THE HOUSE ON IPSWICH MARSH
Exploring the Natural History of New England
William Sargent
"William Sargent, who has also written extensively about the world's environment, instead in "The House on Ipswich Marsh" ventures barely a half-dozen miles from his home to discover "a quest that could last a lifetime."—Boston Globe
A richly layered approach to millions of years of geological and cultural history in an unusual New England biosystem.
In 2003, Bill Sargent bought a big pink house in Ipswich, Massachusetts. His home sits on what is known as the Great Marsh, a fascinating patch of wetland shar
ed by Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Sargent received a grant to study some of the rare and endangered ground-nesting birds that inhabit the public land adjacent to his property. Ipswich Marsh is about these birds, but much else as well.
Organized by the seasons of the year, The House on Ipswich Marsh features Sargent’s trademark interplay of information about the natural world, ecology, and politics. In “Spring,” the reader learns about the geological history of the Marsh; the migration patterns of bobolinks; the courtship flights of woodcocks; ticks and Lyme disease; the mating of horseshoe crabs and the underwater arrival of zooplankton, fish eggs, and moon jellyfish. “Summer” introduces plate tectonics and glaciers; sea level rise and glacial rebound; diving at night among lobsters and stone crabs; a day on Crane’s Beach; and a bike trip on Argilla Road. “Autumn” illuminates fishing; the natural and cultural history of Hog Island; harvest time on Appelton Farm; and a Native American Thanksgiving. “Winter” describes the formation of dunes and sandbars; the mating behavior of seals; coyote hunting deer at night; and a late-winter blizzard in which Sargent spies a red-tailed hawk, waiting, like the author, for the return of spring.
University Press of New England
2005 • 264 pp. 83 illus. 1 map. 6 1/4 x 9 1/4"
Nature / Ecology & Environmental Studies / New England
$24.95 Cloth, 1-58465-465-1
His book is available at The River Gallery on Market Street
More Books & Media about Ipswich, Massachusetts (continued from right hand column)
|
Measuring time--by an hourglass
by Kitty Crockett Robertson |
|
Life in the shifting dunes: A popular field guide to the natural history of Castle Neck, Ipswich, Massachusetts
by Laurence B White |
|
Ipswich, proud settlement in the Province of the Massachusetts-Bay
by Charles E Goodhue |
|
The Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury, Massachusetts : With some related families of Newbury, Haverhill, Ipswich, and Hampton, and of York County, Maine
by David W. Hoyt
|
Fine Thread, Lace, and Hosiery in Ipswich and Ipswich Mills and Factories. Salem, Mass.: The Salem Press, 1904.
by Fewkes, Jesse Walter, and T. Frank Waters. |
|
"Ipswich, Massachusetts During the American Revolution, 1763-1791." Ph.D. diss., UC Riverside, 1972.
by Ginsburg, Arlin Ira. |
|
Ipswich, Proud Settlement in the Province of the Massachusetts-Bay
by Charles E Goodhue |
|
A history of the old Argilla road in Ipswich, Massachusetts (Publications of the Ipswich Historical Society
by Thomas Franklin Waters |
|
A Sketch Of The Life Of John Winthrop The Younger: Founder Of Ipswich, Massachusetts In 1633 A Sketch Of The Life Of John Winthrop The Younger: Founder Of Ipswich, Massachusetts In 1633
by Thomas Franklin Waters |
| |
|
| |
Ipswich Poetry Group was founded in May 2001 to bring poets together in a supportive workshop environment and to introduce the oral tradition of poetry to the Ipswich community. The poets represent various walks of life, range in age from teens to senior citizens and in experience from beginning to well established poets. For more information contact Dorothy Laurence at delaurence@comcast.net or 978 356-4240.
Splendid Spruce Tree
There it stands tugging at my soul.
Straight and tall, unbending it grows. 
Skyward bound-- the heavens to extoll!
A pillar of unbridled girth--
Brazenly mocks a patient earth.
With steely loins and jagged grace,
It staunchly holds fast to its place.
Borne by a towering ponderous mast
Its emerald canopy is cast
And rudely cups the seamless sky
Where nesting hawks are wont to fly.
A textbook of eons past and now
It flirts with the hurrying clouds
Recklessly riding the headwinds of time
Its storied tales forever enshrined
Including those of yours and mine.
Gladys Rydstrom, Member Ipswich Poetry Group
Attention Ipswich Poets
PLEASE SEND POETRY SUBMISSIONS TO
info@ipswicharts.com
