Route 63 Signs & Markers LbNA #47026
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Nearby Boxes
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Add Location| Owner: | Adoptable |
|---|---|
| Plant date: | May 2, 2009 |
| Location: | |
| City: | Amherst |
| County: | Hampshire |
| State: | Massachusetts |
| Boxes: | 12 |
| Planted by: | Curious Crow  |
|---|---|
| Found by: | Traveln Turtle |
| Last found: | Mar 28, 2020 |
| Status: | FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFaFFF |
| Last edited: | Apr 19, 2016 |
Route 63 Signs and Markers
Clues updated November 2015
Although several boxes are currently missing, the rest are still worth the trip! I hope to replace/add some boxes in 2016.
From N. Amherst, Massachusetts to Northfield and the New Hampshire state line, this 24 mile trek along Route 63 offers an interesting slice of Americana - New England style. Whether you drive or bike, each letterbox on this is a “drive-by”. Bring your own stamp pad and pen. Only the first and last box have logbooks. Please be discreet to prevent muggles from noticing.
Box 1 (North Amherst)
Big Tree, Little Library
Reverend’s Highway
Route 63 starts at the N. Amherst Library (0.0 miles), where a huge old copper beech tree was removed at the start of 2009. Notice the stump, (the library looks much larger now) and maybe even the sign of the Reverend, then travel north perhaps a quarter mile and enter the Mill River Recreation Area on the right.
Park in the left hand parking lot closest to Route 63. Notice how the back corner of the parking lot points to a solo tree – the last tree to the left in a well-spaced apart row of trees along an embankment. Visit the tree to find what you seek.
Box 2 MISSING
Box 3 (Montague)
Hunting Hills
Entering Montague
Pure Maple Syrup
Continue northward on 63 past the “Entering Montague” sign and the intersection of Route 47. Pull in on the right at the sign that reads “Hunting Hills” (8.9 miles). Here you’ll find, in the shadow of an old gray barn, a place to purchase refreshments and flowers. The gray barn was once a state-of-the-art dairy barn (in the 1940’s) and a good reminder of how times change.
You’ll find the letterbox on your way up the drive to the barn at the base of a stump to the right of the drive.
Box 4 (Millers Falls) MISSING
Box 5 (Millers Falls)
Route 63
As you continue up 63, you might see a "Pure Maple Syrup” sign on the right side with the Old Homestead Farm" sign on a wagon wheel. Keep going, past a patch of tractors, eventually over a little overpass type bridge, then turn immediately right and left onto a hidden lane (12.25 miles). Park anywhere and walk back up the lane and explore the end of the guard rail next to a tree.
Box 6 MISSING
Box 7 (Northfield) REPLACED 2016
Grallator
Anomeopus
Eubrontes
This box commemorates some early residents along the Connecticut River valley – dinosaurs! Their tracks were fossilized in great numbers here, including the 3 specimens featured. To find this box, watch for Northfield Mountain on your right. Just past the entrance is a cemetery (15.6 miles). Across 63 from the cemetery is a short road that will take you to Riverview Picnic Area - go ahead and take this turn off Route 63. Drive under the RR tracks and turn left onto the road in front of the picnic area entrance. (Great spot to check out!) Follow the guard rail to the very end, then count back two posts and look within.
Box 8 (Northfield)
Calso
Travel north past the Field Library on your right, shortly thereafter at the top of a rise, watch for a widened dirt pullover on the left. If you go too far, you’ll pass the real Calso (17.3 miles) on the left, at Hanrahan’s. If so, you can double back, or simply pick up this box on your way back to Amherst since it will be easier to pull over to the right and then get back on the road again going south. Once you are parked, explore the end of the guard rail on the south end of the pullover.
Box 9 (Northfield)
Captain Beers
Continue on, passing the antique subject of the last letterbox on your left. Traveling northward, watch for a stone roadside marker (19.3 miles) on your right along an open field, between utility poles and surrounded by a few bushes. This historic marker commemorates a most unpleasant surprise. Behind it, under a rock, rests its miniature replica.
A geocache style logbook has been added since visitors have been logging in on strips of paper at this box.
BOX 10 MISSING
Box 10 (Northfield)
Green Trees
Save the Schell
Squakeag’s Millstone
In the town of Northfield, watch for a place called “Green Trees” on the right (21.8 miles). Here you’ll find an artistic community outpost, a natural location for a letterbox, which is hidden under the air conditioner. If you are there while Green Trees is open, explore inside and enjoy your visit.
By now you’ve noticed “Save the Schell” signs in yards – referring to a historic bridge that spans the Connecticut River (begging for revitalization).
After you find this letterbox, watch for Squakheag’s Millstone on the left side of 63 at the Post Office as you travel north. (Squakheag is the name for the town pre-dating Northfield.)
Box 11 MISSING
Northfield Drive-In
Scenic Byway
Route 63 NH
Entering Northfield
You’ve come so far, not much farther now to the state line (23.9 miles). Pass the scenic but empty Northfield-Mt. Herman campus on the right, the Pauchaug Boat Ramp on the left (where you can get a nice view of the Schell Bridge if you walk to the river’s edge and look south), and turn left to stay on 63. Shortly up the road you’ll find the state line, with the Northfield Drive-In on the right side. Pull in there and take a good look at all the interesting markers.
You’ll find the State Line letterbox under pieces of wood and bark near Eleazor Wheelock. At this location you can view all the signs depicted in the letterbox.
Box 12
Route 63 NH and Scenic Byway have been re-carved and hidden in a new location with a new logbook. To find it, park in the Northfield Drive-in and walk out to Route 63. Turn right and walk a very short ways north along the roadside. Between the Byway sign and the Route 63NH sign, look for an entry into a stand of trees that form a boundary between the Drive-in and the next property. Enter into that stand and notice some amazing large "black" birches with almost shaggy bark. A short ways in notice one with a multiple trunk. You'll find the new box with logbook hidden in the crotch under a rock.
