Meigs Point Nature Center Canoe Trip @ Hammonasset State Park

Named after Johnathon Meigs a American Revolutionary hero and recipient of a congressional sword for the Battle of Sag Harbour, Meigs Point Nature Center offers a weekly 2-hour guided tour of the Hammonasett River. The tour is by reservation

Dan and I brought our own kayaks for the tour while my parents reserved a canoe. The cost of the tour was $5 and departed at 12:30 from the Nature Center. After a brief drive down a trail we arrived at the launch zone. We were almost immediately uninvited by mosquito's and horse flys. Dan and I unloaded the Kayaks while tour leader Mike and his helper unloaded 9 canoes and related life jackets and paddles. As they reviewed safety rules Dan and I launched the kayaks to escape the attacking insects. 

Once on the water we were thankfully left alone and the first canoe to launch was my parents. Having canoe'd before they had no problem and we made our way out the small canal towards the Hammonasset River. As the remaining tour participants joined us we crossed the channel and followed the salt marshes with our tour guide Mike pointing out the various birds and other wildlife we encountered.  We traveled roughly 1.3 miles up river to the bridge at route 1. There Mike told us a story about the history of the area before we began the paddle back to the launch spot. 

It was a beautiful day on the water. When we reached the laugh ramp we quickly got the kayaks out of the water and on the roof rack.  We moved quick as the mosquitos and horseflies were still hanging out.   We thanked Mike the tour guide for the experience and headed out. 

Harvard Museum of Natural History & Peabody Museum

Located on the grounds of Harvard University is one of the more impressive natural history museums in the country. The Museum of Comparative Zoology, The Harvard Mineralogical and Geological Museum and the Harvard University Herbaria combined in 1998 to form the Harvard Museum of Natural History. Its combined collection represents 1 of the 4 Harvard Museums of Science and Culture and is the most visited attraction at Harvard.

The galleries house the historic Blaschka glass models of plants, popularly known as the Glass Flowers. This is where we started our visit. The room was lined with case after case of delicate examples of many different flowers and fauna from around the world carefully created using glass. Each flower included a full scale replica and then bisected versions showing each piece that make up each flower.  It was an impressive collection. Some of my favorites included the Mayan pitcher plant and others like the mountain laurel which surround my childhood home.

 

 

 

 



The next room we entered was the Arthropods where their collection of mounted beetles was impressive. I really am fascinated by the colorful exteriors of these little creatures.  In addition to the beetles they have an exhibit of skulls from the Hominin Family including everything from a Homo Habilis skull dating back to 1.4-2.3 million years ago to the current Homo sapiens. It was a interesting display showing the evolution of our species.

 

Next we made our way into one the special exhibitions. Thoreau’s Maine Woods was a photographic journey through Maine as seen through the lens of Scot Miller’s camera as he retraced the footsteps of Thoreau.  It paired some specimens from the Museum’s collection that fit with what might have been seen in Maine.  The photographs really captured the beauty, power and serenity of the deep woods of Maine. Almost makes you want to visit and explore much like Thoreau did.

Moving on we explored yet another special exhibit called Mollusk's: Shelled Masters of the Marine Realm. This collection of shells small and large showed the complexity of their hard outer shell that protect their soft inner bodies.

In comparison to the mostly small mollusk next we moved to the Vertebrate Paleontology/ Dinosaur Romer Hall where we were immediately greeted by a gigantic freshwater turtle shell. This room also included many mounted examples of creates long gone such as the edaphosaurus and the larges mounted Kronosaurus whose menacing teeth would have definitely kept me out of the water.  He could swallow most animals whole in a single bite.

We also got to see the famed Harvard Mastodon whose large tusks surely made him an impressive fighter in his day.

 

Paired nicely with the Glass Flowers exhibit is a new exhibition called Sea Creatures in Glass which display’s some of Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology's collection of Blaschka models of marine invertebrates.  These too showed the skilled craftsmanship of Leopold Blaschka. These were probably my favorite having ground up on long island sound and every year dodging the many jelly fish that call the sound home. I was particularly impressed with the delicacy of the Portuguese Man o’ War and the curled octopus.

 

Next we explored the Africa gallery which seemed to include nearly one of every single animals from the African planes like the gemsbok, spotted hyena, serval, to the more well-known big game varietals like the lion, warthog, leopard, zebras and hippos, and rhino . I really appreciated seeing a serval since I have two Savannah’s which a mix between a serval and a mainecoon cat. 

 

A departure from the wilds of Africa and closer to home was the New England Forests in the Zofnass Family Gallery exhibit. It included many of the creatures we find in our back yard like the gray squirrel, white tailed deer and the moose to the more sinister grey wolf.  It also included some of the smaller creatures like the Northern Red Necked Snake and their pray the Eastern Red Backed Salamander. Not only did it display the animals and retiles found here but also many of the natural fauna that provides these animals with shelter and life.

The next room we entered was the Great Mammal Hall and Balcony of Birds. Here some of the biggest creatures on the planet can be found. There are three different whales hanging above and they include the Sperm Whale, Fin Whale and the North Atlantic Right Whale. While they hang majestically above below are some of the more interesting mammals like armadillos, bats, hedgehogs, squirrels monkeys, Ostriches, bison, and even many of the hominins. Above the mammals on the Balcony are tons of different bird varietals. It was an impressive collection of birds and included many we know and love like the robin and sandpiper to the more exotic kingfisher and tropical birds.

 

We made our way back towards the beginning to move on to the Earth and Planetary Sciences collection where the mineralogical galleries present a systematic display of meteorites, minerals and gemstones.  One of the most impressive features of the collection is the 1,600lbs amethyst geode from Brazil and the Shards of Gypsum from Mexico. The room really was an impressive collection of all kind of weird and unusual rock’s and minerals. Some of my favorites was the Beryl with is vivid blue color and translucency like ice.

 

After the mineralogical galleries we made our way to the attached but separate Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. The two museums join on the third floor and link to the Latin American and Special Exhibit galleries. As we entered they were preparing the special exhibit called Arts of War collection of weapons across culture.

They had some amazing suits of amour made from unlikely materials.  They also had a collection of Mace's, Shield's & Club's nothing was yet identified but it certainly was a cool collection

Just outside the Arts of War was the Latin American galleries. The main gallery featured the Encounters with the America’s gallery which featured several stela’s and a large alter all surrounded by diorama’s of the different Indians and their standard villages. It was very cool to see how many of the different tribes built their shelters’

 

They also had a day of the dead exhibit which represents the Aztec origins of the holiday and the Catholic symbols incorporated into the tradition, from skeletons to plush Jesus figures. Originating with the Aztecs, the Mexican Day of the Dead is a unique blend of Mesoamerican and Christian rituals. The holiday, which is celebrated on November 1, All Saints’ Day, is usually dedicated to children; November 2, All Souls’ Day, is dedicated to adults.With that we went past the gift show where I purchased a blue Day of the Dead colorful cranium ornament to add to my Christmas tree.

Next we went up first to the 4th floor to the Pacific Islands Galleries where I saw many things similar to what I had seen in Hawai’i. I was most fascinated by the collection of weapons they had made from sharks teeth.

Last we went to the first floor where the Native American galleries were as well as another special exhibit called the Penobscot Canoes: A view from the river. This gallery included a large totem and other artifacts of those Indians who used the Penobscot as a transportation tool for their canoes.