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Thirteen Colonies, Part I LbNA #62183

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Jun 4, 2012
Location:
City:Ivoryton
County:Middlesex
State:Connecticut
Boxes:6
Planted by:5KHistoryPlanters
Found by: Traveln Turtle (4)
Last found:Jan 29, 2017
Status:FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
Last edited:Jun 4, 2012
The Thirteen Colonies, Part I, is a series planted by fifth grade students at Essex Elementary School. Six boxes are placed at Millrace Preserve off Ivory Street in Ivoryton, and seven are placed at Falls River Preserve on Falls River Road, Ivoryton. Students researched the colonies, wrote short summaries, and designed and carved their own stamps. We hope you learn something along the way. Happy hunting!

Box I: New York
(Planted by whalei5)
The Dutch West India Company founded the middle colony New Netherland in 1626. The primary purpose New Netherland was founded was to set up fur trading posts. Life was good in New York because there were plenty of jobs like farming and fur trading. The climate, with plenty of rain and sunny days, allowed the area to have a long growing season. The colonists grew vegetables, fruit, grains, corn, and barley. There were many harbors, rivers, and valleys. There was also fertile soil. Before Peter Stuyvesant became governor, everyone from different countries and different religions was welcomed. Peter Stuyvesant only wanted people who believed the same religion as him. England took over New Netherland in 1664 and renamed it New York. My hand carved stamp depicts the earth because there was a lot of diversity in New York.
NEW YORK CLUES:
Go to the center of Ivoryton and go down Ivory Street on the left of Gather. From the top of Ivory Street you can see the Millrace Preserve sign on the right just before the little bridge. Enter Millrace Preserve at the green and gray Millrace sign and cross a wooden bridge. Pass a green sign that says “nature preserve” and a “welcome” sign. Shortly after the second bridge you will find an oak tree on the left with a hiker trail marker. You will pass a second hiker trail marker. If you pass the “early history” sign on the right that means you are on the right trail. Soon the trail curves to the right and there is a half hiker trail marker on your right. After the open area by the stream you will find a left pointing arrow. Step to the right (off the trail) and you will see a fallen log. Behind the log under some leaves and sticks is your prize. If you have passed the “Millrace: From Tusks to Piano Keys” sign you should backtrack and reread the clues more carefully. Please be sure to re-hide the box just like it was before you uncovered it.


Box II: Virginia
(Planted by Coltsfisherman20 and LAX22)
Virginia is in the southern region of our thirteen colonies. Jamestown, the first part of Virginia that was settled, was founded by the Virginia Company of London in 1607, making it the first successful English colony. Jamestown’s primary purpose was to find gold. Virginia’s land was made up of wetlands. This meant lots of men died because of dirty drinking water, starvation because they could not plant any food, and the Powhatan Indians were a danger to the colonists because the Indians didn’t want the colonists to settle in their land. Virginia also had backcountry that meant some areas were far away from water. The climate was warm and damp. Some parts of Virginia had rich soil. The growing season was long. Natural resources were trees, rivers, streams and the tidewater. Tobacco leaves, rice, and indigo were all cash crops. One important fact about Virginia’s Government was that in 1619 colonists created the first elected legislature which means the colonists could vote on who made their laws. One of the laws was you had to go to church every Sunday and practice the Anglican religion. Everyone had to practice the same religion. Religion was part of everyday life. Occupations were farmers, governors, soldiers, and builders. Our hand carved stamp depicts the number one with tobacco leaves hanging from it because Virginia was the first successful English colony settled and tobacco was their number one cash crop.
VIRGINIA CLUES:
After re-hiding the New York Letterbox, continue following the trail. Look for a hiker trail marker on a tree just before the “Tusks to Piano Keys” sign. Behind this tree beneath a piece of scrap metal you will find the Virginia letterbox. If you reach the “Tusks to Piano Keys” sign you have gone too far. Thank you for finding our letterbox. Please re-hide it carefully!


Box III: Connecticut
(Planted by LDS20 and LaxMax27)
The name of our colony is Connecticut. It is located in the New England region and was founded in 1636 by Adrian Block. Connecticut was founded because Puritans were seeking a place where they could practice their religion in a stricter way.
The people of Connecticut colony were called separatists because they separated from England and started their own colony. Life was difficult for them. There was farmland, but the soil was dry and rocky because glaciers pushed all of the rich soil down to the middle and southern colonies.
The winters in Connecticut were long and cold, and the summers were short. Sadly, the growing season was also short, only May-October. The occupations in Connecticut were farming, fishing, building ships, and whaling. The colonists needed whales oil because they used it to make lamps. They also had wilderness that they used to get wood for fires in their houses and for building homes and ships. The colonists used the ocean for fish, whales, and trading. They used the animals’ skins and furs that the Indians traded with them to keep warm.
Their first governor was John Winthrop Jr. The colony also had a document/charter of 1662. The British didn’t want them to have the document, so the leaders of the colonies hid the charter in an oak tree to keep it safe. The oak tree lived for a long time (no one knows how long) until lightning split it.
The colony is called Connecticut because when only Indians were living there, it was called Quinnenhtukqut, which the colonists thought was hard to pronounce and spell when they got here, so they changed it to Connecticut. In 1638, New Haven was purchased from the Indians for 24 coats, 12 spoons, 12 hatchets, 12 hoes, 24 knives, 12 bowls, and some scissors. The problem was that the Indians thought that they were sharing the land, not actually selling it, which led to all of the wars and battles.
Our hand carved stamp depicts a tree with lightning bolts in it because the charter was hidden in a tree, as you can see in paragraph four. This is probably the most important part of history in Connecticut because it is what led to freedom in our colony.
CONNECTICUT CLUES:
After finding and re-hiding the Virginia letterbox, keep walking along the trail until you see a “Millrace Trail-From Tusks to Piano Keys” information sign. Travel across the bridge to your left. The trail turns to the right. Look to the left for a faint trail. You will see glacial erratics ahead of you. Growing from the left of these ledges is a monstrous tree with multiple trucks. Step carefully toward the massive tree and then circle around the left of it. In a crevice with a piece of bark over the top you will find your prize!! Thank you for finding our letterbox!! Please re-hide carefully.☺ PLEASE RECITE THE LEAVE NO TRACE RULE!!


