Help Us Get to the Other Side!
Water Damage
You can Help!
We need your help to get to the other side! We have a plan to re-cross Sherman Hollow Brook, and need your help to help fund the construction.
Everything helps, from $5 once, $50 monthly, to $5000 annually.
Bob’s Bridge has been closed since July 2024. Torrential rains and floods that month damaged the bridge and its footing. For safety, the Museum closed it, limiting public access to the museum’s trails on the 60 acres across Sherman Hollow Brook. This also restricted access to Gale’s Retreat.
First Steps
Right after the flood, we began working with Timber and Stone LLC and DeWolfe engineers. Together we are designing and will build a new accessible bridge!
The new route includes a board walk, places to pause and bird, and views above the stream. The new bridge will be above the 100-year flood mark and allow us to reopen the trails for everyone. By rerouting access, we make the access more gradual, more accessible, and minimize erosion into the brook.
Soon, school groups will again be able to access the Retreat as an outdoor gathering or classroom space. We’ll be able to take bird walks, maintain those trails, and explore that part of the forest again.
More info:
The 2013 Flood & Bridge building:
Bridges to Birds: Connecting to People
The Four Phases of Bridges to Birds
Thanking Donors for Contributing to Bridges to Birds
Bob’s Bridge so far:
Endure, Change and Bridge: 2024 annual appeal
Other Notes and Links:
Renting Gale’s Retreat
Timber and Stone LLC
DeWolf Engineers
Through the Window: September 2025
Warm and dry pretty much the whole month. Pleasant for sitting around, and can make some nice updrafts. Did you go hawk watching?
Every now and then this year, a warbler comes to the feeder—not to eat, apparently, just to check things out from that perch. And (presumably less often) we notice!
September Bird List
October 2025 events
In October, we head out to Dead Creek, keep showing art, check out trees, hang out with carvers, and sit with birders. Join us!
=== OCTOBER EVENTS ===
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Through the Window: August 2025
Oh my gosh, it’s been SO dry. Thankfully, we have a little trickle of water coming into a well-shaded tiny pond. The Bee balm and the willow and the goldenrod are a bit too tall and dense to see the birds taking their small drinks at the water, though! (The Hummingbirds sure like the bee balm!)
August Bird List
September 2025 events
September: thinking about myths, conservation, collisions, making, happiness, decomposition, communication, and restoration. All that in one museum!
=== SEPTEMBER EVENTS ===
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Through the Window: July 2025
Goodness it’s been hot. What did you have out for birds in your backyard to beat the heat? We have multiple types of cover (shade and safety) and water as well. These robins used the roof of one our sheds as their shade.
July Bird List
August 2025 events
We’re making things and headed outside this month! Joins us for, conservation, learning, carving, birding, and even a little time to rest.
=== AUGUST EVENTS ===
Continue reading “August 2025 events”
Through the Window: June 2025
We had some great Early Bird Walks this month—you can visit our checklists at eBird to see what we observed not from the window (link below).
By the end of the month, it felt like things are settling down : a robin is incubating or raising a second brood near our back door; adult cardinals are feeding young. Who next will bring their babies around? Chickadees? Blue Jays? Hummingbirds? Watch for fluttering wings and listen for unusual squeakings.
June Bird List
July 2025 events
Well, we have a “happenin’ summer!”
Arts events are the big focus in July, with a concert, a workshop, and a reception. If you need something a bit more detailed, try the Butterfly and Big Walk. If you want quiet reflection, there’s another Forest Sit. Need to stomp some feet? Drop by the Blues for Breakfast concert at the Huntington Rec Field.
Scroll on down and find out more!