My Schedule of Talks, Including a New Long Island Sound Quadricentennial Talk

I’ve got a new schedule of appearances in the works, including a new talk I’m working on about the 400th anniversary of the European discovery of Long Island Sound and the Connecticut River. Here's where I'll be (some of these organizations REALLY plan ahead):

Wednesday, November 16, 7 p.m., in the Stamford Government Center. Stamford Land Conservation Trust annual meeting. I’ll be talking about the environmental history of Long Island Sound and whether we have reasons to be optimistic about where the Sound is headed.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012, 6 p.m., New Haven Museum. Adriaen Block and the Long Island Sound Quadricentennial.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012, 7 p.m, Essex (Ct.) Town Hall. Adriaen Block and the Long Island Sound Quadricentennial.

I’ll also be talking about the Sound on Chris Bosak’s Birdcalls Radio

My quadricentennial talk, by the way, is a good one. Block's story is an adventure tale of mutiny, gun battles, fierce economic competition, burning ships, and explorations of uncharted harbors and bays.

Very few people know the full story of Adriaen Block and the other Dutch sailors who first ventured into the Sound and the Connecticut River. And even while the quadricentennial of Henry Hudson’s first voyage up the Hudson was widely celebrated, little attention is being paid to the quadricentennial of the Sound and the Connecticut River.

In fact, we're not even sure when exactly Block made his voyage of discovery. It might have been in 1612, or in 1613, although it seems certain that it was not in 1614, as many books and websites claim.

I wrote about Block’s voyage in This Fine Piece of Water: An Environmental History of Long Island Sound and am expanding and adapting that chapter of the book into the new presentation.

Let me know if you are interested in having me talk to your organization.