Tag: Dee Morris

  • Sundays, October 2 – October 30, 2:00 pm – Visionaries, Innovators and Provocateurs: The Eclectic Men and Women of Forest Hills

    Explore one of Boston’s hidden treasures: a 250 acre Victorian cemetery and arboretum listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and dedicated to nature, art and remembrance.  Every Sunday in October, tour Forest Hills (95 Forest Hills Avenue in Boston) with an expert guide.  On October 2, historian Elise Ciregna will present A Library of Life Stories.  There are more than 100,000 people buried at Forest Hills.  Hear some of their stories and view their monuments – some lavish and dramatic, and others modest or mysterious.  On October 9, social historian Dee Morris explores some fascinating families and their Neighbors.  Forest Hills is made up of many family lots, with entire families laid to rest next to one another.  These lots are next to other ones, creating a neighborhood of Victorian families.  October 16 brings A Visit With E.E. Cummings.  Tour guide Jonathan Clark explores the work and themes of innovative poet E.E. Cummings, whose playful style and daring typography (ee cummings, anyone?) made him one of the most influential poets of the 20th century.  The Women of Forest Hills will be the topic on October 23.  Dee Morris leads visitors through the stories of some of the most celebrated and fascinating women of 19th and 290th century Boston.  A hotbed of feminism and firsts in the Victorian era, Boston gave rise to such pioneers as suffragette and abolitionist Lucy Stone, historian-author Annie Haven Thwing, and others both notable and notorious.  Visit the graves of artists, politicians, School Board activists, even spirit mediums.  Finally, on October 30, there will be the Victorian Spiritualism Tour, just in time for All Hallows’ Eve.  Spiritualists believed that death was a transition to a new form of existence.  People who had “crossed over” could be contacted through seances and spirit guides.  Visit some of the religious leaders and practitioners, as well as skeptics, of this controversial 19th century movement.  Each program is $9, and Forest Hills has free parking and is accessible by T.  For directions and more information, visit www.foresthillstrust.org.

  • Saturday, October 3, 2:00 pm – 12th Annual Forest Hills Cemetery Dog Walk

    Dee Morris tells tales of Victorian animals – beloved pets and faithful workers – and tours animal sculpture throughout Forest Hills Cemetery, 95 Forest Hills Avenue, Jamaica Plain, on Saturday, October 3 beginning at 2:00 pm.  The walk is for sociable canines and their owners, but people without dogs (poor souls) are also welcome.  Dogs receive delicious treats from the Walk sponsor, Polkadog Bakery, and a certificate.  $10 for Forest Hills Educational Trust members, $12 for non-members.  For directions and more information, log on to www.foresthillstrust.org.

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  • Saturday, September 19, 2:00 – 3:30 pm – Modest Spaces: Mount Auburn’s Beautiful Public Lots

    Join Dee Morris, Social Historian, on a walking tour of Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Saturday, September 19, from 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm.  As Mount Auburn developed, it set aside four public lots containing single graves. Victorians of  modest means were then able to afford a final resting place in pleasant proximity to generous family lots. Named after Saints, these lots embraced such notables as Peter Banner, the architect of Boston’s Park St Church, Thomas Grundy, a hardworking brass finisher from Stoneham, and the genteel Austin sisters of Garden Street in Cambridge.  Join Dee on this late summer stroll to learn more about some of the fascinating individuals buried in these public lots. Meet at the Entrance Gate.  $5 charge for Friends of Mount Auburn, $10 for non-members.  For more information, you may call 617-547-7105, or email friends@mountauburn.org. You may register in advance at www.mountauburn.org by clicking on to Calendar of Events.

  • Tuesday, June 16, 6-9 (Raindate Thursday, June 18)- Summer Solstice Celebration

    Explore a Boston treasure! On the longest day of the year, The Forest Hills Educational Trust invites you to join Trustees and Friends of the Forest Hills Educational Trust for a festive evening of twilight tours, trolley rides, al fresco refreshments and vintage cocktails. See masterpieces of sculpture by Daniel Chester French, visit Revolutionary War hero Joseph Warren and poet e.e. Cummings, and view some of the Trust’s innovative contemporary art. Tours will be led by our expert guides Elise Ciregna, Al Maze, Dee Morris, and Trustee Anthony Sammarco; artists Fern Cunningham and Mitch Ryerson will participate in a walk to see their work at Forest Hills.

    Special thanks to Samuel Adams Brewery in Jamaica Plain for donating beer to support the event, and to the expert mixologists of LUPEC (Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails) for creating vintage cocktails.

    Tickets are $35 and must be purchased in advance. Call 617.524.3354; leave a message with your daytime phone and a representative will call you back for credit card information. Or send an email stating how many tickets and your daytime phone number to: tickets@foresthillstrust.org. Do not email your credit card information.