The site of a famous rock quarry and ceremonial neutral ground used by Native Americans for thousands of years will hold its first dark sky event.
Pipestone National Monument, a small unit of the National Park Service’s network of protected lands, announced this week that it will be the site of a “Star Party” in early May. The park is located in southwestern Minnesota just north of the community of Pipestone.
The event, scheduled for May 4, will be free and open to the public, NPS said.
An expert will be on hand to guide visitors in astrophotography workshops, NPS added in its release.
“From 8:30 pm to 10:00 pm, visitors can look through telescopes with astronomers and learn more about the cosmos,” the park service said.
Star parties and “dark sky” events are becoming a common feature at public parks worldwide. Research shows that visitors to parks are just as interested in stargazing and other recreational activities occurring at night as they are in daytime activities and attractions.
Pipestone National Monument is famous for an ancient rock quarry used by at least two dozen Native American tribes. There’s evidence that people have been mining this quarry for more than 3,000 years to extract catlinite, otherwise known as “pipestone,” a type of sandstone that’s ideal for fashioning the heads of ceremonial peace pipes.
Tribal members are still mining the rock quarry, permitted by NPS to extract the material they need to craft their ceremonial pipes.
When Public Parks last visited, the national monument was hosting artists who demonstrated how to craft intricately decorated pipe heads from blocks of the reddish stone chiseled out of the quarry. Pipestone National Monument boasts a hiking trail through native tallgrass prairie, a creek surrounded by strands of forest, and a waterfall.
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Park Info
Park Name:
Pipestone National Monument
Location:
Minnesota, USA
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