Daily Archives: November 21, 2021

Saturdays, December 4, January 8, and January 29, 10 am Eastern Time – Enchanted Ground, Humphry Repton, Online

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Join John Phibbs online on Saturdays, December 4, January 8, and January 29 at 10 am Eastern time for Zoom talks from Great Britain. The three talks will center on the work of the landscape gardener Humphry Repton (1752 – 1816), and are free. The talks are arranged in conjunction with Mr. Phibbs’ new book published by Rizzoli, Humphry Repton Designing the Landscape Garden, which, one hopes, will be put on your list of holiday purchases.

The December 4 talk will be on The Work, not what he said he was going to do in his red books and publications, but what Repton actually did as a landscape gardener. On January 8, the topic is The Revolution – how Repton took the landscape tradition that he inherited from Capability Brown and turned it on its head. The final talk, on January 29, is entitled Why? This talk will begin with what Repton might have learned when he was in Ireland in 1783, and will consider the kind of man he was and will explore the social program that drove him, which contributed so much to the influence he had in the USA through the work of the great Frederick Law Olmsted, the founding father of American landscape architecture, whose bicentenary we are celebrating in 2022. For the links to the talks, email johnphibbs@hotmail.com and he will forward the links to you.

Thaddeus Thompson Named Interim Executive Director of Berkshire Botanical Garden

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Mike Beck, BBG’s Executive Director, is taking a sabbatical to spend two years in England. He will accompany his husband, a corporate lawyer with strong expertise in the technology sector, who is pursuing a career opportunity ‘across the pond’ that will extend from this September through 2023.

During that time, Beck’s duties will be fulfilled by incoming Interim Executive Director Thaddeus Thompson., pictured below. Thompson served as the Director of Institutional Advancement at Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, Massachusetts, during a period of extraordinary growth and development. He is also a member of the Board of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, which oversees the Gardens at Elm Bank in Wellesley. Thompson was offered the position after a diligent candidate search conducted by members of BBG’s Board of Trustees. While Thompson will work independently, with full executive powers, he intends to communicate regularly with Beck, keeping him informed of developments and drawing from Beck’s extensive knowledge of the Garden, its staff, and its community.

That the Board was willing to consider a two-year sabbatical is testament to how much Mike Beck is respected and well-liked by the Garden’s staff and Trustees. His leadership, for close to eight years, has attracted a strong and talented staff with a great sense of teamwork. During his tenure, the Garden has expanded in many ways, including an arts program that has put BBG’s Leonhardt Galleries on the map as a significant cultural venue; a Music Mondays program that is attracting new audiences to the Garden; a new Tea Room offering refreshments; and exponential growth in attendance. He also successfully led the Garden through the pandemic, keeping the grounds open on a limited basis as a community service, and keeping the staff fully intact, with no layoffs.

Friday, December 3, 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Tenth Annual Repeal Day Celebration, Online

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Join Etiquetteer Robert B. Dimmick for the Tenth Annual Celebration of the Repeal of Prohibition to benefit the Gibson House Museum. The coronavirus is not keeping us from celebrating! This year’s virtual Repeal Day will include some special aspects:


For the past ten years, Etiquetteer Robert B. Dimmick has led a celebration each December celebrating one of the more obscure aspects of the Gibson family’s residence at 137 Beacon Street: museum founder Charlie Gibson’s use of the third-floor bathroom for the production of Prohibition-era gin.

While the pandemic prevents us from hosting an in-person party, the party is still going on! Just as in 2020, please join us via Zoom, on Friday, December 3, for Prohibition-era merriment, including a cocktail-mixing demonstration, Prohibition trivia, and an exclusive video tour of the Gibson House Red Study—a space too small to visit during a typical Repeal celebration. The evening will include an informal panel discussion hosted by Etiquetteer on the evolution of cocktail culture in the twenty-first century with some beloved friends of Repeal: our own Kirsten “Miss Kitty” Amann, co-author of Drinking Like Ladies and Jeremy Cooper, co-author with Andrew Klausner of their three-volume series, Cocktail Hour Meets….

All proceeds from this event will benefit the preservation of the Gibson House Museum, the only historic house museum in Boston’s Back Bay. $60. Register by November 25 for the Zoom program HERE