Boston Flora

Tag: Crane Estate

  • Friday, December 17 – Sunday, December 19 – Winter Solstice with The Trustees

    The Trustees are celebrating the Winter Solstice on December 17, 18, and 19 at a number of different venues. Appleton Farms in Hamilton and Ipswich is the site of a Winter Solstice Family Fun, and Fruitlands Solstice Stroll in Harvard  features a candlelit walk followed by hot chocolate and s’mores around the outdoor firepit. The deCordova Museum presents a solstice clay candle lanterns workshop. Castle Hill on the Crane Estate in Ipswich is where you’ll get to participate in a Winter Solstice Hike.  Powisset Farm in Dover will hold a Winter Solstice Supper,  and for those near Governor Hutchinson’s Field in Milton, enjoy a fire dance performance at Solstice Illumination Night. Chestnut Hill Farm in Southborough holds a Solstice Celebration. This is just a sampling,  Fees and times vary, so to check them all out visit www.thetrustees.org for details.

  • Friday, October 23, 5:00 pm – Saturday, October 24, 9:00 am – Camping on the Grand Allee

    Camp on the Grand Allee, the central landscape feature at Castle Hill on the Crane Estate in Ipswich, a National Historic Landmark, for a once-in-a-lifetime experience! Enjoy s’mores-making around a campfire at base camp (a/k/a the Casino Complex), a night sleeping under the stars, and waking to magnificent estate and ocean views.

    Bathroom facilities at the Casino Complex will be available. Space is limited to 8 families. Participants must provide their own tent, bedrolls, and cold supper. Cooking on-site is not permitted. An overnight manager will greet guests, prepare a self-contained campfire and s’mores kits for each group, serve morning coffee, and sanitize restrooms between scheduled family visits.

    Pre-registration is required. Trustees members $88 per family, nonmembers $118. Register at https://thetrustees.org/event/57353/

  • Saturday, November 9, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Autumn Succulent Centerpiece Workshop

    Bring nature inside and create a beautiful, living centerpiece that will bring life to your table through Thanksgiving and beyond! This Workshop takes place November 9 from 10 – noon at Castle Hill on the Crane Estate in Ipswich.

    Succulents are the start of the show in this workshop! Learn about succulent types, handling, and care while creating your own autumn pumpkin centerpiece to take home. 

    Price of $52 (members) an $65 (nonmembers) includes all materials needed to create 1 centerpiece, plus light refreshments for an refreshing, creative morning among friends! All skill levels are welcome, ages 16 and over please. http://www.thetrustees.org/things-to-do/northeast/event-48713.html

  • Sunday, June 9, 1:00 pm – 3:30 pm – Ravenswood Park Property Hike

    Did you know there is more to the Trustees in the Northeast than just Crane Estate and Appleton Farms? Let them show you around properties you might not have heard of to expand your hiking repertoire and learn more about the natural history of the area.

    Ravenswood Park is an expansive preserve that offers over 10 miles of trails through spectacular natural environments. If the weather cooperates, the native sweetbay magnolias may be blooming in the Great Magnolia Swamp!

    Bring water and dress for the weather to maximize comfort. Unless otherwise communicated, Neighbor Property Hikes will convene at that property, not at Crane Estate. 

    Weather cancellation policy: All trips will take place rain or shine with the following exceptions: If there is a high confidence that thunder and lightning will be present, we may cancel a trip up to one hour in advance. If the forecast is for steady and heavy rain all day, we may decide to cancel by 3pm on the day before the event. If either of these happens, all registrants will be notified by email and/or phone with as much notice as possible.

    $12 for members of The Trustees, $20 for nonmembers. Register online at www.thetrustees.org.

  • Sunday, August 19 – Sunday, November 4 – Traveling Biergartens at Historic Estates and Gardens

    Notch Brewing and the Trustees of Reservations conservation group are partnering to take Notch beer on the road to parks, farms and other gorgeous settings managed by the Trustees. Each traveling biergarten will present communal outdoor seating, games, special programs like fun runs, and beer served in half-liter steinkrugs. Also, each Trustees site has its own admission fees. Go online for specific details.