Box IV: Delaware
(Planted by ~Phantom Sk8er 42~)
The colony of Delaware was in the middle colonies. It was settled in1638 by Peter Minuet and New Sweden. Later on King Charles of England gave Delaware to his brother, James, who gave it to William Penn.
In Delaware the soil was rich and the growing season was long. There were plenty of sunny days and rain. The good weather and nutritious soil was great for farming. There was also much wildlife such as beaver and deer. The people would hunt and trap the wildlife. Some occupations in the colony were fishing and hunting. A natural resource was the rivers. The colonists could fish and play in the rivers. Also they could trade muskets and beads with the Indians. Delaware was the first official state and they were the first to sign the Constitution. The religion was Quaker, but later on William Penn who founded the colony, let other religions join. Some of them were Lutheran, Presbyterian, Catholic, Methodist, and Jewish.
My hand carved stamp depicts the Constitution with a number one because Delaware was the first colony to approve and sign the U.S. Constitution.
DELAWARE CLUES:
After re-hiding the Connecticut letterbox, return to the main trail. Once you make your way to an old foundation of a building you will find another information sign that says “The Part the Piano Played.” Read the sign, then continue on the trail to your left. When you pass a pile of rocks on your right you are close. Look closely for a bigger patch of rocks on the right in front of a double trunk maple tree. Once you find it, go around the left side of the rocks (to avoid poison ivy) and look between the rocks and the double trunk tree for a clutter of twigs and brush. CAREFULLY uncover them to reveal your prize of the Delaware letterbox. After you stamp your stamp(s) in the box, place them back in and re-hide the box again. (Before you re-hide the box close the snaps on the four sides) If you pass by the info sign for The Big Flood then you have gone a bit too far. Thanks for finding the Delaware letterbox! : )

Box V: South Carolina
(Planted by Rockysquest)
South Carolina was one of the only states that had religious tolerance. The colony in South Carolina was called Charleston, which is in the southern colonies. It was founded in 1663. The founder of the colony was the King Charles II. The reason that the colony was founded was because the farming was good for rice and tobacco. Life was good for the colonists because land was cheap and all religions were welcome. The farming was good for tobacco and rice because the land was swampy and tobacco and rice grew well in this kind of soil. It was good that they were friends with the Indians because they could trade goods like gold and copper for food. Also the Indians could teach them how to hunt, fish, trap animals, make a fire, and use weapons the colonists didn’t have. The only bad thing was that if England didn’t send the colonists food and if the Indians didn’t trade with the colonists, they would have died. My hand carved stamp is a bucket of rice with a tobacco plant on the side because the only good plants in the colony were tobacco and rice.
SOUTH CAROLINA CLUES:
After re-hiding the Delaware letterbox, continue on the path for the most interesting part, the sign about the big flood. After reading the sign and gathering information, cross the last bridge and be carful of the mud. Keep going, following the trail through the mud until you walk under a perfectly perpendicular large tree limb. Read the sign “The End of an Era.” Then look behind the sign and a little to the right. When you see two orangey rocks with one small one in the middle, look under leaves and the middle rock to find the South Carolina Letterbox. Re-hide carefully.
VALLEY FORGE ADD ON CLUES: Continue to the end of the path until you see a pile of three small rocks on your left. Look under the bark and under the rock furthest from the trail to find the Valley Forge Letterbox. Please re-hide well. To exit you may want to go the way you came or you can keep going through a big grassy opening and up the hill on the right. Turn right on the sidewalk and go all the way back to Ivoryton Center to find the Rhode Island Letterbox.

Box VI: Rhode Island
(Planted by mystery writer & bake-quin11)
Rhode Island is our colony. Rhode island is in New England. Roger Williams founded it in 1636. He wanted to have religious freedom in his colony.
In Rhode Island life was exceptional. Although the growing season wasn’t long, farmers grew lots of crops. The climate was warm in the summer and cold in the winter. Rhode Island had pretty fertile soil and nobody starved. Some of the jobs in Rhode Island were fishing, whaling, shipbuilding, and farming. Roger Williams kept government separate from religion. There was a wide diversity of religion in Rhode Island like Quakers, Catholics, and Jews. In Rhode Island farmers raised animals like sheep and cows for beef and wool.
Our hand carved depicts a whale because in Rhode Island there were many whaling jobs. Whaling was a very common job in because it made many supplies that the colonists needed like candles, lamps, and food. We also chose to depict a whale as our symbol for Rhode Island because whales are a symbol of water and in Rhode Island there is lots of water.
RHODE ISLAND CLUES:
Go to Ivoryton Park and look for the gazebo. Walk up the brick path. If you’ve entered the gazebo you’ve gone too far. Look to your right and you will find an electrical box. A little farther down from the box is the first post. Look under the gazebo behind the post and you will find your prize. Please be sure to re-hide our letterbox carefully, not too far from our original space.

Take a look at the other letterboxes in Millrace Preserve planted by our classmates!