Thanks primarily to our amazing teachers and students, we recently completed a successful return to some in-person summer learning at our Lexplorations children’s program. To be able to witness and hear the children enjoying their days through learning and play was tremendously hopeful. That’s not to say that in-person programming during a pandemic wasn’t extra challenging. On many days, upon being the last staff person to leave the Estabrook School (besides the custodian), I would step a few paces into the woods behind the school and onto the Lexington Conservation Land Paint Mine Trail. A few steps onto the trail, I entered an almost magical, foreign, yet very familiar world, seemingly right out of the old myths and storybooks. As if entering an enchanted space through a hidden portal in a hedgerow, school sounds were replaced by the sound of the breeze through the trees. Linear school hallways and stairs were replaced by a winding dirt path descending toward small still ponds and the old ochre paint mine. Looking at the forest floor and the tall trees, there was the realization that season after season, all things in nature disintegrate and are reformed in new and different ways. I think our autumn catalog cover art resonates with that awareness. Similarly, our aim in this catalog is to present you with educational maps and paths to community offerings that inspire stepping into new connections and perspectives through both in-person and online classes and events. As a self-supporting program of the Lexington Public Schools we sincerely thank you for your continued participation and support, season after season.
Craig Hall, Director
Click HERE For A Full Map of Paint Mine Trail
