Wistariahurst Museum, Dinosaurs in the Driveway
July 20 @ 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm EDT
Visit Wistariahurst Museum to experience Dinosaurs in the Driveway with Sarah Doyle. Doyle dives into the history of the dinosaur tracks leading up to Wistariahurst. In 1927, when Belle Skinner had slabs of sandstone with dinosaur footprints laid as a driveway to Wistariahurst, it may have seemed an idiosyncratic choice. Although the tracks were well known locally, dinosaurs had not yet made the big mark on pop culture we see today. It is only in recent years that scientific interest in the footprints has been revived, yet their discovery in the valley in 1835 made our local small towns and people well known to scientists in Britain and Europe. How the Connecticut River Valley became part of international dialogue over identifying what had made the footprints — if they even were footprints! — makes a fascinating trip into another little slice of local history.
Sarah Doyle has investigated the history of the discovery of dinosaur footprints since 1990. She was lead writer for the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association’s Impressions from a Lost World website and since 2010 has directed Jurassic Roadshow, a pop-up exhibit of local fossils that includes amateur fossil collectors, academic paleontologists and geologists, historical re-enactors, and learning activities. Jurassic Roadshow was the impetus for the creation of DinoFest, held annually in Greenfield since 2017, often in collaboration with Jonathan Mirin’s Piti Theatre group for children. She has written papers on the mostly unknown figures in the story of the discovery, including three in collaboration with the late Robert Herbert.
Visit Wistariahurst Museum July 20th from 1:00-2:00pm for Dinosaurs on the Driveway.
Dinosaurs in the Driveway is funded by a grant from the Holyoke Local Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
To plan your visit, click here for more information:
https://wistariahurst.org/events/
ABOUT WISTARIAHURST Wistariahurst is an educational and cultural center owned and operated by the City of Holyoke and supported by The Wistariahurst Foundation. Wistariahurst is dedicated to preserving Holyoke’s history and inspiring an appreciation of history and culture through educational programs, exhibits and special events. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Wistariahurst is the former home of William Skinner, a prominent silk manufacturer and was built in 1874.
Today, Wistariahurst offers a wide variety of public programs and events including: workshops, concerts, lectures and demonstrations and serves the community through educational programs, community partnerships, history projects, and outreach activities. More information is available at www.Wistariahurst.org.
