History Department Undergraduates, Graduates, and Faculty — Join Us!
We will be making a tour of the Bangor City Forest’s Bog Boardwalk on October 15 at 10:00. Stroll through a Maine post-glacial landscape at your own pace, high and dry on the boardwalk above the sphagnum, sundew, pitcher plants, and dwarf tamarack and spruce. The Orono bog — around 600 acres of largely open land, is one of the few places in the area where you can see, clear of tall trees, all the way to the horizon on all sides — its an exhilarating experience.
Please meet in the parking lot off Stillwater Road at 10:00 (look for the “City Forest” sign) and join us for a stroll into Maine’s postglacial past. Mid-October should be the peak color season, and we approach the bog through a wonderful stand of maples and beeches that should be alive with reds and yellows.
Contact Professor Richard Judd (First Class) for more information.
The Orono Bog
The bog came to be about 10,000 years ago, after the glaciers that covered much of Maine’s surface melted and the Atlantic Ocean crept inland. When the ocean itself receded, lakes and ponds were left behind. Where the bog is today was once a lake. Over the last few thousands of years, the lake bed has dried enough to enable sphagnum moss to thrive over the exposed land.
Check it out at http://cityforest.bangorinfo.com/boardwalk.htm.