Rumney Marsh Academy, Revere -- June 1

42º 24' 47" N
71º 00' 12" W
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The EarthView team is delighted to be returning to Rumney Marsh Academy in Revere. We very much enjoyed our visit in May 2011, and the opportunity to learn about the local geography. Our blog post for that visit describes some of the interesting history of Revere and the unique physical geography of the nearby marsh for which the school is named.

This year's visit will be the last EarthView program of the school year, ending a very busy and enjoyable year, and bringing the total number of EarthView participants since the program began to about 35,000.

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Our visit is on June 1, the anniversary of some events near and far with very interesting geographic implications. By far the event with the most direct importance is also the most recent. One year ago -- on June 1, 2011 -- Massachusetts had the very rare experience of a significant and very damaging tornado. It tracked on the ground for an unusually long period of time, eventually destroying trees and buildings along a 34-mile corridor just south of the Massachusetts Turnpike. Four deaths were attributed to the tornado, with the most severe damage to property in the town of Monson, which the EarthView team had the honor of visiting just two weeks later. We witnessed a community that was focused on gratitude for the people and things that were not lost, and on helping each other recover from the severe losses that did take place.

Photo: Massachusetts State Police

Other geographic or geography-related events that took place on this date are:

1638	1st earthquake recorded in U.S., at Plymouth, Mass

1657	1st Quakers arrived in New Amsterdam (New York)

1792	Kentucky admitted as 15th U.S. state

1796	Tennessee admitted as 16th U.S. state

1796	Last of Britain's troops withdrew from U.S.

1808	1st U.S. land-grant university founded at Ohio University, Athens, Ohio

1843	It snowed in Buffalo and Rochester New York and Cleveland Ohio
1843	Sojourner Truth left New York to begin her career as antislavery activist

1845	Homing pigeon completed 11,000 km trip (Namibia-London) in 55 days (find these places on the globe!)

1855	U.S. adventurer Wm Walker conquered Nicaragua, reestablished slavery

1880	1st pay telephone installed

1921	Race riot in Tulsa, Oklahoma, between 50 and 300 people killed

1940	Coffee and tea rationed in Holland

1991	Warsaw Pact officially dissolved
1991	Mount Pinatubo (Philippines) erupts for 1st time in 600 years, and one of the most significant eruptions of the 20th Century; temperatures reduced worldwide for several years