Amelia Berthiaume, 7, was enjoying a day at the Nahant Marsh’s Fall Festival on Saturday, Oct. 7, when her mother April Berthiaume asked her two big questions: “What do you like most about Nahant? Is it the animals?”
Amelia immediately gave a big thumbs-up sign and said: “The turtles were really good.”
The mother and daughter from Davenport were among hundreds of people who gave Nahant Marsh a big thumbs-up on Saturday as they toured parts of the wetlands complex in west Davenport. They got to see wildlife – such as those turtles – plants and part of local history. They also got to see some of the new projects in the works at Nahant.
“Ultimately, the goal today is to get people out here and learn about Nahant March in a fun way,” said Brian Ritter, executive director of Nahant Marsh.
The Fall Festival is a tradition that has returned to Nahant after about a five-year interruption. The festival serves as a fundraising event, but also is a time to let people know about the big and small projects going on at Nahant. (The marsh is a 382-acre preserve located in southwest Davenport. It is part of a 513-acre wetlands complex bordered by the Mississippi River, Interstate 280 and Highway 22.)
Mr. Ritter said on Saturday that he was excited to show off two projects to the public:
- A new operations building is being built next to the Nahant Education Center. When complete, the building will feature additional classroom space, office space and maintenance area. It is being built three feet higher than the center’s building to help protect against future flooding. Much of the new building’s exterior appears to be complete. Mr. Ritter said he hopes Nahant officials will occupy the building by early winter.
- A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Thursday, Oct. 5, for another new feature at Nahant called Rockingham Bottoms. This 39-acre parcel, formerly called the Clarke property, features a sand prairie, tallgrass prairie, bottomland forest, and marshland. It has a parking lot/trailhead, a half-mile multi-use trail, and will eventually have three-fourths mile of hiking trails.
The parcel gets its name from the Village of Rockingham that was located on a portion of the property from 1835 to 1851. Interpretative signs will be installed in the near future. Work will soon begin to expand and improve the mile-long east trail. Nahant officials spent five years cleaning up the property, including removing about 500 old tires, an old truck and hundreds of bags of trash.
“This was someone’s dumping ground for years,” he added.
Work will begin soon to expand and improve the mile-long east trail. This new area will have a bike-accessible trail, hiking trail, and will be a great spot for wildlife watching, he added.
In addition to featuring nature, Rockingham Bottoms is a place that holds much local history. The executive director said the area has sand layers that came from Lake Superior thousands of years ago, and artifacts from native Americans that date back 600 years.
The festival also included tours to see animal displays in the Nahant Education Center, a fish fry on Saturday night, live music by the band The Tailfines, as well as food and items for sale on a few tables labeled the “Marsh Merch.”
There were also presentations on fish species, raptors and a former president brought back to life. During Saturday afternoon, dozens of people got to see Joe Wiegand portray President Theodore Roosevelt during an hour-long presentation. Mr. Wiegand, who calls himself the world’s premiere President Roosevelt imitator, gave the audience many details of Roosevelt’s life, including his childhood years when he loved animals and brought many of them inside the family home.
“If you poured yourself water from a pitcher, you had to be careful, a snake might crawl out,” Mr. Wiegand said portraying Roosevelt.
He also told about Roosevelt’s trip to Maine as a young man. “We visited the lumber camps, where my vocabulary was greatly expanded,” he added.
While they enjoyed the presentations, many visitors, like April and Amelia Berthiaume said their favorite part of the day was seeing those turtles on display in the Education Center.
“I like it all. Today was a good excuse to get out of the house and see something good,” Ms. Berthiaume added.
