Lecture on North Jersey in the ice age

MAPLEWOOD — The Durand-Hedden House & Garden will host guest lecturer Gregory Pope for an afternoon talk on April 14 about what New Jersey looked like 20,000 years ago in the era of the Late Pleistocene glaciers.

Attendees will get a chance to imagine First Mountain covered with hundreds of feet of ice, with debris from the glacier blocking the ancient Passaic River from flowing through Hobart Gap, and imagine now-extinct large mammals wandering through South Mountain, according to a press release from Durand-Hedden.

The talk will try to help people understand past climates and climate change to appreciate the current environment and modern human impacts, the release said.

Pope is professor in the Earth and Environmental Studies Department at Montclair State University and former chair of the department. He is a physical geographer in practice and by education. He also conducts research on the impacts of forest fires, as well as geoarchaeology, which is the applications of geosciences to the materials and sites of historic and prehistoric cultures.

From 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., the Accomplishing Artists Collective of Columbia High School will exhibit their work in the Carriage House.

Doors open at 1 p.m., with the lecture beginning at 1:30 p.m. Free registration is requested at DurandHedden.org. All are welcome and the event is free. Parking is available on nearby streets.

The House is located at 523 Ridgewood Road, Maplewood.