The Community
The town of Niles continue to blow me away from the kindness that has been offered to us as students and the generosity of the community. As a Michigan native I was excited to learn more about the history of my state from this site. I really do not even need the physical site in order to fulfill my wish. The volunteers offer so much to us students just by sharing their experience, let alone taking the time to teach us and answer questions, from Mary Ellen Drolet explaining mapping techniques to Neil Hassinger aiding with hand excavating. They have demonstrated trowel methods and offered support while on site. Those of us in the field haven’t even made the largest impact, it is the community showing support for FSJ and attending events that has been the most powerful to see. The kids of the archeology summer camp have shared their interests in the site, which has also been really enjoyable. Many of the campers developed interest in the project by attending the Open Houses and wante...
