News Archive

Norfolk County Entomologist Shares His Story

Friday, 23 July 2010 00:00

Last week, the Wakefield Interns and Staff welcomed Channsotha (Chan) Suom, the Entomologist for the Norfolk County Mosquito Control Project. Chan talked about how he got into the field and the research he is involved with. He answered a wide array of questions from the students and shared interesting anectodes such as how Hollywood has "borrowed" real creatures from the insect and spider realm to create some of its most memorable science fiction creatures like those in the movie "Alien." After his talk, Chan led us to the mosquito trap he maintains at the Wakefield Estate, explaining how if functions and what it reveals.

Summer Archeologists Make an Exciting Find!

Monday, 19 July 2010 08:58

The 2010 Summer Archaeology Institute concluded on Friday, July 16th with an exciting find! The students discovered a projectile point roughly three inches long - a beautiful specimen of Native American tool making. Boston University's archeologists have hoped and expected to find pre-colonial artifacts on site because it is well known that the area surrounding Great Blue Hill was an important meeting place in the time before colonial settlement and Brush Hill Road was originally a Native American path.

Archeology Session Two Is Underway

Thursday, 15 July 2010 10:04

Session two of our Summer Archaeology Institute began on July 5th with students from Milton, Boston and Canton participating. Their excavations have unearthed lots of artifacts, focusing on the history of land use around the farmhouse. This week, they took a field trip to the Boston City Archaeology Lab, where they washed objects recently dug up at the Paul Revere house!

Sam Dorilas documents a level in a Shovel Test Pit that has revealed a large quantity of early 20th century asphalt roof tile, perhaps associated with damage from the Hurricane of 1938.

Danielle Buffa and summer intern Tiona Edwards take a test pit to the next level.

Jeff Waldman works on a test pit in an area where it is thought that the grade was most likely raised at some point in the 19th century. This necessitated digging deeper to find the original top level, in an attempt to confirm the archeologists' theories about how the land was altered, and in hopes of finding additonal artifacts that pre-date the grade change.

Wakefield hosts over 2000 Students in 2009-10 School Year

Thursday, 24 June 2010 13:04

As the school year winds down, the Wakefield Estate is taking stock of the year's accomplishments, many of which relate to our educational programs. This year, the estate saw a vast increase in elementary school field experiences, thanks to funding from the GOAL network (Get Out And Learn). In the 2009-2010 school year, over 1000 Boston Public School students had Spring and Fall field experiences for a day of science. We partnered with a number of schools including the Charles Taylor School in Mattapan and the John F. Kennedy school in Jamaica Plain. The estate also hosted first graders from Milton's Tucker School and Saint Agatha's Parish and after school programs from Milton and Hyde Park's Grew School (click here for more on this).