Metaboston

Preserving the Nantucket Shoreline

The battle between summer-residents and year-rounders over the disappearing Sconset beach and whether a fortune should be spent to preserve its quickly eroding shoreline.

"But if the scientists are right, if the sea levels continue to rise incrementally and storms become not only more frequent but also more powerful, maybe the only thing Nantucket property owners can do is allow nature its destiny. Jim O'Connell, a coastal geologist for the Sea Grant program at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod, believes that Nantucket's fate is sealed. "I did a lecture out there last year," he says. "I showed aerial and ground photos and talked about what I was seeing and what the data showed. I began with a picture of the open ocean and announced, 'In 8,000 years this will be your island, and until you get to that point, every house is going to enjoy a spectacular ocean view.' I got only a few chuckles."

(Image:  Wikimedia)

Geocaching Treasure Hunt: August 14th at 6:30pm

The Boston Social Media Club is sponsoring a geocaching treasure hunt.  If you want to try and use your GPS unit for something other than navigating Boston's confusing streets this could be a good free oppportunity.  And you don't need to have a GPS unit to participate.

"Geocaching, according to Wikipedia, is an outdoor treasure-hunting game in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers (called “geocaches” or “caches”) anywhere in the world. For the Social Media Geocaching Treasure Hunt, we’ll have three teams competing on three different geocache courses to get the ultimate and shared goal—but we’re not going to tell you what that is until you find it.

We’ll meet at the Leif Ericsson statue, located at Charlesgate East and Comm Ave or N 42 20 922 / W 071 05 488, at 6:30pm. From there, we’ll break into teams and depart from statue around 6:45pm. If you’re coming late to the hunt, shoot @skalik a DM or call her at 503-320-0048, and she’ll match you up with a team already on the road.

You don’t need to bring a GPS unit to play; however, if you have one, please bring it, because we still need one or two!

As usual, we’ll end things with a visit to a nearby pub."

Info:
Thursday, August 14, 2008
6:30pm – 9:30 pm and beyond
Charlesgate East and Commonwealth Ave.
Boston, MA

A Map of University-Owned Land in Boston

It's interesting because the map covers all land owned by the universities not just the central campuses.

You can find more Boston maps at Radical Cartography.

Finding "Ancient Roads" in Vermont

Towns and groups all over Vermont are engaged in researching the paths of Vermont's "ancient roads." 

"The point is to comply with a 2006 state law that gives Vermont’s cities and towns until early next year to identify all their “ancient roads.” At that point, they can add the elusive roads to official town maps, ensuring that they remain public, or turn them over to owners of adjoining land.

Unlike many other states, where towns automatically forfeit rights to roads that go unused for years, Vermont requires that they remain public until formally discontinued. That has brought fights between towns and landowners whose property abuts or even intersects ancient roads, with the towns eager to preserve public access for outdoor pursuits and the owners seeking clear titles and privacy."

It seems like a fascinating process, hopefully some of the research will be posted on the Internet:  Google Maps anyone? 

"Peter Vollers, a lawyer in Woodstock . . ., said he loved getting out and looking for hints of ancient roads: parallel stone walls or rows of old-growth trees about 50 feet apart. Old culverts are clues, too, as are cellar holes that suggest people lived there; if so, a road probably passed nearby.

Mr. Vollers heads the Vermont Expedition Society, a group of off-roaders who treasure ancient roads as a recreational asset. He recently started a company, Vermont Overland Guide Services, to help off-roaders navigate ancient roads and other rural byways."

That said, it must be nerve-wracking if you own property in Vermont and some amateur historians' fun means you will lose access to some of your land or find a troup of SUVs heading across your lawn, especially if the "road" was last used in 1795