Have you ever wondered how lime is made from limestone, or what life was like in the company town of Roche Harbor? Go back in time to the “Working West” of the San Juan Islands – Roche Harbor and the lime kilns – on Thursday, Oct. 12 at 6 p.m. at Woodmen Hall. Enjoy “rum” punch (non-alcoholic) and the plucky tunes of the Shark Reef Rounders at 6 p.m., then stay at 6:30 p.m. for a reading and slideshow from local architectural historian Boyd C. Pratt’s new book “LIME: Quarrying and Limemaking in the San Juan Islands.” The book covers 1860 (the first lime works) to 1956 (the conversion of Roche Harbor to a “Boatel”).

Formed through eons of geologic time and sculpted by glaciers, the limestone deposits along the islands’ shores provided the essential ingredients for the block and mortar that built and rebuilt the West Coast’s major cities. Learn all about the islands’ economic booms and busts, dramatic changes to the landscape, bloody murder, contentious lawsuits, and deadly shipwrecks.

Sponsored by the Friends of the Lopez Island Library. Free to all!