I’m going to be posting a series of entries with photos of
Montauk State Park, where I’ve been working as a seasonal naturalist this
summer.
I found out about the job opening at in June, and on June 10
I went in for my interview. My dad drove out there with me – any excuse for a
road trip! But it was nice to not have to try and find it by myself.
It’s a bit of a drive, almost three hours – southwest from
St. Louis to Rolla, then straight south, then up and down and around on back
roads. After the first section, we needed a break, and Dad knew to look for a
place called Lane Spring, just south of Rolla. It’s part of Mark Twain National Forest.
We took a short walk out to the spring, and saw something very unexpected.
Damselflies! These are something I would expect to see near any body of water, but I’ve never seen so many in one place. Most of them were bright metallic green with black wings.
The black wings really showed up among the plants by the stream.
Little helicopters!
We came out by the river.
One last look at the stream, and then we were back on the road. We got to Montauk and had a picnic lunch, then hurried over to find the park office, where I was supposed to have an interview at 2:00. We went into the lodge across the street first, to use the restroom, and as we were leaving we ran into my aunt Jeanie and uncle Nick who were staying there! I was so nervous at that point that I could barely say hi before walking over to the office, where I found out the person I was supposed to talk to was running late. However, the assistant superintendent, Luke, told me that they had already decided to hire me, so I spent the time filling out paperwork!
My “interview” turned out to be more of a quick tour of the
park and an overview of what the job was going to be like. Steve Bost, the
chief naturalist who I had contacted about the job, was really nice – and we
both recognized each other from the NAI regional conference in February! It was
fun getting to see the park, and afterward Dad and I hung around to go on the
tour of the historic Montauk Mill, since I was going to have to learn to give
the tour myself pretty soon. Jeanie and Nick stayed for the tour as well, so I
got to actually talk with them a bit after running out on them earlier.
I will be posting more pictures of the mill later, but here
are a few to make a first impression:
The original millstones, sitting on the ground in front of
the mill.
View from the porch – such a bright day!
While we waited for people to show up, we looked around inside the mill – and were directed to look at the bats that were clinging to the rafters! It was really exciting to get such a good view at them. I had no idea how many more I would see throughout the summer!
Back on the front porch, Steve telling the history of the
mill. I’ll put some of those details in another post – I was still learning it
at this point!
There is an actual reason this kid is wearing an ancient Spanish helmet. Hernando de Soto apparently came through this area, trying to trade for corn while searching for gold. The Osage people he came in contact with would have been using something like this big mortar and pestle to grind their corn – the point being that this water-powered mill was a much easier method!
Checking on the bats again.
It’s a bat sandwich!
Looking out the window – this is the millrace, the channel that would carry water over from the river to turn the wheel to run the machinery in the mill.
One more bat…
I can’t believe I managed to get this shot!
After the tour we headed out – and I had a week to get ready before I started working in the park. There would be housing provided, and if I forgot anything it would only be a three-hour drive to get back home.
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