Boston Flora

Tag: Henry David Thoreau

  • Monday, May 21, 7:00 pm – The Guide to Walden Pond: An Exploration of the History, Nature, Landscape and Literature of One of America’s Most Iconic Places

    Porter Square Books, 25 White Street in Cambridge, welcomes Robert Thorson, author of The Guide To Walden Pond: An Exploration of the History, Nature, Landscape and Literature of One of America’s Most Iconic Places on Monday, May 21 at 7 pm for a talk and book signing. This is the first guidebook to Henry David Thoreau’s most defining place, visited by half a million people each year and widely known as the fountainhead of America’s environmental consciousness.

    Using this guide, both armchair readers and trail-walkers alike can amble around the pond’s shoreline, pausing at fifteen special places to learn about people, historic events, and the natural world. Thoreau will be a constant companion via quotes from Walden. Stop by stop, the place of his book will merge with the book of his place.

    Abundantly illustrated with photographs, drawings, and maps, this guide is a must-have for a meaningful, engaging tour of Walden Pond as well as a souvenir of a visit. For more information visit https://www.portersquarebooks.com/event/robert-thorson-guide-walden-pond

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  • Monday, April 30, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – When Darwin Met Thoreau

    Each winter, Director William (Ned) Friedman and the Arnold Arboretum present the Director’s Lecture Series, featuring nationally recognized experts addressing an array of topics related to Earth’s biodiversity and evolutionary history, the environment, conservation biology, and key social issues associated with current science. The Director’s Lecture Series is open to current Arnold Arboretum members only; visit http://arboretum.harvard.edu for information on becoming a member. Lectures take place in the Hunnewell Building Lecture Hall. Parking will be available along the Arborway and in front of the Hunnewell Building on lecture nights.

    Randall Fuller, PhD, Herman Melville Distinguished Professor of American Literature, University of Kansas, will speak on Monday, April 30 at 7 pm. On January 1, 1860, Henry David Thoreau learned about a new work of science entitled On the Origin of Species. Within a month, he had read the book, taken extensive notes, and begun to incorporate Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection into his understanding of nature. In this talk, Professor Randall Fuller will recount Thoreau’s deep engagement with what remains one of the most important concepts of the nineteenth century. Fuller is the author of The Book that Changed America.

    Register online at https://www.arboretum.harvard.edu/news-events/directors-lecture-series/

  • Friday, November 17, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – The Boatman: Thoreau on the Water

    Robert Thorson, PhD, Professor of Geology, University of Connecticut, and Columnist, Hartford Courant, will speak at the Arnold Arboretum on Friday, November 17, 7:00–8:30 pm in the Hunnewell Building.

    Henry David Thoreau was a boatman, more than he was a woodsman: a lifelong river rat whose sense of place emerged from boating, walking, and skating the Assabet, Sudbury, and Concord Rivers. As a backyard naturalist and river enthusiast, Henry David Thoreau was keenly aware of the way humans had altered the waterways and meadows of his beloved Concord River Valley. And he recognized that he himself—a land surveyor by trade—was as complicit in these transformations as the bankers, lawyers, builders, landowners, and elected officials who were his clients. Robert Thorson shares a compelling story of Thoreau’s intellectual growth and scientific understanding of the changes made to the river he cherished more than Walden Pond. Robert Thorson’s book, The Boatman: Henry David Thoreau’s River Years, will be available for purchase and signing. Fee Free, but registration required. Offered in collaboration with JP Reads. Register at my.arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617-384-5277.

  • Wednesday, October 11, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm – This Ever New Self: Thoreau and His Journal

    Every private journal tells the story of a self, and Henry David Thoreau kept one of the most faithful, thoughtful, and provocative journals in American history. His everyday companion, the journal was an essential tool for mindful living, and grist for one of the world’s most influential books, Walden, or Life in the Woods. Two hundred years after Thoreau’s birth, his thoughts on the value of introspection, simple living, and self-sufficiency continue to challenge and inspire us.

    On Wednesday, October 11 beginning at 7 pm at the Arnold Arboretum, David Wood, curator of This Ever New Self: Thoreau and His Journal, will discuss how the first major exhibition devoted to the life of one of America’s most influential citizens will bring contemporary audiences face to face with a man whose life continues to impact our modern world. The lecture is free but registration is necessary. Call 617-384-5277, or email adulted@arnarb.harvard.edu.

    This Ever New Self, a joint exhibition with The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, will be on view at the Concord Museum through January 21, 2018.

  • Thursday, May 4, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm- Henry David Thoreau at 200: From Concord to Cape Cod

    American author and naturalist Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) is best known for spending one night in jail for nonpayment of the state poll tax, and for living for two years along the shores of Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts, which sprouted the enduring book Walden. As part of the “Concord Quartet” Thoreau and his contemporaries Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Louisa May Alcott, revolutionized political, social and literary thinking and became known as “Transcendentalists”.

