The lively, engaging and award-winning author Susan Allport will be speaking at New Canaan Library on Wednesday, February 25, at 6:30 PM in the Adrian Lamb Room about the stone walls of New Canaan.  New Canaan Library and The New Canaan Land Trust are co-sponsoring this event.

Ms. Allport is the author of Sermons in Stone, the surprising history of the stone walls found throughout New Canaan and environs.  It is a story that begins in the Ice Age and has been shaped by the fencing dilemmas of the nineteenth century, by conflicts between Native Americans and colonists over land use, and by America’s waves of immigration and suburbanization. They connect us to time when sheep and cattle traveled our roads, not just cars. To a time when homeowners built walls, not to adorn their houses, but to keep the sheep out of the meadow and the cows out of the corn. Stone walls may look permanent and indestructible but their existence is threatened — by both neglect and active removal or replacement.

Among her numerous other publications, Ms. Allport wrote the forward for The Granite Kiss: Traditions and Techniques of Building New England Stone Walls.  She comes to New Canaan as a part of the New Canaan Land Trust “Gateways to New Canaan” program. All are welcome.

For additional information on this event please visit newcanaanlibrary.org. Library programs are free and open to the public but registration is required, online at newcanaanlibrary.org.

New Canaan Library’s Mission is to enrich the town’s intellectual and cultural life by providing free and convenient access to information, fostering lifelong learning, and encouraging the exchange of ideas.