California

California Field Seminar

In the fall semester Williams-Mystic travels to the central California coast. We fly to San Francisco and first travel down to Monterey Bay, the site of the nation's largest marine sanctuary, where we observe giant kelp forests and sea otters, and visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We study the important historical events that shaped the history of California. We read from Richard Henry

Dana Jr.'s Two Years Bef

ore the Mast and hear of his experiences in Monterey. We learn of the era of the great sardine industry which created Cannery Row, made famous in John Steinbeck's novels. We explore the incredible diversity of intertidal marine life in tidepools of the Monterey Peninsula, and experience the spectacular vistas of Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve. We then head north to visit San Francisco Bay, where we examine the maritime history of the bay from first Spanish sightings to the importance of the clipper ship and Gold Rush era, and the development of the modern harbor. We visit a container ship terminal, and look at the marine life of the bay, consisting of a mixture of native and introduced species. We read Jack London to learn about San Francisco Bay at the turn of the century. After a visit to the San Francisco Maritime Museum and a night in San Francisco, we head for the University of California's Bodega Marine Laboratory (BML), 60 miles north of the city. From BML we expand west to explore the Point Reyes National Seashore and oyster farms of Tomales Bay, and go as far north as Fort Ross, a Russian fur and hide settlement of the early 19th century.