In 1947, Edwin Way Teale, the most popular naturalist in the decade between Aldo Leopold and Rachel Carson, followed the progress of spring over four months from the Everglades to the summit of Mount Washington. His best-selling book, North with the Spring, recounts the epic journey he and his wife Nellie undertook. In 2012, our speaker, John Harris, set out to retrace Teale's route, stopping at unfamiliar wild places on the same calendar date on which Teale visited. Using Teale's journal notes and photographs, Harris examined and compared changes in the flora, fauna, and lives of the people along the way. His account documents the losses, details the transformations, and celebrates the victories, for a remarkable number of east coast refuges have grown wilder during the intervening years.

John is a recently retired faculty member in Environmental Science at Franklin Pierce University, and holds a Ph.D. in British and American literature from UNC at Chapel Hill. In addition, he has organized and helped edit two regional anthologies: Where the Mountain Stands Alone and Beyond the Notches: Stories of North Country New Hampshire.

This program is a collaboration with the Amherst Garden Club.

In-Person Program. Registration Required.