Daily Archives: April 27, 2017

Saturday, May 6, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Spring Ephemeral Wildflowers of the Northeast

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On Saturday, May 6 at 10 am, the Berkshire Botanical Garden will sponsor a program on Spring Ephemeral Wildflowers of the Northeast.
Starting with a lecture highlighting the wildflowers of New England’s natural habitats, including alpine summits, forests, meadows, wetlands, and coastal environments, Garden in the Wood’s staff botanist Ted Elliman will also take the class on an optional walking tour of Stockbridge’s Ice Glen, just minutes down the road. Based on Elliman’s research for his book, The Wildflowers of New England, the talk will focus on spring-flowering plants that will be in (or almost in) bloom in the forests and meadows of the Berkshires. After the lecture, attendees can have their books signed by the author, before heading off to hike the trails of the Ice Glen, where he will identify the plants along the path of the mossy ravine and answer any questions about the local flora.

Ted Elliman has worked for the New England Wild Flower Society as a staff botanist, invasive species program manager, and as an instructor of botany, ecology, and conservation classes. His book, The Wildflowers of New England, an identification guide to much of the region’s native flora, was published in 2016 by Timber Press. In the 1980’s, Ted started and directed an environmental education and wilderness adventure center in the Berkshires. Since the mid-1990’s, he has periodically led natural history tours to southwest China, where he worked for two years as a teacher and forest ecologist.

Advance registration is highly recommended, but walk-ins are always welcome, space permitting. BBG members $15, nonmembers $20. Register online at www.berkshirebotanical.org.  Photo from www.yourgardensanctuary.com.

Wednesday, May 10, 7:00 pm – Building Old Cambridge

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Old Cambridge is the traditional name of the once-isolated community that grew up around the early settlement of Newtowne, which served briefly as the capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and then became the site of Harvard College. This abundantly illustrated volume from the Cambridge Historical Commission traces the development of the neighborhood as it became a suburban community and bustling intersection of town and gown. Based on the city’s comprehensive architectural inventory and drawing extensively on primary sources, Building Old Cambridge considers how the social, economic, and political history of Old Cambridge influenced its architecture and urban development.

Old Cambridge was famously home to such figures as the proscribed Tories William Brattle and John Vassall; authors Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and William Dean Howells; publishers Charles C. Little, James Brown, and Henry O. Houghton; developer Gardiner Greene Hubbard, a founder of Bell Telephone; and Charles Eliot, the landscape architect. Throughout its history, Old Cambridge property owners have engaged some of the country’s most talented architects, including Peter Harrison, H. H. Richardson, Eleanor Raymond, Carl Koch, and Benjamin Thompson.

The authors, Susan Maycock and her husband Charles Sullivan, explore Old Cambridge’s architecture and development in the context of its social and economic history; the development of Harvard Square as a commercial center and regional mass transit hub; the creation of parks and open spaces designed by Charles Eliot and the Olmsted Brothers; and the formation of a thriving nineteenth-century community of booksellers, authors, printers, and publishers that made Cambridge a national center of the book industry. Finally, they examine Harvard’s relationship with Cambridge and the community’s often impassioned response to the expansive policies of successive Harvard administrations.

Susan and Charles will speak at Porter Square Books on Wednesday, May 10 beginning at 7 pm. For more information visit www.portersquarebooks.com.