Thanks for visiting this series!
Clues updated November 2015
Although several boxes are currently missing, the rest are still worth the trip! I hope to replace/add some boxes in 2016.
From N. Amherst, Massachusetts to Northfield and the New Hampshire state line, this 24 mile trek along Route 63 offers an interesting slice of Americana - New England style. Whether you drive or bike, each letterbox on this is a “drive-by”. Bring your own stamp pad and pen. Only the first and last box have logbooks. Please be discreet to prevent muggles from noticing.
Box 1 (North Amherst)
Big Tree, Little Library
Reverend’s Highway
Route 63 starts at the N. Amherst Library (0.0 miles), where a huge old copper beech tree was removed at the start of 2009. Notice the stump, (the library looks much larger now) and maybe even the sign of the Reverend, then travel north perhaps a quarter mile and enter the Mill River Recreation Area on the right.
Park in the left hand parking lot closest to Route 63. Notice how the back corner of the parking lot points to a solo tree – the last tree to the left in a well-spaced apart row of trees along an embankment. Visit the tree to find what you seek.
Box 2 MISSING
Box 3 (Montague)
Hunting Hills
Entering Montague
Pure Maple Syrup
Continue northward on 63 past the “Entering Montague” sign and the intersection of Route 47. Pull in on the right at the sign that reads “Hunting Hills” (8.9 miles). Here you’ll find, in the shadow of an old gray barn, a place to purchase refreshments and flowers. The gray barn was once a state-of-the-art dairy barn (in the 1940’s) and a good reminder of how times change.
You’ll find the letterbox on your way up the drive to the barn at the base of a stump to the right of the drive.
Box 4 (Millers Falls) MISSING
Box 5 (Millers Falls)
Route 63
As you continue up 63, you might see a "Pure Maple Syrup” sign on the right side with the Old Homestead Farm" sign on a wagon wheel. Keep going, past a patch of tractors, eventually over a little overpass type bridge, then turn immediately right and left onto a hidden lane (12.25 miles). Park anywhere and walk back up the lane and explore the end of the guard rail next to a tree.
Box 6 MISSING
Box 7 (Northfield) REPLACED 2016
Grallator
Anomeopus
Eubrontes
This box commemorates some early residents along the Connecticut River valley – dinosaurs! Their tracks were fossilized in great numbers here, including the 3 specimens featured. To find this box, watch for Northfield Mountain on your right. Just past the entrance is a cemetery (15.6 miles). Across 63 from the cemetery is a short road that will take you to Riverview Picnic Area - go ahead and take this turn off Route 63. Drive under the RR tracks and turn left onto the road in front of the picnic area entrance. (Great spot to check out!) Follow the guard rail to the very end, then count back two posts and look within.
Box 8 (Northfield)
Calso
Travel north past the Field Library on your right, shortly thereafter at the top of a rise, watch for a widened dirt pullover on the left. If you go too far, you’ll pass the real Calso (17.3 miles) on the left, at Hanrahan’s. If so, you can double back, or simply pick up this box on your way back to Amherst since it will be easier to pull over to the right and then get back on the road again going south. Once you are parked, explore the end of the guard rail on the south end of the pullover.
Box 9 (Northfield)
Captain Beers
Continue on, passing the antique subject of the last letterbox on your left. Traveling northward, watch for a stone roadside marker (19.3 miles) on your right along an open field, between utility poles and surrounded by a few bushes. This historic marker commemorates a most unpleasant surprise. Behind it, under a rock, rests its miniature replica.
A geocache style logbook has been added since visitors have been logging in on strips of paper at this box.
BOX 10 MISSING
Box 10 (Northfield)
Green Trees
Save the Schell
Squakeag’s Millstone
In the town of Northfield, watch for a place called “Green Trees” on the right (21.8 miles). Here you’ll find an artistic community outpost, a natural location for a letterbox, which is hidden under the air conditioner. If you are there while Green Trees is open, explore inside and enjoy your visit.
By now you’ve noticed “Save the Schell” signs in yards – referring to a historic bridge that spans the Connecticut River (begging for revitalization).
After you find this letterbox, watch for Squakheag’s Millstone on the left side of 63 at the Post Office as you travel north. (Squakheag is the name for the town pre-dating Northfield.)
Box 11 MISSING
Northfield Drive-In
Scenic Byway
Route 63 NH
Entering Northfield
You’ve come so far, not much farther now to the state line (23.9 miles). Pass the scenic but empty Northfield-Mt. Herman campus on the right, the Pauchaug Boat Ramp on the left (where you can get a nice view of the Schell Bridge if you walk to the river’s edge and look south), and turn left to stay on 63. Shortly up the road you’ll find the state line, with the Northfield Drive-In on the right side. Pull in there and take a good look at all the interesting markers.
You’ll find the State Line letterbox under pieces of wood and bark near Eleazor Wheelock. At this location you can view all the signs depicted in the letterbox.
Box 12
Route 63 NH and Scenic Byway have been re-carved and hidden in a new location with a new logbook. To find it, park in the Northfield Drive-in and walk out to Route 63. Turn right and walk a very short ways north along the roadside. Between the Byway sign and the Route 63NH sign, look for an entry into a stand of trees that form a boundary between the Drive-in and the next property. Enter into that stand and notice some amazing large "black" birches with almost shaggy bark. A short ways in notice one with a multiple trunk. You'll find the new box with logbook hidden in the crotch under a rock.
Thanks for visiting this series!