At this stop, you’ll hear two stories of dinosaur discovery that happened in South Hadley: The “real” first dino tracks and an incredibly rare fossil skeleton found by a Mount Holyoke professor. Stroll around the campus and take an audio trip back in time. If you’re at the Mount Holyoke library at the right time, you might be able to see a display of Mignon Talbot’s work and life. Learn more about the amazing things she learned while working at Mount Holyoke!
Location
40 College St, South Hadley, Massachusetts
Directions
How to Get There
Williston Memorial Hall is on the Mount Holyoke College campus, close to the center of town in South Hadley. You can park in the Gorse Lot off the campus and walk to the library if you like, or find street parking in downtown South Hadley. The library is open to the public, but check their hours on their website.
Marshall: Hello dino track explorers! I’m Marshall.
Lindsay: And I’m Lindsay. Thanks for joining us on our Dino Map Adventure!
M: We’re the hosts of Tumble Science Podcast for Kids and we’re on a mission to share the incredible dinosaur history that happened right here in the Pioneer Valley. There is so much that scientists have discovered here, and so much left for YOU to discover along with us!
L: This stop will take you to South Hadley, where you’ll be close to two of the most unusual dinosaur discoveries in Massachusetts.
M: If you haven’t already, pause this audio to listen to our how-to track at the beginning of our Dino Map before you arrive. It will help you be prepared for what you’re about to experience! All right Lindsay, where are we heading now?
L: We’re headed to the campus of Mount Holyoke College. There are not many public places in South Hadley where you can examine rocks and tracks on your own, but this small, rural town has a lot of history when it comes to big fossil finds.
M: Ohh! Like what?
L: Okay, I have two stories to share. The first is about the “real” first dino tracks ever discovered. In the Greenfield stop, you’ll hear about the discovery of the first dinosaur tracks that were ever studied by a scientist. But a 12-year-old boy in South Hadley was the first known person to discover and dig up dinosaur tracks, over 30 years earlier.
M: Wait, wait, wait! So there are two “first” dinosaur track discoveries? That doesn’t seem to track.
L: So many ways you can use “track.”
M: It doesn’t track — that track!
L: Alright well let’s go back in time to figure this out. So, in the very early 1800s, a boy named Pliny Moody was plowing on his father’s farm. His plow hit a rocky outcrop, and he stopped his work to examine it. Sweeping the dirt away with his hands, Pliny saw five birdlike footprints, embedded into the rock. It was so unusual, and he was so curious about it, Pliny dug up the rock. It was big and heavy, and he had to use a horse or an ox to help him haul it back to his family’s farmhouse. The family used the rock as a doorstop for years. Neighbors who came over must have talked about it, wondering where these mysterious footprints came from. The slab eventually got the name, “Noah’s Raven.”
M: Why’d they call it that?
L: Well, the name comes from the Bible story of Noah’s Ark, in which Noah releases a raven to search for dry land during the long flood.
M: So the name was a reference to the Bible. And probably people were very far from imagining there were giant lizards walking around millions of years ago!
L: (Laughs) Yes! Exactly. So, when Pliny left home for college, his family sold the rock to a doctor. 30 years later, a professor named Edward Hitchcock visited the doctor and happened to see the Noah’s Raven fossil on display. Hitchcock was the first scientist to study the tracks — he was the one who studied the tracks from Greenfield — and he knew Hitchcock knew he was seeing an incredible specimen. Hitchcock bought Noah’s Raven from the doctor and added it to his collection, where you can now see it on display at the Beneski Museum at our Amherst stop.
M: Wow, so Hitchcock was just going to a doctor's appointment to get a tooth checked out or something, and he just happened to see this fossil?
L: It may have been a social visit, but either way, he must have been so surprised.
M: No kidding! It’s kind of incredible that it was hiding in plain sight for so long! But you said that it wasn’t the first. So what’s up with that?L: Well, this is the first documented story of dinosaur tracks coming out of the ground. But because it wasn’t studied, until much much later, the Greenfield tracks get that special distinction.
M: Okay, alright. But you said this place has two stories. So what’s the second one?
LP: It’s the story of the first woman to discover and name a dinosaur, who was a professor here at Mount Holyoke.
M: Ooh, go on.
L: In the early 1900s, Mignon Talbot was a geology and geography professor at Mount Holyoke. She was out one day for a walk with her sister, wanting to climb a nearby hill. As the sisters got close to the hill, Mignon realized that it was actually a gravel pit. And when they got there, she saw that towards the bottom was a big sandstone boulder, with an unusual streak of white in it. Mignon went to examine the streak, thinking it was probably a mark left by a workman’s pick. But the white parts were actually bones! Mignon recognized vertebrae and ribs sticking out. She yelled at her sister to come see, saying, “I’ve found a real live fossil!”
M: “A real live fossil?!” (Laughs) Sure, okay I’ll go with it!
L: (Laughs) Mignon was trying to express that she had found bones instead of tracks, even though tracks are the records of living animals — I don’t know! The point was, she had found one of two fossil skeletons EVER found in the Pioneer Valley.
M: Wow, only two? So why are there so few?
L: Yeah so, the wet conditions that make the Pioneer Valley so great for preserving tracks, make it difficult to preserve bones. Bones need dry conditions in order to fossilize and not decay. So it’s not clear why this dinosaur skeleton was preserved, but it was Mignon Talbot’s lucky find. She was the first woman to find a mostly complete dinosaur skeleton anywhere. She studied it and named it “Podokesaurus holyokensis.” Which means swift-footed lizard of Holyoke.
M: Ohh! Oh, this dinosaur is a Swifty?
Both: (Laugh)
L: “She’s a Swifty of Holyoke”
M: Well, one of many, I’m sure! So does that mean we can call Swifties “Podokes?”
L: (Laughs)
M: Should Taylor Swift be Taylor Podoke?
L: I love that, yeah!
M: Anyway, what did Podokesaurus look like?
L: It was a small and slender theropod dinosaur, about 3 feet long, about as big as a dog. It would have stood on two feet.
M: That’s so cool. Can we see the skeleton somewhere?
L: Unfortunately, the skeleton that Mignon found was lost in a fire, only six years after she found it. Nothing like it has been found again… yet.
M: Yet! There’s always the chance that more skeletons out there that could be found… to the lucky digger!
L: Yes. When you’re at Mount Holyoke, you can explore the college’s library; it’s open to the public. It’s a beautiful historic building that was built during the time when Mignon Talbot was a professor there. The library holds her papers and photos of her amazing discovery.
M: Share what you find, using the hashtag #tumbledinomap! And if you need directions and activities, check out nepm.org/dinomap.
L: We’ll meet you at your next stop, dino track explorers!
Download the Dino Map Adventure and the Dino Adventure Journal.