Letterboxing @ your Library^TM

Can you find the secret letterboxes hidden at RCPL this summer? Follow the clues to find the hidden boxes and collect a stamp from all 11 RCPL locations! Hurry you only have until August 20 to find them all!

The 4-1-1

Letterboxing is a low-tech version of geocaching and combines elements of treasure hunting, orienteering, art and puzzle solving.

Letterboxes are generally small, weatherproof boxes hidden in publicly-accessible places (like the library) and contain a logbook and a rubber stamp. Various clues are posted and once solved, finders make an imprint of the letterbox's stamp on their personal logbook and leave an impression of their personal stamp or their signature on the letterbox's log book as proof of having found the box.

Tools of the Trade

Notebook or logbook
Personal stamp or pen
Your brain

Rules!

• All clues will be posted on the RCPL Web site, www.mySpace.com/myRCPL and at www.AtlasQuest.com through Wednesday, August 20.
• Although the program was specifically designed for teens, all ages can participate.
• Only as a last resort should library staff be asked to help letterboxers locate the hidden boxes.
• Once the letterbox has been located, it must be returned exactly as it was found.

Clues

At least one letterbox is hidden at each RCPL location except for the 242,000 square foot Main Library, which boasts five separate letterboxes! Think you have what it takes to find them all?

Main Library:

• Let your fingers do the long distance walking to the highest level! You'll find this letterbox when you search for contact information for homes, businesses, and government. Ma Bell can hook you up when you dial 803…
• Any book nominated for this award receives an honor. High school teachers across the Palmetto State selected these books for students who voted to decide which title would win the award. Can you find the letterbox in one of the most popular sections on the first level?
• You don't need to have rockstar status to read the books in this section. You ain't gonna need Snoop dog to sniff out this clue. The heart of rock & roll is still beating on the second level @ your libraryTM. Rock out as you browse through these musical shelves.
• Walk it out past Bob Dylan & Beyoncé, too. Feel free to take some time and check out the Animé across the way. Stop at a café table and enjoy the Wi-Fi while you download an audiobook and peruse the shelves where you might find Sylvia Plath's poetry read by the author herself. Get low at the nearest computer search terminal to find this letterbox.
• If you're interested in a scientist, singer or star, take an escalator to where the wild things are. Between Venus and Serena or near Jake Gyllenhaal, just browse the shelves and you'll get the 411 on them all.

The Link, Ballentine:

• "Purl" up with a good book and learn some new patterns or skills. Toasty socks, shawls, sweaters and a letterbox wait to be discovered!

Blythewood Branch:

• Beam out some good books at the self checkout station from this section of the library's collection. This out-of-world experience won't leave you feeling alienated. So boldly go where others have gone to find this letterbox.

Cooper Branch:

• Book over to Cooper to take a peek at our dictionary. If you take a page out of Allendorf's book to de-cipher the clue, and case the "shelves" for a "book" you might just solve the mystery. But watch out for Nancy Drew and Sherlock Holmes or they might solve it first!

Eastover Branch:

• Take a byte of this clue and bit by bit you will locate this letterbox amongst these tech savvy books. No other programmers could have done better. Take your time to process this.

North Main Branch:

• Walk towards the light that blinds, to a land where animals roam free.
  You'll find that only what you choose to hear is spoken, and what must be will be.
  
  In this place you can close your eyes and Playaway to your heart's desire.
  Walk about if you like, no worries of the wire.
  
  Stay alert, and stay focused. Don't you stop at all.
  Just follow the path along the way, until reaching the small wall.
  
  The narrator will speak only as you command, from somewhere close, very close from something the size of your hand.
  

Northeast Regional:

• Remember the tales you heard as a child
  Of princesses, trolls and wolves quite wild?
  Of King Arthur's knights rescuing maidens so fair,
  And Carolina ghosts haunting their lairs?
  These tales are older than children may know,
  And you'll find a letterbox where up they grow.
  

Sandhills Branch:

• From a time 'ere computers
  And handheld devices
  No Google, no Yahoo
  Only stars to advise us.
  
  Add paper and glue
  And ink from a pen
  The original mapquest
  Across four oceans.
  
  Not on a shelf
  Of the tall and grey sort
  But in a wooden vessel
  With four-legged support.
  
  The compass points south
  Four levels down
  Hiding amongst worlds
  Is where I'll be found.
  

Southeast Regional:

• In a section designed for others like you, you'll find a series with adventures to boot. Feline in nature, this good "Read" you've got in mind has curled up right next to the letterbox you're trying to find.

St. Andrews Regional:

• Plan a vacation for whole family over summer break. Make your dreams come true and visit the magical kingdom. You will need to travel to the non-fiction area to find this letterbox. I bet Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Daisy could.

Wheatley Branch:

• Hot off the press. Read all about it. Check out the recent fiction arrivals, and find the one that is not what it seems!

 

Last Updated: August 13, 2005