For our free Monthly Speaker Series for September, we will have Land Surveyor and Historian Thomas C. Finnegan. Craig Finnegan, LS, a local land surveyor and historian. Known to most locals as Craig, he has been practicing surveying his whole life carrying on the business started in 1924 by J. Craig Finnegan. Craig will talk about the history of mapping and surveying in Monmouth County from Colonial times to the present. Much of what we see today in the shapes of properties and municipal boundaries was influenced by surveyors. A few of our Founding Fathers were surveyors and their influence greatly impacted how our land and how our country was shaped and settled. Did you know that three of the faces on Mount Rushmore are of surveyors? Surveying is more than the survey that you got when you purchased your house. It’s about history, development, land use, property rights and politics and more.

Craig has purchased the records of many of the old surveyors in the area. There is a good possibility, if you are searching old maps and surveys. you will come across a name Craig has in his historical records. Craig is a fascinating speaker with a trove of knowledge of the area. This is one talk you do not want to miss.

Talk begins at 7:30 pm, Wednesday September 17, at the Strauss Mansion Museum, 27 Prospect Circle, Atlantic Highlands. Admission is free but donations are gladly accepted.