Thank you for your tips regarding the inking of firm cut. They sure were helpful!
WW52

Thanks for the helpful tips regarding Firm Cut!
WW52

As avid tapophiles, we have many cemetery plants. Number one rule is to never plant a box under, around, or even close to a grave marker! (unless it's a family member or explicit permission is obtained).

I might could go this weekend and retrieve

My grandfather was not only an engineer, but an avid amateur photographer. I spent many hours in his darkroom developing and printing photos, a lost art these days. I am certain that photos exist of my Saturn V school project, but finding them is not currently possible!

My sister has taken on the task of trying to catalog and digitize more than ten thousand photos from my grandfather but the task has proved to be overwhelming.

Interesting about the 1,969 pieces in the model, surely paying homage to Apollo 11 and the moon landing in 1969!

That would be very cool, tpd.

Don't use a power sander. Gently sand by hand. Vigorous sanding can create enough heat to ruin the benefit. I learned this by experience! Belt sander was wicked fast but it did not work out in the end.

There is a pre-Revolutionary War cemetery here in downtown Norfolk VA, and it’s such a beautifully historical treasure that I deem necessary to encourage visiting, but planting a box there would just be… well, I don’t even know the right word, but you get my drift. I fear some letterboxers (few, I hope) overlook locations for finds sometimes anyway, so I’m hoping to create a puzzle that requires people to respectfully visit and experience this site in order to decode the location of a box planted nearby, in a less hallowed & historically valuable spot.

I wish I could help you in your great task to remove so many boxes from New Bern. I know the city of Suffolk, VA has stated similar concerns and enforcements for their city cemeteries. I’m sure there are many others as well, so besides being a call for help & note to your locals, your post is a good reminder to all of us that, even if we as planters are considerate & respectful of locations, sometimes searchers are not, especially if they misinterpret clues and go digging in places they shouldn’t; and in turn, a reminder to searchers who haven’t been so mindful in the past to do so going forward.

Here's a thought:
Maybe don't hide dozens (or even hundreds) of boxes in one cemetery!

A single box can be a tour around a cemetery and show off the history, if someone is interested, but not have the extreme traffic and damage that the "Must hurry to stamp everything!" Mentality can cause.

I refuse to visit that famous letterboxing cemetery in Ohio (or that part of the country) for exactly this reason.

We found one of your Tarot card boxes a
year ago, it was sitting on another box we were searching for.

And yes, we are interested!

I just added the last bit of details to the event page, but wanted to share here too.

CLEVELAND'S FARMERS MARKET
Cleveland City Park, Cleveland NC
March 28, 2026 - 10am-4pm

Event box, tabletop boxes, HIPS boxes, multiple series around the park, some around downtown, seed/plant swap (with over 1000 seed packets donated from the Second Harvest Food Bank), raffle, farmers market items such as tallow lotions, salves, jellies and other handmade items, and dinner at the local Pizzeria!

Event starts at 10am and we'll be handing out clue sheets when you arrive! Hope to see you all there!

I find myself disappointed in some of the reactions here. What has happened to the supportive group that used to offer sympathy and help to fellow boxers? No one deliberately planted there knowing there were rules against it. Given the examples from around the country of many boxes planted in one location, including cemeteries, why wouldn't boxers - several, not just one - have thought that was an acceptable example to follow?

The people who planted boxes there undoubtedly feel bad enough already, and are doing what they can to handle the problem. They don't need judgement; they need understanding and help from fellow boxers who may have made a less than ideal choice or two along the way. If you haven't, good for you, but consider giving others a little grace.

Many thanks to those who have offered to travel there to remove boxes. I am willing to help as well - please contact me if my help is needed.

Maybe the issue isn't just that it's against the rules. One also needs to use common sense. I'm not passing judgement as I have not visited that particular cemetery. But speaking broadly, that seems like an unusually high concentration of boxes in a spot that one would expect a little reverence be paid.

I have no problem with cemetery boxes in general but, again, use common sense. Here's part of the clues to one of the last cemetery boxes we visited:

Guess how much of that old stone wall was left? This was at an historic spot too.
A hide placement can be 'not against the rules' and still be not wise.

Again, my remarks are about graveyard hides in general and not New Bern specifically.

This doesn't just happen in cemeteries - there is a park near me that is not that big - town owned and someone planted 180 boxes in there... I had just moved across the street and was looking forward to putting a small series in there - now it's not possible.

No location - historic or otherwise can support/sustain hundreds of boxes. IMO

I’m a huge fan of graveyard boxes but in my experience there haven’t been that huge of a concentration in the ones I’ve been to. Maybe it’s because there are so many in TX or they weren’t deemed important enough (most are small and from pioneer days), but it’s unusual for there to be more than 3-4 active ones and that’s in a huge cemetery in Dallas. I’ve also not experienced ones that required interaction with monuments or stones in more than a directional or milestone capacity.