    August 19 — Castle Hill on the Crane Estate, 290 Argilla Road, Ipswich
    August 24-25 — Francis William Bird Park, Polley Lane, East Walpole, MA featuring Dog Day on August 25
    September 6-9 — Powisset Farm, 37 Powisset Street, Dover
    September 13-16 — Stevens Coolidge Place, 137 Andover Street, North Andover, featuring an Oktoberfest
    September 22-23 — Fruitlands Museum, 102 Prospect Hill Road, Harvard, part of its Craft Festival
    October 5-7 — Chestnut Hill Farm. 9-99 Chestnut Hill Road, Southborough, featuring Sunday’s Harvest Fest
    November 3-4 — Castle Hill at Crane Estate, 290 Argilla Road, Ipswich, during the annual Art Show and Sale

    Image result for traveling biergarten The Trustees

  • Through April, 2019 – Alicja Kwade: TunnelTeller

    Berlin-based contemporary artist Alicja Kwade (b.1979, Poland) has long been engaged with value systems, philosophical questions about the essence of reality, and with attempting to examine, if not resolve, issues of inherently subjective concepts such as space and time. In her sculptures, as well as installations, photographs, and films, Kwade occupies herself with the structural properties of everyday objects and questioning the veracity of matter, revealing possibilities for alternate realities, while examining social agreements and supposed truths.

    A rapidly rising international star in the art world, Kwade presented her first U.S. solo exhibition at 303 Gallery in New York in the spring of 2016 and has since opened several other international exhibitions, ReReason at Yuz Museum in Shanghai, and Linienland at Haus Konstruktiv in Zurich. TunnelTeller, her new work for The Trustees, is Kwade’s first large-scale public artwork commission in the U.S. The installation opened to the public on May 19, 2018, and will be on view through April 2019 at Castle Hill on the Crane Estate in Ipswich.

    Working with independent curator Pedro Alonzo, the exclusive curator for the Trustees Art & the Landscape initiative since the program’s inception, Kwade’s new work is a site-specific piece that embodies the spirit of the place and interprets the natural and cultural surroundings with a nontraditional form of expression. Resting upon the outlines of the former hedge maze once located to the east of the Great House at Castle Hill, and overlooking Cape Ann and Crane Beach, the structure will draw upon the property’s gilded era majesty, the Crane family history, and the natural beauty of the surrounding landscape.

    One of The Trustees’ most iconic properties, the Crane Estate is comprised of 2,100 protected acres consisting of Castle Hill – a National Historic Landmark that includes the Crane mansion or “Great House” – the Inn at Castle Hill, Crane Beach, and the Crane Wildlife Refuge. The property was formerly owned by Chicago industrialist Richard T. Crane, Jr., who purchased the property in 1910 because he was captivated by the beauty of the landscape. Over many years, Crane worked with a dream team eight leading architects, landscape architects, and artists to shape his summer family retreat. In 1928, he crowned the estate with a grand mansion designed by renowned Chicago architect David Adler. The family generously bequeathed the majestic estate to The Trustees in 1940 to preserve for public use and enjoyment. Today, the Crane Estate welcomes over 350,000 visitors annually from near and far, and offers year-round educational and cultural programs and activities.

    While the Crane family had a long history of working with designers and artists at Castle Hill, this is The Trustees’ first presentation of a commissioned contemporary work in this historic and majestic landscape of rolling hills and coastal views.

    Alonzo describes TunnelTeller as an immersive structure designed to challenge the viewer’s notions of space and perception. At a moment of tremendous diversity in the arts where virtually any material and combination of unique mediums are being used as a means of artistic expression, he describes Alicja Kwade as an artist who stands out for her ability to use raw materials and everyday objects to create bold works that imbue meaning, creativity, and surprising functionality.

    TunnelTeller will be free with admission to Castle Hill and open to the public when the property is open, from sunrise to sunset. Join the Art & The Landscape conversation with The Trustees on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram: @thetrustees #thetrustees #artXlandscape. For more information on Alicja Kwade’s current and past exhibitions, visit the 303 Gallery website.

