky authors, including a few from Hopkinsville, are the focus on this year’s Letterboxing Challenge sponsored by the Christian County Literacy Council.
For some people, the first challenge is to understand what in the world letterboxing involves.
Simply, it is a kind of treasure hunt.
Letterboxers hide small, weatherproof boxes in public places — like parks, libraries and cemeteries — and then post clues online on various websites like letterboxing.org. Each letterbox contains a logbook and a stamp and, when searchers find one, they mark their personal logbook with the hidden stamp and leave their mark in the letterbox book.
The version offered by the literacy council relies on information hidden in plain sight around the city — if you know where to look. First, participants need to register online so they can get a list of local clues and a passport to record the answers.
Beth Roberts, a literacy council board member who chairs the Letterboxing Challenge, said the activity is free and intended for families, friends, work groups or even individuals. Registration has been open since July 1 and the competition runs through the end of the month.
Ten locations around Hopkinsville hold the answers that participants need to record on their passport so they will be eligible for a drawing that will award three prizes — for $200, $100 and $50.
In its earliest forms, letterboxing became wildly popular in England. The first letterbox was actually a bottle that held a man’s calling card. Later, people searched along trails and secluded places for hidden letterboxes (initially they were tin boxes) that contained postcards they could retrieve and send in the mail. Eventually, the postcards were replaced with the stamp and logbook.
Letterboxing is similar to geocaching because both involve a search and leaving a record of their discovery.
In the 2022 Letterbox Challenge created by Roberts, participants don’t have to search for boxes. Instead, they are looking for words written or suggested by signs or other visual elements. But the purpose is the same regardless of the style of letterboxing — It’s about the hunt.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
