L-E-A-F LbNA #4785 (ARCHIVED)

Lake Erie Arboretum at Frontier Park (LEAF) Letterbox

May 2006 update... this letterbox has gone missing (for the second time). We're going to put on our thinking caps for a more secure solution from muggles, and replace the box upon our next return to Erie from California. Regrets!!

Placed in 2003 by Madison, age 8

This is the first letterbox that I have hidden. Since I live in California, you must be wondering why I would choose Erie for my first letterbox. My grandparents' house is just a couple of blocks away from Frontier Park. When I come during the summer to see our family, I like to skip rocks in the creek, play catch on the grass, and watch my cousin referee soccer games there. During winter trips, I have gone sledding down the big hill and had snowball fights. When I was younger, I played on the playground a lot. I decided it would be a fun project on my summer vacation to carve a stamp and hide a letterbox at a place in Erie that I enjoy. I have found four letterboxes in California, but I'm sure I'll be getting a lot more!

About the Arboretum: The Lake Erie Arboretum at Frontier Park (LEAF) is a millennium gift to the citizens of Northwest Pennsylvania. A group of interested citizens began meeting in the fall of 1997 to work on the creation of an arboretum for the area. LEAF is an active participant in efforts to improve the environmental quality of Cascade Creek—one of two major tributaries to Presque Isle Bay, a Great Lakes Area of Concern. Over the past few years, LEAF has become a reality. When completed, LEAF will be home to 225 different varieties of trees, and be a recreational and educational resource for the community. LEAF's emphasis from the beginning has been on education. LEAF will be an outdoor classroom, available for a variety of educational uses. To improve the overall use of the park and the arboretum, LEAF has constructed two information kiosks, an outdoor classroom, a gazebo, bridges over Cascade Creek and over a mile of walking paths. Park benches, recycling centers, and informational signage have also been added to the park.

Directions to Frontier Park:

• The park is located in west Erie at 8th St. and Bayfront Parkway. There is parking on the north side of the park, at 6th St. & Frontier Drive.
• From the Interstate 79/90 interchange, travel north on 79 to the end in the city of Erie. The highway changes to the Bayfront Parkway at about the 12th St. exit.
• Continue approximately 1/2 mile north of 12th to the signal at 8th St., and turn left (west) onto 8th. [You will now see the park on your right].
• Make the first right [north] on Cherokee Drive, and stay to the right as Cherokee follows the park border and merges with 6th St. [now eastbound].
• Soon you will see the playground on the right; parking is after the playground. Directions to the letterbox:
• Find the L-E-A-F kiosk on the west side of the playground. Here you may read about the Arboretum.
• Turning south [facing away from 6th St.], walk downhill along the paved path to the lower section of the park.
• Soon you will find another interpretive display about the Role of Trees and Trees from the Inside Out.
• From this display, continue southward across the bridge. The wide part of the creek just a hundred feet west of the footbridge you crossed is where I like to skip stones on hot summer days.
• At the south end of the bridge, count off approximately 25 paces, and look for a gravel path on your right.
• Turn right and follow the path alongside the creek, for about 3-4 minutes.
• Start looking for a cupola (a covered outdoor patio) located in the southwest portion of the Arboretum. Nearby is a large rock with an inscription, which reads… “A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit.” – Greek Proverb
• Turn your back on the rock, and facing West, count off about 40 paces. Your destination is a very large tree with five large branches.
• One of the five branches has fallen. In the hollow where the branch was once connected to the trunk of the tree, you will find my letterbox, hopefully hidden behind some large pieces of bark.
• Please take extra care to save the pieces of bark and hide the letterbox well upon your departure!

While in town, please consider visiting my dad's letterbox named “Don’t Give Up the Ship."

LEAF letterbox was originally placed July 2003, and disappeared in August 2004. It was the subject of an article in the Erie Times-News on Friday August 27, 2004, by the title of “Treasures for pleasure: Web junkies out in droves to seek letterbox troves” by Robb Frederick.

LEAF II was placed in July 2005. It went missing in the Spring of 2006.