I will continue to work on and share my extensive photographic archive of Concord's wild and historic landscape and to further develop this web page as an interpretive resource for the town. I hope to offer occasional walks, field programs, presentations, and hopefully exhibitions in the coming months and years. As we reconnect with our old Vermont roots, I'm hoping to discover and weave in new threads of connection between the places that I call home ground. Please stay tuned and keep in touch.
To share your observation or questions or to be added to my e-list for future impromptu walks in Concord or in wondrous areas of Southern Vermont, contact cherrie.corey62@gmail.com or 978-760-1933.
Gowing's Swamp/Thoreau's Bog Walk -
Commemorating Thoreau's Bi-Centennial
In honor of the Thoreau's Bicentennial, I'll be leading one more walk around Thoreau's favorite Concord wetland - Gowing's Swamp. No doubt Thoreau had Gowing's and nearby Beck Stow's swamps in mind when he wrote in his essay, Walking, "Hope and the future for me are not in lawns and cultivated fields, not in towns and cities, but in the impervious and quaking swamps." Wading through Gowing's Swamp, below the eastern flank of Revolutionary Ridge, was both a sacred and scientific pilgrimage for Thoreau and standing on its shoreline inspired visions of Labrador and Greenland.
The Gowing's Swamp basin has changed dramatically since Thoreau's time, with the reforestation of its shoreline, the filling in of its sphagnum mat, suburban encroachment around its perimeter, the battering of its southern shoreline by last summer's tornado, and the ambitious removal of thickets of invasive plants reopening its vistas along the eastern shoreline. Gowing's Swamp survives as the longest studied, intact bog not only in Concord, but throughout the northeast, thanks to the inspiration of Thoreau's detailed observations and documentation.
I have been a vigilant neighbor and steward to Gowing's Swamp for some forty years, researching and compiling a comprehensive history of the bog, its flora, and relevant studies and resources under contract with Sudbury Valley Trustees. To read this report, follow this link, Gowing's Swamp and Thoreau's Bog: an historical survey and botanical inventory. SVT, Concord Land Conservation Trust, and the Meriam Close Conservation Trust own and collectively steward the twenty-six acres that include the bog and its surrounding forested shorelines.
Gowing's Swamp/Thoreau's Bog Walk
Friday, July 14, 6:45 -8:15 am
Sponsored by the Thoreau Bicentennial Gathering/Thoreau Society,
full conference or event registration required,
http://www.thoreausociety.org/event/registration-2016
Walk-in registration is also available Wed-Friday, 8 am - 4 pm at the Annual Gathering welcome table in the Masonic Hall lobby, Monument Square, Concord
Thoreau Society/Thoreau Bicentennial Gathering
July 11-16, 2017
A five day celebration of the life, writings, and legacy of Henry David Thoreau on this 200th anniversary of his birth. In lieu of a formal presentation this year, I will be leading early morning walks to Great Meadows and Gowing's Swamp, two of Concord's landscapes I know by heart. For conference and event information and registration, go to:
http://www.thoreausociety.org/event/thoreau-bicentennial-gathering-celebrating-life-works-and-legacy-henry-david-thoreau
First Tuesday @ month, 7:30 am from September - May
141 Keyes Rd., Concord, 1st Fl Meeting Rm.
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| Flora and fauna at Sleepy Hollow |
Check back for additional programs as they are added...
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