On Tuesday, October 7, 2025, at 7:00 p.m., we’ll be having our monthly meeting featuring…
New England’s First Rockhounds
with Ted Johnson of Yankee Mineral and Gem Co.
About the presenters…
Ted Johnson has been the owner and operator of Yankee Mineral and Gem Company for nearly 40 years. He has been collecting minerals since 1960, starting in the mines in the Patterson, New Jersey, area, and has become an avid student of the history of famous mineral districts. He resides in Connecticut and specializes in collecting New England minerals and pegmatite minerals from around the world.
The details…
Today’s rockhounds collect rocks, minerals, and fossils because of their beauty, value, or scientific interest. Native Americans sought after rocks for many years mostly for their practical value, but they also believed that rocks have a spirit within them. Importantly, Native American-collected rocks also have a story within them. It may be a story about the resilience of surviving in a world of rocks. Or it may be a story of a mostly lost culture. Or it may be a story about the spiritual value of rocks.
The New England tribes are part of a larger group of tribes called the Eastern Woodlands tribes. While the focus of this talk relates to New England’s Native Americans, the scope will include all the Eastern Woodlands tribes. Over a millennium, these tribes learned how to coexist with each other, and their cultures are interrelated. This will give you a sense of how they hunted, traded, and lived. They also fought wars among tribes and/or “alien” invaders from across the sea.
We are taught that the “Indians” were a primitive culture. This is not true at all. All or most of the American tribes participated in a “confederation” of tribes. They had a different perspective on “land ownership” as compared to European values. They had a process of resolving disputes without the need for violence. Ted’s talk will touch on these aspects with rocks as a launching point.
The presentation will be preceded by socializing and a brief business meeting and followed by our traditional mineral specimen raffle.
We hope to see you there!
See the Monthly Meetings page for directions and other information.