SAXTONS RIVER — The Windmill Hill Pinnacle Association is offering some exciting and very different events on the afternoon of Sunday, April 30, as part of its annual meeting schedule. All are free and open to the public and will be timed to follow one after the other, though attendance at all isn't required.
The first event, and the outdoor part of the Pinnacle Annual Meeting, is an interpretive walk at the Dunn Nature Trail from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Field biologist Paul Wilson, naturalist Andy Toepfer, and forester Silos Roberts - all Pinnacle board memberts - will focus on migrating songbirds, vernal pools, and forest ecology on this hike along a 1.1-mile loop trail located in the Stephen Martin Memorial Wildlife Sanctuary.
Because parking is very limited at the preserve, participants must register and meet promptly at 1:30 near Main Street Arts, 35 Main St. in Saxtons River, to carpool to the site. For information and required registration, contact Paul Wilson at 802-869-1166 or wilsonupaul@gmail.com.
The second event, from 4 to 6 p.m., is the Pinnacle Association's annual meeting and feature program entitled “We Are Still Here - Abenaki Culture and Contemporary Issues.” Speakers are Rich Holschuh and Roger Longtoe Sheehan.
Holschuh, who serves on the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs and traces his heritage to the Mi'kmaq and Penobscot - fellow Nations with the Abenaki, Maliseet, and Passamaquoddy in the Wabanaki Confederacy - will discuss the Abenaki Heritage in Vermont, the indigenous people's relation to the land, their interactions with the European settlers, and their efforts to reclaim their culture.
Sheehan - Abenaki artist, native musician, educator, and Chief of the El-Nu Abenaki Tribe - is a self-taught artist and a well-known creator of soapstone pipes and Native arts and tools. He enjoys sharing his knowledge and talents at Abenaki Living History events.
The meeting and program will take place upstairs at Main Street Arts, 35 Main St., in Saxtons River. Members and the public are encouraged to attend to learn about Vermont's Native Americans and about plans the Pinnacle Association has for the coming year, the Association's elections, and its Volunteer of the Year Award.
Refreshments will be served, and maps will be on display before the meeting and program. Of special interest will be a map of the Pinnacle Association's ridgeline properties that will include the new 50-acre Radford land gift. A new trail planned for that section will enhance the Association's 25-mile trail system whose main section runs from Putney Mountain to Grafton.