The idea of the Old Town Homer Math Trail is quite simple. You will follow a planned route through Old Town Homer and answer mathematical questions related to what you encounter along the way. During your journey you will be given the opportunity to connect mathematics to many subjects including art, design, architecture, science, geography, and history. The students of Homer High School created this math trail to highlight a unique area of their town that draws countless visitors each year. This trail contains mathematical questions about 18 stops located in a walkable area known as Old Town Homer. 

Old Town Homer was the heart of Homer, Alaska, during the 1900’s. After the 1964 earthquake, most of the bluff area slid into the Cook Inlet and left the town abandoned. Old Town was inhabited before World War II, and many of its prewar buildings still stand today housing businesses like AJ’s, the Old Inlet Bookshop, the Bunnell Street Arts Center, Driftwood Inn, and local residents. In the 1980’s, a group of artists began renovating and renewing the town with a project called “Family Garden.” Locals have been supporting this project to make Old Town Homer a safe environment for street performers, dog walkers, and block parties. Old Town Homer is surprisingly pleasant to live and visit!  Walking around Old Town Homer you will soon notice the diversity of houses, shops and other sights to see. There is a rich variety of unique architectural features within the boundaries of Old Town Homer. Old Town Homer is nestled adjacent to Bishop’s Beach which originally was named Anderson Beach because Marion Anderson and her two daughters drowned at Beluga Slough. The boundaries of Old Town Homer range from Fat Olives to Two Sisters, while on the internet many parts of Homer are considered to be part of Old Town such as businesses along Pioneer Avenue.

As you stroll around Old Town, concentrate on the many special mathematical features that abound in the architecture. What mathematical words come to mind to describe these features? Study each stop and pictures, discussing any geometrical features that you notice. Describe or draw them. Can you give mathematical names for them? What repeated features or patterns do you notice?

Try to find examples illustrating the following words or combinations of them.

Lines:

• Straight

• Curved

• Parallel

• Perpendicular

• Intersecting

• Length

Shapes:

• Flat (2-D)

• Solid (3-D)

• Regular

• Irregular

• Open

• Closed

• Names

• Area

• Volume

Angles:

• Acute

• Right

• Obtuse

• Straight

• Right

• Size

Symmetry

• Bi-lateral

• Line (reflectional)

• Point (rotational)

Perspective:

• Linear

• Projective

We hope you enjoy your mathematical tour of Old Town Homer! To begin your tour of Old Town Homer, exit the Homer Chamber of Commerce & Visitor Center and walk toward the ocean to find the Historic Old Town Homer, AK sign. Welcome to Old Town Homer!

I first learned about math trails and tours through the Alaska Mathematics Consortium training delivered by Jim Seitz, Ruth Mount, Alison Vail and Penny Williams in 1999. This exemplary professional development was rich in mathematics, content and philosophy. My journey as a mathematics teacher would have been very different if our paths had not crossed early in my career. (A special thanks to Anchorage School District mathematics curriculum coordinator Sandy Schoff for funding this professional development.)

Now to acknowledge the mathletes who created the Old Town Math Trail ...

A special thanks to the students who contributed significantly to the math trail by authoring individual stop narratives:

• Kurt Rowzee (Stop #4)

• David Sims (Introduction & Stop #5)

• Riley Harrington (Stops #6 and #9)

• Hadley Glidden (Stop #8)

• Charity Martin (Stop #10)

• Felix Gryphon (Stop #13)

• Blaise Banks and Izaac Stineff (Stop #14)

• Bibo Loukil (Stop #15)

• Clark Milstead (Stop #16)

• Jonah Socha, Tison Shafer & Riley Post (Stop #17)

• Simon Lopez, Gabriel LeBlanc & Aiden Arno (Stop #18)

• Jet Allen and Caden Latta (History & Solutions for Stop #4)

• Lexie Sweeney and Bryce Glidden (History & Solutions for Stop #6)

• Emily Owens (History for Stop #8) who also won first place in the Alaska State TrigStar competition May 2023!

Additional thanks to the students below who established the trail path, stops along it and brainstormed the math present in Old Town Homer, Alaska, with specific contributions to Stops 1, 2, 3, and 7:

Kaitlin “Spirit” Cudaback, Jade “Larrs” Jones, Tison Shafer, Brianna Wise, Melissa Baxter, Destiny Garcia, Riley Jones, David Young, Ann Graham, Madison “Mac” Mayer, Becca Wythe, Kaya Dalke, Gabriel LeBlanc, Simon Lopez, Jonah Socha, Mariah Grimes, Riley Post, Kaitlyn White, Aiden Arno, Colton Espeland, and Angus Isaac.

The trail would have stalled if not for feedback and contributions from Lauri Palo, Rebecca Clay, Lucas Thoning, Asia Freeman, and Brad Anderson, along with the Homer Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center. A special thanks to Shanna Mall for drafting the Old Town Homer map and to the Carrs Safeway Alaska Education Grant that made this trail possible.

A sincere thanks to all who contributed to the trail and made the math in Old Town Homer come alive!

Thank you,

Sunny Mall

Mathematics Teacher

homermathtrail@gmail.com