How to core a tree

Tuesday, 24 July 2007
The Barrington Navigators were in the field today. Lara taught us how to core a tree, and we all had the opportunity to practice. The mosquitoes were pretty vicious today, but the horseflies were not too bad so the sites were tolerable. Steph and I set up vegetation plots at our two sites. From what I can see the homestead site has lots of young trees and stumps. The cemetery appears to have much older trees with very few stumps. We are going to collect the actual vegetation data tomorrow.





I found another really neat tree at the cemetery site and I will post that later. We also found some salamanders. They were so stinkin’ cute! Visiting the cemetery was really fun today because I now know who everyone is and how the people are related. I would like to have all of the documents from The Cemetery Group scanned so their stuff is available online, but I am not sure that I will have time. I will have to wait and see how far I get this week.

A Family Tree

Monday, 23 July 2007
Today I continued to delve into the history of the Tibbetts family. I spent most of the day reconstructing part of their family tree based on research from a previous EE group. Their history is so convoluted that I feel like I am writing the plot to a soap opera. I am having a great time with my site. I am definitely working outside of my comfort zone with the historical analysis of the cemetery. My background is in biology and I have little knowledge about New England homesteads during this time period, so I am thrilled to have the opportunity to strengthen this weakness.

Poetry

Friday, 20 July 2007
Today Lara offered instruction in writing poetry. I am by no means a poet. I love to read poetry, but the challenge of writing poetry is another matter. I will spare readers from my dreadful attempt at a poem.

I did discover through this difficult exercise that writing poetry is a great way to help students experience a sense of place in a short period of time. I am not particularly proud of my poem, but the challenge did help me realize how emotionally attached I am to the forest near my house. Even though I struggled with the process, the exercise turned out to be very rewarding.

How did that happen?

Here are some interesting pictures.

This tree snapped about five feet up, and if you look closely you can see that it has sprouted from the stump!




Why did this tree grow in such a funny formation? I know the answer, but let me know what you think first and then I will let you know what I found out!

Tibbetts, Tibbets and Tebbets

This morning was informative and historically intriguing. I started to conduct research on my site today. I chose the cemetery near one of the homestead cellar holes. Steph is developing the cellar hole site. I am really fascinated with the families that are buried here. Why is the oldest person only 21? There are many children and there are at least three family names. Are there three family homesteads at The BH or did they all live in the one house? I have so many questions.

This afternoon I started to read through the research from one of the previous EE groups, and their wonderfully thorough work provided answers to most of my questions. Apparantly Tibbetts, Tibbets and Tebbets are the same family, and some of the descendents married into the Hanson and Choate families. This explains why all three names appear in the cemetery.

Here are some pictures I took of the gravestones. They are incredibly beautiful, and many are carved with nature images and poetic epitaphs.


Joseph Hanson's gravestone once read (compliments of The Cemetery Group):

He'll no more weep with those who weep
Nor with the afflicted pray
For where his ransomed spirit dwells
All tears are wiped away.
He'll no more say that he is sick
Nor be perplexed with care
No gloomy shades annoy him now
No dreary night is there.




The stone of Anna Tebbets once read:


Darling mother, precious wife!
Thou hast found a higher life.
Angels know thy priceless worth,
And they wafted thee from the earth.







What can we learn about their history just from the epitaphs?

The Barrington Navigators

Yesterday The Barrington Navigators explored The BH for potential study sites. The sites we chose are diverse and some will showcase research from previous years. We found some bizarre tree formations. Why does this tree have such a strange root structure? We have some ideas, but I will let Katherine share that information because it is her site. Here are two photographs to pique your interest:

Wow look at that!

Here are some photographs from The BH.

We found the lily and bird nest out by the powerline corridor.















Here is a piece of pottery we found by one of the cellar holes.





Lastly, I would like to share a beautiful stone wall.