Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Trash is Treasure on Shell Beach!


Today we visited Shell Beach at Camp Harbor View in the hopes of finding treasure! And what a treasure hunt we had! Our group searched the bases of large rocks, the shoreline and the shell-strewn beach for seaglass, strange shells, and relics from the past.

We found brilliant shards of seaglass in blue, green, brown, pink and even orange! Some of these looked like precious stones as they were polished to a superb finish by Boston Harbor's waves and sand. The explorers exclaimed that they thought these would be worth a lot of money, and were confused why someone would consider them trash!


There were SOOOO many strange shells to add to our bounty, including a long jacknife clam shell. Some of our campers had never seen the ubiquitous periwinkle and slipper shells either!


Also, we found shards of china, pottery shards and pieces of brick. We talked about how one china pattern was used at a nearby hotel, how bricks may of came from someone's home and speculated about the use of the pottery shards.

We had an interesting conversation about the origins of trash and the way waste was managed over time. We asked ourselves this question: How we will be remembered by the objects we leave behind?

All in all, we had a blast, and spent the last few minutes of our reflection time skipping stones on Boston Harbor.

Sheuli

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