Historian and teacher Bill Hottell and photographer Dennis Kirkland have teamed up to produce a travelogue of the local history group’s 2013 trip to England and Scotland, which they will present at The Merc Playhouse next Wednesday (Oct. 15) at 7 p.m.
Hottell was trip leader on the three-week adventure, which took 25 people to historic sites from the English Channel to the Hebrides. “I know England pretty well and had visited all the places before,” he said.
Notable among the sites they visited was the island of Iona off the western coast of Scotland, a center of learning for Gaelic monks who transcribed — and preserved — important Christian documents from Greek, Latin and Hebrew, Hottell said.
The trip was the culmination of a three-month course in English and Scottish history taught by Hottell the winter prior.
He offers a similar course each year. This winter’s offering starts the first week of January and will cover Queen Elizabeth I, the Stuart dynasty and the beginnings of the British overseas empire.
Hottell has led trips to Europe as a follow up to his courses every-other year since 1999.
The presentation is free of charge. For more information, call Hottell at 997-6655.
