Courses

Brownstone Stories: Quarries and Dinosaurs

A series of three lectures in the morning will be followed by lunch. The group will then depart by vans for a guided tour of the Portland quarries. This will be followed by a guided tour of the Dinosaur Park in Rocky Hill. The vans will then return to Wesleyan at 4 P.M.

Instructor: Jelle DeBoer

Saturday, April 30, 2011

8:30-9:00A.M. Sign in
Albritton Center, Room 311, 222 Church Street

9–9:45 A.M.    The Tectonic Setting of Connecticut's Rift Valley                                                                                                                           
Jelle DeBoer

9:45–10 A.M.  Break

10–10:45 A.M. From Portland to San Francisco to Mark Twain and Back Again                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Alison Guinness

11:45 A.M.–1 P.M. Lunch (provided)

1–2:30 P.M. Travel to and Tour of the Portland Quarries

2:30–4 P.M. Travel to and Tour of Rocky Hill Dinosaur Park

4 P.M. Vans return to Wesleyan

Jelle DeBoer

Jelle Zeilinga De Boer is Harold T. Stearns Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Emeritus. He was raised in Indonesia, studied in the Netherlands. Lately, he has focused on the role geologic phenomena played in Greek mythology, specifically at the Oracle site at Delphi and Apollo temples in southern Anatolia. He has published Volcanoes in Human History and Earthquakes in Human History (both with Donald Sanders ’52), and most recently Stories in Stone, which deals with the influence geology has had on Connecticut’s history.

Alison Guinness has a long-standing interest in Connecticut’s natural resources. She has taught environmental science at Middlesex and Manchester Community Colleges. She was partially responsible for the National Historic Landmark designation of the Portland brownstone quarries. Ms. Guinness curated an exhibit on brownstone at the Connecticut River Museum and regularly participates in Archaeology Day. She holds degrees in history and science from the University of Connecticut and Wesleyan.

Bob McDougall is Museum Director of the Ruth Callander House Museum of Portland History and a lifelong resident of Portland, Connecticut. He is a charter member of the Portland Historical Society (established in 1973). His contributions to local history include Portland, a book commissioned by the Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America project. he is employed as a computer systems engineer. He attended Hartford State Technical College and the University of Connecticut.