SPRINGFIELD, Vt. – Historian Howard Coffin will launch the spring 2025 semester of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) with the program “Vermont’s Stone Mysteries,” on Tuesday, Feb. 25, at 2 p.m., at the Nolin Murray Center, next to St. Mary’s Church, on Pleasant Street in Springfield.
In the 1970s, Harvard professor Barry Fell made the claim that Vermont was settled more than 2,000 years ago by Europeans. He said stone chambers and inscriptions that they left behind still exist. Come hear the story of how Coffin, a newspaperman at the time, explored the sites with Fell, and wrote the first stories on his claims. People thought stone chambers might have been root cellars of settlers in colonial times, but the research showed they are testament to people much earlier than that. Most archaeologists disputed Fell at the time, and controversy still exists about it all.
Sponsored by the University of Vermont, OLLI is run by local volunteer members, and is geared mainly towards seniors who are 50 years of age and older who enjoy learning for the fun of it. Anyone who would be interested in this type of program, regardless of their age, is welcome. The programs are held Tuesday afternoons, at 2 p.m., and last about an hour and a half.
You may view the entire semester’s programs by going to www.learn.uvm.edu/olli/springfield. Preregistration can be done online with a credit card. Payment can no longer be accepted on site. You may also register over the phone using your credit card by calling 802-656-8407 during regular office hours, Monday-Friday, from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. There is a membership series fee. Nonmembers are welcome and encouraged to attend individual programs for a single program fee.
If you prefer to register by mail, send your contact information (name, address, phone number, and email address) indicating full series membership, or which specific program(s) you wish the attend. Mail this information and your check made out to University of Vermont – OLLI to UVM Non-Credit Registration Office, 85 South Prospect Street, Box 34, Burlington, VT 05405.
If mailing in the registration, please allow 10-14 days from the date of mailing check to receipt and processing.
If there are weather-related changes to the schedule, you can check the above website on the morning of the program.
The next program, on March 11, will be “Vermont’s Merino Miracle.” Jan Albers, author of “Hands on the Land,” will tell the story of the “sheep craze” of the mid-1800s that we can still see remnants of in Vermont’s landscape today.