Daily Archives: November 14, 2009

Saturday, November 21, 11:00 am – 4:00 pm – Homes For The Holidays

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Fabulous homes in the Annisquam and Rowley Shore area of Gloucester will be open to the public on Saturday, November 21, for a self guided tour from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Some of these beautiful homes will be professionally decorated for the holidays. “Homes for the Holidays” is a program of the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce Businesswomen’s Division.

The Home Tour is being planned by the Businesswomen to support the Carolyn O’Connor Scholarship. Named for the first Chairperson of this active Chamber group, the scholarship benefits a woman who is changing careers or returning to the workforce after an absence and is in need of further education. The Businesswomen have given out four $1,000 scholarships since it was created in 2006. The group is hoping to raise enough funds to either increase the scholarship amount or the number of scholarships for 2010.

Tickets are $25.00 in advance and $30.00 on the day of the tour. Actual tickets and a map showing the location of the homes can be picked up on the day of the tour at the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce, 33 Commercial Street, Gloucester between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Contact the Chamber office at (978) 283-1601 to order your advance tickets.

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Saturday, November 21, 9:30 am – Arlington Great Meadows Nature Walk

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The Friends of Arlington Great Meadows’ next “3rd Saturday Nature Walk” at, naturally,  Arlington’s Great Meadows will be on November 21.  Meet them at 9:30am ,  in the nursing home parking lot, directions below . The walk is scheduled to end at approximately 11:30. Adults and teens are welcome, as are older children accompanied by at least one of their parents. Please bring: hat; insect repellent; binoculars and a hand lens (if you have one); wear long pants and appropriate footwear. You may encounter just a bit of mud along some trails, so bring appropriate shoes. No dogs, please. (Note: These events are sponsored by FoAGM and are free.)

Arlington’s Great Meadows is a 183-acre parcel of land located in east Lexington.   It is the largest piece of undeveloped land in the Arlington/Lexington area.  It is part of the Mystic River watershed.  Once a glacial lake, it is now a wet meadow surrounded by uplands created by glacial outwash.  Great Meadows was purchased by Arlington in 1871 to serve as a supplementary water storage area, but was only briefly used for that purpose.   However, it remains a valuable buffer against flooding in the area.

Arlington’s Great Meadows has long served as public open space and is a popular recreational spot, particularly since the opening of the Minuteman Bikeway on its southern border.  It also provides a home for local wildlife.  To date, 56 species of birds have been found nesting in Great Meadows, 12 species of amphibians and reptiles live there, and 251 species of plants grow in the wet meadow and uplands.  Last summer’s Biodiversity Days survey of the area recorded nearly 400 species of plants and animals in the Great Meadows area.

Because it is situated between two schools, the Waldorf School of Lexington and Lexington Christian Academy, Arlington’s Great Meadows is a valuable resource for teaching children about nature and the environment.  The Citizens for Lexington Conservation organizes annual bird watching and geology walks in the Meadows.

Meet at the far end of the parking lot on the right side of Golden Living Center – Lexington.   If you need more information, contact Don Miller at donaldbmiller@comcast.net, preferably, or 781-646-4965.  The web site for the Friends group is www.foagm.org.

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Saturday, November 21 – Berkshire Grown Holiday Farmers Markets

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There will be two Berkshire Grown Holiday Farmers Markets on Saturday, November 21.  The first will be held in Great Barrington at the old firehouse on Castle Street from 9:00 am – 2:00 pm.  The second will be set up at the Williams College Field House on Latham Street in Williamstown, from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm.

Berkshire Grown envisions a community where healthy farms define the open landscape, where a wide diversity of fresh, seasonal food and flowers continue to be readily available to everyone, and where we celebrate our agricultural bounty by buying from our neighboring family farms and savoring their distinctive Berkshire harvest.

For more information, log on to www.berkshiregrown. com.

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Saturday, November 21 – Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation Conservation Walk

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Sheriff’s Meadow holds its series of public walks, in each month of the year, on properties that they own or hold conservation restrictions over. Pre-registration is required as space may be limited.  The Saturday, November 21 walk will be through the Edgartown Pond Lot in Edgartown. Visit http://www.sheriffsmeadow.org site for starting times, directions and other information.  You may also telephone 508-693-5207.  Another walk, in Chappaquiddick, will take place on Saturday, December 19.

The mission of Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation is to conserve, administer and manage natural habitats for wildlife, and all other lands that represent the beautiful, rural, natural character of Martha’s Vineyard.  Henry Beetle Hough and Elizabeth Bowie Hough founded Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation to conserve land that no other organization would. Editor of the Vineyard Gazette, Henry and Elizabeth lived on Pierce Lane in Edgartown.  Overseen by a Board of Directors, Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation now employs six year-round and two seasonal staff. The Foundation’s properties represent all the major Martha’s Vineyard habitats: beaches, sand dunes, coastal ponds, wooded moraine, forests, swamps, marshes, agricultural lands, meadows and more.

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