Learn about the Bellows Falls petroglyph site Talks scheduled at local venues between May 15 and 25

Annette Spaulding and members of the Kchi Pôntegok Project will present the results of the two-year effort to better understand the Bellows Falls petroglyph site at several local venues between May 15 and 25.

The project is named for the Western Abenaki term meaning “at the Great Falls,” which describes the location of the petroglyph site along the Connecticut River in Bellows Falls village at the Vilas Bridge. Long listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the project sheds new light on the site by letting the land speak for itself.

The site has particular importance to the Abenaki community as part of a sacred landscape. The petroglyphs are a form of “awhikhigan,” an instrument that can be used for communication among the living for recording and remembering, for persuasion, for marking a journey, for telling a story or for sealing a promise. They are a life form, marking and grounding the community in the scheme of things, a pivot point along the flow of the Connecticut River.

Here is the presentation schedule:

• Wednesday, May 15 at 6 p.m., Westminster Institute and Butterfield Library, 3534 US-5, Westminster
• Thursday, May 16 at 4 p.m., Silsby Free Public Library, 226 Main St., Charlestown, N.H.
• Thursday, May 23 at 6:30 p.m., Rockingham Free Public Library, 65 Westminster St., Bellows Falls
• Saturday, May 25 at 2 p.m., Springfield Art and Historical Society, 65 VT-106, Springfield.

The Kchi Pôntegok Project is made possible by funding from the National Park Service Underrepresented Communities Grant Program and is supported, in part, by Vermont Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed do not necessarily represent those of the National Park Service or Vermont Humanities.