High-Tech Treasure Hunting Arrives in New Castle
Last year, the New Castle Historical Society launched a history hunt that coincided with the exhibit celebrating the 200th anniversary of Horace Greeley’s birth. Local history lovers looked all over Chappaqua searching for clues, solving puzzles and deciphering codes to learn about Greeley and his adopted home hamlet.
Now, the organization is bringing the game to a new level.
On Saturday, the historical society introduces its first geocaching game called Trails and Tribulations, designed to have participants hike, explore and learn about the town’s history as part of the treasure hunt, said Victoria Gutfreund, a historical society member and the driving force behind bringing the high-tech version of the game to New Castle.
“I just really thought it would be fun to have people in the community see the historical society as something that is fun to families, and not only fun to families, but that we’re here and we’re not this stodgy place,” Gutfreund said.
During the past decade, geocaching has become an increasingly popular activity around the world with millions of participants hiding and searching for treasures. The treasures are buried in protective containers and generally players take an item but leave behind something of equal or greater value.
For Trails and Tribulations, participants will be searching for four containers–or caches–each filled with tokens and one-quarter of the coordinates to the fifth bonus cache. Once they find a cache, players will take a token and be expected to solve puzzles and collect clues that will help them move onto the next location as well as give them a fun history lesson, Gutfreund said.
Treasure hunters must first create a free account at www.geocaching.com, which will provide additional information about the activity.
Historical Society Program Coordinator Susan Blumenthal said the only equipment a treasure hunter needs to play is a hand-held GPS device such as a smartphone or a dedicated unit to help reach each coordinate.
“It’s fun. We really loved it,” Blumenthal said. “You’d probably find it very interesting and you learn the history of New Castle by doing this.”
The historical society will have a table at Saturday’s Community Day in Chappaqua to help spark visitors’ interest and to answer questions from the public. It is expected to continue the game through December or until the ground is snow covered.
Gutfreund advised that those who are ready to undertake the challenge go with friends or family, since it’s possible for people to lose their sense of direction in the woods or remote places. Wearing comfortable shoes suitable for hiking is also highly recommended.
For more information, call the New Castle Historical Society at 914-238-4666 or visit www.newcastlehs.org.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
