This year, for the first time, the Tompkins County History Center put on a scavenger hunt as a fundraiser. It consisted of puzzles hidden throughout Tompkins County that, when solved, would lead to a specific location. This location would then give participants another puzzle that led to another location, and so on. The first person to win would be awarded ten thousand dollars worth of jewels, including diamonds, emeralds, a black pearl, and more, donated by the Jewelbox.
Participants were given the first clue at noon on September 6. The hunt was estimated to take one to two weeks to complete, but the winners, Jennifer Kidder and Heidi Lovette, solved it in an incredible three days. Even after the treasure was won, others could still try to finish, and if they did, they would earn a commemorative coin modeled after coins the Ithaca Bank used during the Great Depression.
The hunt, which charged 100 dollars per team, raised over 25,000 dollars for the History Center. David Wilson, who was hired to create the hunt, spent nine months working on this adventure. He first started with research about Tompkins County and all its history. After a visit in May to look around Ithaca for the first time, he started choosing actual locations for the hunt and shaping the puzzles around them. The interesting part about the hunt is not only its connection to Tompkins County but also to The Odyssey by Homer. Subtle nods throughout the hunt told participants more about the story and also the places around Ithaca they may never have thought had connections to it.
The idea for the scavenger hunt came from Boone County, Missouri, which worked with Wilson to create a scavenger hunt in 2024. When the Tompkins County History Center heard about this, they thought it would make a perfect fundraiser, and after talking to Wilson, the project began. The Tompkins County History Center itself does not create that much revenue to support itself, so the money from the scavenger hunt will help contribute to all the different work the History Center does in its mission to preserve county history. According to Ben Sandberg, director of the Tompkins County History Center, “We preserve some 500 thousand, pieces of history—from photographs, to the Eight Square Schoolhouse, to Civil War firearms, to farming implements.” To do this, the Center needs funding.
When asked about the most interesting fact he learned about Tompkins County, scavenger hunt creator David Wilson , he replied, “So many. I love the stone [Volkswagen] Beetle in the woods—that kind of semi-hidden public art is a real love of mine. But I also read a lot about the wild history of Ithaca and the squatter community called ‘The Rhine’ which I found fascinating.”
For readers interested in pursuing their passion for scavenger hunts, Wilson’s advice is “Read. A lot. Be curious about the world and follow your curiosities. And then practice—you can find a lot of excuses to make puzzles and treasure hunts.” Though it still needs to be assessed, this hunt may become an annual occurrence, not only raising more money for the History Center but also creating an opportunity for the puzzlers of Ithaca to come together as a community.