Pedagogy: The Excavating History Class at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago > Excavating History 2008

Amber Ginsberg and Natalie Pfister Excavating History 2008 participants, SAIC students
The grounds of the Pleasant Home sits on the St. Lawrence divide, one of the minor continental divides which separated the watersheds of the Mississippi and Lake Michigan. When the flow of the Chicago river was reversed to create a disease free water supply for the city, the divide ceased to function.

As a way to elucidate this geological history, a single line of bricks marks the Continental Divide. The bricks, which emulate the Roman brick chosen by the architect George Maher. As the ice melts, the demarcation remains.