History, Natural History & the Arts
On a clear mid-winter day several years ago, my student Sarah Wakefield and I pulled on snowshoes, donned backpacks, and headed up through Smugglers’ Notch in Vermont.
Our destination was Big Spring, which rises from Mount Mansfield’s bedrock before flowing east for 100 yards and entering a culvert under Route 108. When it emerges from the culvert, the spring water joins a stream fed by surface runoff and snowmelt. [Read more…] about Life In Groundwater Fed Springs in Winter
The Raquette River, from Raquette Falls to the State Boat Launch on Tupper Lake, is one of the nicest stretches of flat-water anywhere in the Adirondacks. Paddling this river corridor under a clear cerulean blue sky, on a sunny autumn day with the riverbanks ablaze in orange and red, is exquisite. For me, though, the river’s history is as captivating as its natural beauty. [Read more…] about Dam History: The Proposed Oxbow Reservoir Project
The bedrock of New York and its erosion created the landscape the Iroquois people made their home. It influenced their territorial boundaries, defenses, settlement patterns, trail systems, agriculture, and key natural resources. [Read more…] about Geology and the Iroquois Homeland
In this episode, hear from historian Cyndi LaPierre on the history of the word “Catskills,” and if you’re wondering why Kaatscast starts with a “K,” instead of a “C,” this segment should help clear things up. In the second half of the show, we’ll travel to Kaaterskill falls with geologist Bob Titus, who takes us back even further, to when the Catskills felt more like the Bahamas! [Read more…] about Kaatscast Considers Kaatskills and the Dutch
The Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, the great rival to the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, was built a few years before the completion of the D&H and carried a significant amount of anthracite coal to the tide-waters of the Hudson and Delaware Rivers.
[Read more…] about Great Rivals: Lehigh Navigation and the D&H Canal
The Rome Sand Plains is a unique natural habitat located just a few miles from downtown Rome. The area is a Pine Barren that consists of sand dunes, peat bogs and specialized wildlife that thrive in the small ecosystem of the Sand Plains. Uncommon butterflies, birds, and plants make this area popular with naturalists and bird watchers.
Bob Allers is set to present a program on the Rome Sand Plains, on August 21st, at 7 pm, at the Rome Historical Society. [Read more…] about Talk Planned On Rome Sand Plains
The Friends of Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site are set to welcome Thomas Grasso to discuss the bedrock and ice age geologic history of the region, and how this long and complex natural history affected human history by controlling the route of the canal and the obstacles that had to be overcome.
Some of the local quarries that supplied stone for locks and aqueducts will be mentioned. [Read more…] about Geology of the Erie Canal Program at Schoharie Crossing
The Oneida County History Center (OCHC) in Utica will host an talk about the geology of the Upper Mohawk Valley on Satudray, January 19, 2019, at 1 pm.
The region of the Great Oneida Carry is one of the few easily traveled routes from the east coast to the interior of the United States. The Mohawk River has carved this pathway through the bedrock of the Appalachian Plateau that has aided transportation and migration for thousands of years. Bob Allers will describe the geologic processes that have modified the region and left the landforms we see today.
[Read more…] about Upper Mohawk Valley Geology Talk Set For Utica
A lecture on the geology of the Oneida Carry has been set for May 31st at 7 pm, at the Rome Historical Society.
The region of the Oneida Carry offers one of the few easily traveled routes from the east coast to the interior of the United States. The Mohawk River has carved this pathway through the bedrock of the Appalachian Plateau that has aided transportation and migration for thousands of years. [Read more…] about Geology of the Oneida Carry Lecture Set for Rome, NY
In January 1936, Dr. Charles Leete, a chief proponent of local history and a strong voice for protecting South Colton’s Sunday Rock from destruction, died. It was more than appropriate that he had been deeply involved in preserving the rock. Leete’s ancestors built much of the machinery used in area sawmills that processed the timber provided by the lumberjacks who were famously linked to Sunday Rock’s legend.
As famous as the big rock was regionally, it attained immortality of a sort in 1941 when Robert Ripley included it in his world-famous newspaper feature, “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!” A drawing of the landmark was accompanied by a full paragraph relating the legend of Sunday Rock. [Read more…] about Sunday Rock: A Historic Adirondack Landmark (Conclusion)