As an end of life doula I enjoy and respect being in the places of rest, so while I enjoy boxing in cemeteries and am careful and humble, I know not everyone is and cannot imagine that many boxes being searched for en masse. It really does seem excessive.

My question is, are all of these active boxes? Or were some already retired or missing and a search just turned up all those as well? I’m still new to the site so sometimes I have to fiddle with the search.

There probably wasn't any rules against it... until a couple hundred were placed and started causing problems!

Up here a large park allowed caching for 20+ years. Then someone hid hundreds of caches all at once. The increase in traffic (among other things related to that) got caching banned in that area completely and permanently.

A few months ago, a letterboxer posted a thread offering materials they’d created on how to get started with letterboxing. (Can’t remember which board!)

I’d like to connect with them to get ideas or handouts, whatever’s available.

Is this you, or does anyone remember who??

Wow! I thought planting a 40 box series in a 1500 acre park was overdoing it! It brought the park up to about 60 boxes. Now I don't feel so bad.

I'm not sure who your audience is. When I do "presentations" with scouts (or kids under age 12) I no longer use handouts. I find it better to do a brief overview (3-5 minutes) and then hit the trail and start letterboxing (or carving stamps if there is time allocated). While we follow clues and find boxes I explain various aspects of letterboxing.

Below is one of the outlines I've used with a specific set of letterboxes which I designed / clued to show different types of pouches, different styles of clues, etc.

Large (7-15 scouts plus adults) Group Discussion (includes Q&A):
What is letterboxing? Treasure Hunt Activity
Combines art, creativity, hiking, and more
Find a hidden container by following clues
Container is called a letterbox
What is in a letterbox?
Logbook to record you found it
Rubber stamp to add a record to your personal logbook
What do you need to letterbox?
Personal logbook
Signature stamp
Ink pad or markers (note: today these boxes contain ink pads; not typical!)
Pencil or pen
Sometimes a magnetic compass
A personal trailname / alias / nickname

As we walked around the campground in smaller groups (following clues):
Identify Poison Ivy
Why is it important to be stealthy / secretive?
Others might remove container and ruin the fun
What are muggles?

As we got near the end of the clues I started talking about what to do when you find a letterbox:
Make sure no muggles (move to another area if needed)
Retrieve container and open it
Make a note of how contents are ordered in container; Remove contents.
Place an image of your signature stamp in the letterbox’s logbook
Write your TrailName and date in the letterbox’s logbook
Use rubber stamp from letterbox to make imprint in your personal logbook
How to ink a stamp
Replace contents in container as you found them.
Make sure no baggie is in the seal of the container.
Make sure no muggles
Rehide container (make sure it is hidden from all angles)
Go find another letterbox!

It's Alliecat! She's still in the process of creation but feel free to reach out, I know she's almost finished with a slide deck!

Ok I am not a patient person and the vernal equinox was over 10 minutes ago. I want everything to be revealed LOL

I love that it now says "midnight of the vernal equinox".

I'm going to Alaska in July and intend to take a few boxes to plant. I'm thinking I should take some suet boxes to plant them in. Does anyone have any other suggestions for good ways to plant in Alaska?

Inside libraries.

I guess I should have specified outside and not in light poles or guardrails.

I only found 1/5 in Alaska- it was in a camo duct tape covered pouch.

Shelly

I used the Dollar General "lock-n-lock" type boxes about 3 years ago and I continue to get good reports without issues of water in the boxes. The letterboxes also seem to remain in place with 3 of them being on the ground and the other inside.

Enjoy Alaska!

I still have several boxes throughout Alaska that were placed in 2018 and have been found within the last few years. I used plastic pill bottles painted brown so I could hide them under rocks easier than full boxes.

When I am planting with the goal of long life without maintaining often (vs limited time plants) I will use a good name brand LnL and occasionally double box. A nice LnL with pill bottles inside, or two freezer bags. Logbook bagged and placed inside the second bag with the stamp. Remember most carving rubbers can survive being wet so any logbook is priority!

Many parts of Rhode Island are snowy & frozen half the year and then muddy swamps!

Hanging boxes in evergreens might keep them dry, but would the wildlife knock them down? I don't deal with moose, but deer will strip evergreens in the winter to eat around here.

I would imagine the same applies in Alaska that it does anywhere else. It depends on where you're going......locations, terrains, trees, parks, how busy or not busy the location is, good spots to place them. Or not.

I was there many years ago and we didn't look for or find many. None were in suet cages. One was concealed behind a stump on a path behind an ice cream place, the very few others were hidden like any other box in a wooded locale.

I'd suggest doing a search of the general area you're traveling to and see how boxes have been planted, if any. Or just do a search of different kinds of places in Alaska and see what other planters have done.