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  • Saturday, May 19, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – The Art of the Garden

    Saturday, May 19, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – The Art of the Garden

    The Trustees 5th Annual “Home Sweet Home” Historic Open House Day will take place on Saturday, May 19th from 10AM to 4PM. This year’s theme, The Art of the Garden: Inspiration Grows Here, will celebrate The Trustees’ public gardens, a living documentary of Massachusetts horticulture and design traditions. Many of these gardens are part of the landscapes of Trustees historic sites, the former homes of historical figures, literati, titans of industry, political leaders, artists and more and span a 300-year timeline from the Colonial Era to the Modern Movement. Come experience all the beauty, history, and unique stories contained within each home, as well as the exquisitely designed gardens and stunning natural landscapes. The ten sites open free of charge are Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, Castle Hill on the Crane Estate in Ipswich, the Eleanor Cabot Bradley Estate in Canton, the Stevens-Coolidge Place in North Andover, The Old Manse in Concord, The Ashley House in Sheffield, Naumkeag House & Gardens in Stockbridge, the Mission House in Stockbridge, The Folly at Field Farm in Williamstown (pictured)  and the William Cullen Bryant Homestead in Cummington. Special tours, gardening and family-friendly activities and refreshments will be offered. Visit http://thetrustees.org/homesweethome for details.

  • Saturday, August 5 and Sunday, August 6, 3:00 pm – 8:00 pm – Roaring Twenties Lawn Party

    The Trustees in association with Boston Swing Central will host the Roaring Twenties Lawn Party at Castle Hill on the Crane Estate, 290 Argilla Road in Ipswich, for two glittering days on Saturday, August 5 and Sunday, August 6.

    The Lawn Party harkens back to the Jazz Age, the era in which the mansion at Castle Hill was built. The event will feature twenties and thirties jazz, swing dance lessons, Charleston performances, lawn games, a vintage fair, and house tours.

    Attendees are encouraged to come in twenties-style dress and bring a picnic supper or pick up supper from an on-site vendor. Pre-ordered picnic suppers will be available from Ferreira Foods www.ferreirafoods.com.

    Beer, wine, and hard cider vendors will be on hand to quench guests’ thirst. $40 for 1 day, $70 for 2 days (students, seniors, Trustees members $32/$52), children under 10 free. Parking $10 per car. Tickets available at www.roaringtwentieslawnparty.org.

  • Thursday, June 16, 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Landscape for Leisure

    Explore on foot the magnificent grounds of Castle Hill on the Crane Estate in Ipswich designed first by the Olmsted Brothers and later Arthur Shurcliff. Hear about the plans, process, and differences of opinions when the designing process began in 1909. Walk through the newly restored Casino Complex and Italian Gardens, and find out why there seems to be ancient ruins on the property. This Trustees of Reservations program will take place Thursday, June 16 from 3 – 4 (and at various other times throughout the summer – contact 978-356-4351, x 4049 for details) and is $10 for Trustees membrs, $15 for nonmembers. Email pphipps@thetrustees.org to sign up.

  • Tuesday, April 14, 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm – Tales of Loss & Redemption: The Country House in the National Trust

    From the 1880s through the 1930s, Britain experienced a revolution in land ownership only paralleled in its history by the Norman Conquest and the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Britain’s landed elites found themselves under attack by the forces of modernity on all fronts, and their bastions, the country houses, fell to the auction block and the wrecker’s ball in increasing numbers throughout the first half of the 20th century. Into this breach in the fabric of British landed society stepped a reluctant new force of social order, the National Trust. On Tuesday, April 14, at 6 pm, the Royal Oak Foundation’s Executive Director Dr. Sean E. Sawyer will discuss the National Trust’s role in rescuing some of Britain’s greatest country houses and their internationally significant collections of decorative and fine arts. From a reluctant recipient of a handful of houses in the 1920s, the Trust evolved, through its Country Houses Scheme, to lead the way in preserving houses and collections through the bleakest years of the post-World War II era. The last decades of the 20th century saw a revival of fortunes for the country house and the Trust’s adaptation as its role as a leading operator of visitor attractions. This is a story full of deaths, both mortal and material, and of daring rescues and bureaucratic blindness. This illustrated lecture, co sponsored by the Royal Oak Foundation and the Trustees of Reservations, will explore some of the Trust’s most important properties, including Blickling and Hardwick Hall, and of the families and great characters who haunt them still. The lecture will take place at Castle Hill on the Crane Estate in Ipswich. TTOR members $30, nonmembers $40. To register, call 978-356-4351, x 4050.