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Lecture Series

Lecture series returns to Florence's McFarland Historic State Park

Posted 10/4/23

Learn more about the Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine as the Ernest Talks lecture series returns to McFarland Historic State Park.

“The Legend of the Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine” …

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Lecture Series

Lecture series returns to Florence's McFarland Historic State Park

Posted

Learn more about the Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine as the Ernest Talks lecture series returns to McFarland Historic State Park.

“The Legend of the Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine” lecture takes place from 11 a.m. to noon, Thursday, Oct. 5 at McFarland Historic State Park, 24 West Ruggles St. The event is free and refreshments will be served.  

Speaker Charles “Hoyt” Huckabay will detail the legend that started with four stolen tablets, a family named Peralta and a miner named Jacob Waltz, according to a press release.

“Huckabay will share the true story of the mine, a horse named Kiddo, and the journey through the Superstitions - Arizona’s most mysterious mountains,” the release stated.

Other Ernest Talks scheduled for the 2023-24 season include:

  • Historical novelist Venetia Hobson Lewis will read from and discuss her latest book, “Changing Woman, a Novel of the Camp Grant Massacre,” which focuses on an 1871 raid that killed 150 Apache women. The talk is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 26.

  • In his lecture, “Rivers of Dreams: Songs and Stories of Arizona’s Waterways,” Jay Craváth will discuss how the Colorado, Gila, Salt, and other rivers and waterways helped to settle Arizona. The lecture is set for Thursday, Nov. 16.
  • Gregory McNamee will be present “Seeing the Desert,” which will offer insights from literature, philosophy and art on seeing the desert as a place of abundant life. The discussion is set for Thursday, Dec. 7.

The “Rivers of Dreams: Songs and Stories of Arizona’s Waterways” and “Seeing the Desert” have been made possible by Arizona Humanities, a statewide 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and the Arizona affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the release stated.

In other McFarland news, the park will be waiving its admission fee on the first Thursdays of each month from 9:30 to 11 a.m., October to April 2024. Visitors can meet local artisans and purchase their works.

McFarland Historic State Park’s regular hours are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday-Saturday through April 2024. General admission is $5 per person except for special events. Ages 18 and under are free.

The park is named after Florence resident Ernest W. “Mac” McFarland who served as a U.S. senator, U.S. Senate majority leader, Arizona governor, chief justice of the Arizona Supreme Court, and is considered a “father” of the GI Bill, the release stated.