Daily Archives: February 20, 2024


Tuesday, February 27, 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm – Elements of the American Wedding, 1860 – 1920

Join Etiquetteer Robert B. Dimmick for an exploration of wedding customs in the United States from the Civil War to Prohibition. Aside from familiar customs like the white wedding dress and tossing the bouquet, Etiquetteer will look at fads like the floral bell, wedding breakfast, and home wedding. Two of the most celebrated weddings of this period include President Cleveland’s White House wedding to Frances Folsom and that of Consuelo Vanderbilt to the Duke of Marlborough in New York. Stories of Gibson family weddings will also be shared, especially those of sisters Mary Ethel, in Nahant, and Rosamond, held in the Gibson House Music Room six months after her father’s death. This program will be presented live from the Music Room of the Gibson House.

Light refreshments will be served. The program takes place February 27 at 6 pm at The Gibson House, 137 Beacon Street in Boston. $15 Gibson House members, $20 nonmembers. Register HERE


Tuesday, February 27, 5:00 am – 6:30 am Eastern (but recorded) – Ancient Roots: Classical Stories Growing in Your Garden, Online

Join The Gardens Trust and Gillian Hovell and discover how the ancient Romans set the seeds of the shape and uses of our modern gardens. Explore the truly ancient, vibrant and fascinating origins of our personal garden spaces and of the grandeur of public gardens. Find out why, if the Romans could have had ‘House and Garden’ magazines, they would have reveled in them! See gardens anew through ancient kitchen gardens, mythological stories, attitudes to wildlife and public parks that all still flourish in our green spaces. Then stroll through the gardens of Roman Pompeii, now blossoming with new insights. This third session on February 27 will follow the storytelling element in Roman gardens.

We travel back, over 2,000 years to see the plants in our own gardens in the way the ancients did – as a wealth of stories. It seems that almost every plant in the Roman gardens had a story, myth or divine connection that added depth and atmosphere to their use in a garden. Join Gillian as she digs deep into our gardens and plants so that we discover and enjoy colorful and fantastical tales of myths, legends and gods and heroes that determined what plant you put where. It also created a hunger for outdoor works of art that were talking points and prompts to fill your gardens’ social spaces with remarkable stories.

This is a session full of story-telling, rich with magical transformations, tragic tales and romance that will delight and entertain. Join Gillian and add a wealth of stories, colour and new connections to the plants in your garden today; you will see your trees and flowers in a whole new light!

After graduating with 2-1 (Hons) in Latin and Ancient History from Exeter University, Gillian Hovell worked in BBC Television and became an award-winning freelance writer, author, public speaker & broadcaster in the media and online. As an independent expert in the ancient world she specializes in archaeology, prehistory and in the Greek and Roman eras. She is a lecturer at York University and can be seen and heard on TV & Radio.

Gillian has excavated at major sites in the UK and Europe (hence ‘The Muddy Archaeologist’) and she shares her expertise and her passion with diverse audiences in the UK and internationally. For history and archaeology are everywhere, and they add colour, depth and meaning to every aspect our lives today.

Her series of The Muddy Archaeologist Online Courses enables you to explore ancient history, archaeology and Latin with her at any time. An ever-growing collection is available, and they can also be found on Gillian’s website here.

This ticket (REGISTER HERE) is for this individual session and costs £8, and you may purchase tickets for o the entire course of 6 sessions at a cost of £42 via the link here. [Gardens Trust members may purchase tickets at £31.50 for the series or £6 each talk]. Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk. A link to the recorded session (available for 1 week) will be sent shortly afterwards.