January 20, 2010

This website is devoted to Lorenzo Lorrain Langstroth (1810-1895), who invented the modern beehive in 1851. His hive revolutionized more than beekeeping, it revolutionized agriculture.

Rev. Langstroth (1810-1895) was a wry raconteur, and loved and understood bees. He was a highly educated Congregational minister, a manic-depressive, an abolitionist, an inventor, and an author.

It’s particularly appropriate for us to consider the man and his life now, in 2010, the bicentennial of his birth. I hope that many events can be scheduled during the year, and thereafter, particularly in the places he lived, but generally everywhere that his work has improved our lives–in other words, pretty much everywhere. In addition to celebrating, I hope that we can take time to critically evaluate his work. He was controversial in his day, and in many ways the controversy has colored contemporary views of him.

With a lot of help from a lot of people, I have been doing research into his life and works for the past three years or so. One result is that I have written a one-man, three act play about him that I perform called “Bee Man.” Another is a series of articles scheduled to be run in the magazine Bee Culture. The first article came out in January, about his life through 1848.

Please look through the website, contact us, and give us your comments.

Enjoy!

–Marc Hoffman
soworkthehoneybees@gmail.com

P.S. This website is being revised, so other pages are being included as they are ready.  1/28/10