George Matteson: The Man and His Maps
Join us to hear Linda and Steve Kornatz of the Scituate Preservation Society discuss local mapmaker George Matteson, who spent his life surveying the backwoods, digging into local legends, and preserving Coventry’s rich history.
George Matteson lived in Scituate and Coventry and was a forest ranger for over 40 years. He served as a search and rescue specialist taking part in more than 9,000 rescues of lost hunters and hikers, 100 plane crash rescue missions and myriad forest fire patrols. He would fly over forest fires, drawing quick maps of the terrain, landmarks, trails and roads, which were dropped by parachute to ground crews to aid them in reaching the heart of a fire.
Paul St. Amand, who has carefully preserved his grandfather’s maps and legacy, will be displaying many of George’s maps at the program.
Thursday, September 18th from 6 - 7:30 p.m. at the Coventry Public Library, 1672 Flat River Road, Coventry, R.I.
Free and open to the public. No registration required, but if you would like a friendly reminder before the event, call Jessica at 401-822-9104 or email JCoppa@CoventryLibrary.org.
