In 2009, Todd Bol of Hudson, Wisconsin, built a model of a one room schoolhouse. It was a tribute to his mother; she was a teacher who loved to read. He filled it with books and put it on a post in his front yard. His neighbours and friends loved it, so he built several more and gave them away.
University of Wisconsin’s Rick Brooks saw Bol’s do-it-yourself project while they were discussing potential social enterprises. Together, the two saw opportunities to achieve a variety of goals for the common good.
In the early days, Amish carpenter Henry Miller of Cashton, Wisconsin became the founders’ primary craftsman. He used wood recycled from a 100-year-old barn destroyed in a tornado.
They were inspired by community gift-sharing networks, “take a book, leave a book” collections in coffee shops and public spaces, and most especially by the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. Around the turn of the 20th century, Carnegie set a goal to fund the creation of 2,508 free public libraries across the English-speaking world (we have one in Saint John).
That goal inspired Brooks and Bol to set their own goal of surpassing 2,508 Little Free Libraries by the end 2013. They wound up exceeding that goal in August of 2012, a year and a half before their target date. As of August 2019 the number of Little Free Libraries has expanded to include more than 90,000 libraries in 91 countries around the world.
Sadly, Founder, Todd H. Bol, passed away in October of 2018 at the age of 62. Todd spent much of the last decade working towards his vision of a world where neighbours know each other by name, and everyone has access to books.
Our LFL in Long Reach commemorates the 10 year anniversary of Little Free Libraries as well as that of Fullerton’s Corner Market. The beautiful design and craftsmanship is the work of Eric Coston, you may know him better as Mud-in-the-Face. Beth and Kevin Fullerton have graciously agreed to allow us to install the LFL at their Corner Market, the heart of the community of Long Reach. It has been my dream for years to be a LFL steward. So... take a book and leave a book if you wish or if you have extra books lying around please feel free to add to the library.
As for the cache (you didn’t think two geocachers would not include a cache did you?) you do NOT have to take anything apart to find it, in fact you do not have to even open the library door. This is not a puzzle cache, it is simply tucked away from muggles.
To learn more about Little Free Libraries got to https://littlefreelibrary.org