Hobo Signs: Nice Place to Catch a Train LbNA #23309 (ARCHIVED)
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Add Location| Owner: | N/A |
|---|---|
| Plant date: | Jun 17, 2006 |
| Location: | |
| City: | Britt |
| County: | Hancock |
| State: | Iowa |
| Boxes: | 1 |
| Planted by: | WyldBlueberries
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|---|---|
| Found by: | Eagle Eye |
| Last found: | Nov 24, 2006 |
| Status: | FFaa |
| Last edited: | Jun 17, 2006 |
8/2007 update: this has been reported missing.
American hobos of the late 19th and early 20th centuries communicated important information about a locale with chalk drawings on buildings, sidewalks, fences and railroad trestles. We will periodically celebrate this imaginative tradition by placing a Hobo Sign box at railroad related sites.
Compass required: No
Walk required: very short
Difficulty: requires climbing a tree (but my wife and five-year-old both climbed it so you can too)
Britt, Iowa, Hancock County
Every August the small Iowa town of Britt hosts the National Hobo Convention. The local cemetery also contains the National Hobo Memorial, which is near the letterbox. In the old town theatre, you will find a Hobo Museum, but it is only open on weekdays. Both the memorial and museum have somewhat of a pleasant threadbare quality, which seems appropriate for the Hobos they memorialize.
Directions to National Hobo Memorial:
- From I-35, head West on State Hwy 18 toward Britt, IA.
- Before you reach the edge of town, you will see a sign for the National Hobo Memorial. Turn left on this road.
- Turn right on Diagonal Street and head west a few blocks until you see a large wooden cross in the NE corner of the town cemetery. This is the location of the memorial.
Directions to box:
-When you’ve finished looking at the headstones of "Mountain Dew" and the other former Hobo Kings and Queens, walk south across the grass until you reach the gravel drive.
- Walk along the drive until you reach a row of four large evergreen trees on your left.
- At the second to last evergreen tree, stand on the cemetery side and face the trunk of the tree.
- There is a seam running from the ground up and ends at a crook of the center of the tree about ten feet off the ground. Climb (yes climb!) up the tree and find the box wedged in this crook.
American hobos of the late 19th and early 20th centuries communicated important information about a locale with chalk drawings on buildings, sidewalks, fences and railroad trestles. We will periodically celebrate this imaginative tradition by placing a Hobo Sign box at railroad related sites.
Compass required: No
Walk required: very short
Difficulty: requires climbing a tree (but my wife and five-year-old both climbed it so you can too)
Britt, Iowa, Hancock County
Every August the small Iowa town of Britt hosts the National Hobo Convention. The local cemetery also contains the National Hobo Memorial, which is near the letterbox. In the old town theatre, you will find a Hobo Museum, but it is only open on weekdays. Both the memorial and museum have somewhat of a pleasant threadbare quality, which seems appropriate for the Hobos they memorialize.
Directions to National Hobo Memorial:
- From I-35, head West on State Hwy 18 toward Britt, IA.
- Before you reach the edge of town, you will see a sign for the National Hobo Memorial. Turn left on this road.
- Turn right on Diagonal Street and head west a few blocks until you see a large wooden cross in the NE corner of the town cemetery. This is the location of the memorial.
Directions to box:
-When you’ve finished looking at the headstones of "Mountain Dew" and the other former Hobo Kings and Queens, walk south across the grass until you reach the gravel drive.
- Walk along the drive until you reach a row of four large evergreen trees on your left.
- At the second to last evergreen tree, stand on the cemetery side and face the trunk of the tree.
- There is a seam running from the ground up and ends at a crook of the center of the tree about ten feet off the ground. Climb (yes climb!) up the tree and find the box wedged in this crook.