Visit self-guided scavenger hunts while learning about local history in Lancaster

The Spark

Adam Zurn has always had a passion for history. He is the founder of Uncharted Lancaster, a website that offers self-guided scavenger hunts.

“I think when you live somewhere your whole life, you kind of take that local history for granted.”

The idea for the scavenger hunts came into fruition about six years ago while Zurn was walking his dog.

“A friend asked me this question that really forever changes my life. And she says, well, have you ever been to the cemetery in in Shanks Ferry? Because I walk my dogs on, you know, a low grade and then often into Shanks Ferry. If it's hot, they'll get in the creek and cool off. And I hadn't. And I said, well, where is it exactly? And she's, you know, I don't remember. It was like 20 years ago when I was there. But these tombstones date back to the 1700s. And a lot of them are German. And I was like, okay, you know, that's cool. I'm going to I'm going to find it.”

The scavenger hunts are usually based around hiking trails, so participants can get some exercise while learning about local history.

“I had such a neat experience looking for it and learning all of these neat little local history pieces in that area that I thought maybe other people would like to have a similar experience. And so, I kind of wrote up what I learned and created like my first self-guided, like scavenger hunt. And so, they would kind of go from place to place and they would answer a question or two or what kind of unlock the clue to go to the next place. And then at the end, I hit a box full of like plastic gold coins, and people go out still and find these plastic gold coins and, and have a fun little adventure over an afternoon, not over the course of weeks like I did it, but just over an afternoon, which is probably little more palatable for people.”

Halloween is just a few weeks away, and Zurn already has plans to incorporate the spooky season into the adventures.

“So pretty much every night on my Facebook and Instagram, like typically five and seven, I'm sharing at least two local ghost stories from around the area. And we have such a big, long list of though some very unique to the area and some, you know, that every area has like we have our own Headless Horseman story. You know, I think every community has one of those.”

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