    Based on several trips to Cape Cod and originally published as a series of articles, Henry David Thoreau’s Cape Cod is a remarkable work that depicts the natural beauty of Cape Cod and the nature that surrounds it. Thoreau, a consummate lover of the outdoors and nature is right at home in the Cape and he details his excitement of the area with naturalist portraits of the indigenous species and animals. Now 200 years after his birth, Thoreau’s essays and books are still being read, and his words are still printed on inspirational posters, greeting cards, and social media graphics. What are his basic philosophies, and how do they resound with us today? On Thursday May 4, beginning at 1 pm at the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History, you will learn a bit more about this “Transcendentalist” and discuss what threads connect us to him ­ including what he saw and experienced during his trips to Cape Cod.

    Corinne H. Smith is a writer, poet, and outdoor educator. She is the author of Westward I Go Free: Tracing Thoreau’s Last Journey, as well as a biography for middle-schoolers, Henry David Thoreau for Kids: His Life and Ideas, With 21 Activities. Corinne serves as an occasional interpreter and blog writer for Thoreau Farm: The Birthplace of Henry David Thoreau in Concord, MA.

    For more information please call: 508-896-3867, ext. 133. Free with admission.  The Museum’s address is 869 Main Street (Route 6A) in Brewster.

     

  • Saturday, November 5, 9:30 am – 12:00 noon – Turtles, Tortoises, and Terrapins: An Introduction to the Shelled Reptiles

    Using preserved specimens from Harvard University’s Herpetology collection, as well as live animals, participants in this Harvard Museum of Natural History class on Saturday, November 5 from 9:30 – noon will learn basic turtle anatomy, determine the primary characteristics of the most common turtle families, consider the unique adaptations of some individual species, and view several historically significant specimens. Participants can look closely at iconic specimens, including a Galápagos tortoise collected by a whaler in the Galápagos Islands in 1835, the same year of Charles Darwin’s visit there, and a turtle collected by Henry David Thoreau in Concord, Massachusetts.  Instructor: Joe Martinez, Curatorial Assistant Herpetology Department Museum of Comparative Zoology

    Fees: $40 Museum members/$50 nonmembers.  Register online at http://hmnh.harvard.edu/event/turtles-tortoises-and-terrapins-introduction-shelled-reptiles

  • Friday – Sunday, July 24 – 26, 2:00 pm – I Go Forth Into My Garden

    Experience the vegetable garden first planted for the Hawthornes in 1842 by neighbor Henry David Thoreau. On this guided walk, you’ll hear about 19th century gardens, the special meaning gardening held for the Hawthornes, and how today the Gaining Ground organization maintains the historic garden. Offered Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, at 2PM, or by advanced reservation. Call 978. 369. 3909. The garden is located at The Old Manse  on Monument Street in Concord, Massachusetts. For directions visit http://www.thetrustees.org/things-to-do/greater-boston/event-2795.html?. Image from www.gardentoursnewengland.com.

  • Thursday, January 22, 7:00 pm – Apples of New England

    Porter Square Books, located in the Porter Square Shopping Center at 25 White Street in Cambridge, will host Russell Steven Powell on Thursday, January 22, beginning at 7 pm, who will speak about his new book Apples of New England. This fascinating and helpful guide will offer practical advice about rare heirlooms and newly discovered varieties, chapters on the rich tradition of apple growing in New England and on the fathers of American apples Massachusetts natives John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed) and Henry David Thoreau. Apples of New England will present the apple in all its splendor: as biological wonder, super food, work of art, and cultural icon.

    Apples of New England will also be an indispensable resource for anyone identifying apples in New England orchards, farm stands, grocery stores or their own backyard. Photographs of the more than 200 apples discovered, grown, or sold in New England will be accompanied by notes about flavor and texture, history, ripening time, storage quality, and best use.

    Russell Steven Powell has worked for the apple industry for nearly 20 years, most of that time as executive director of the nonprofit New England Apple Association. As its senior writer, he currently writes the weblog newenglandorchards.org.

    In addition to his two books about apples, Apples of New England (Countryman Press, 2014) and America’s Apple (Brook Hollow Press, 2012), Powell was founding editor and publisher of New England Watershed Magazine, named Best New Publication of 2006 by the Utne Reader. He produced and directed Shack Time (2001), an award-winning video documentary program about the artist shacks in the dunes of the Cape Cod National Seashore. His oil paintings and prints were exhibited in New York City and Cape Cod in 2014.

    A native of New England, he lives in western Massachusetts.  For more information about this lecture and book signing visit www.portersquarebooks.com.

  • Saturday, February 1, 2:00 pm – Discovering Thoreau the Geologist

    Henry David Thoreau’s contributions to botany are well documented. Far less known was his passion for the physical sciences, especially geology. Robert Thorson’s new book, Walden’s Shore, is the first-ever book to focus on Thoreau the geoscientist, from his studies of local rocks and minerals to his interpretation of how Walden Pond and the Concord landscape were created.  Dr. Thorson, Professor of Geology at University of Connecticut will speak on Discovering Thoreau the Geologist at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, Oxford Street, Cambridge, on Saturday, February 1, at 2 pm, and will sign copies of his book.

    Regular museum admission rates apply. Free event parking in the 52 Oxford Street Garage.  For more information visit www.hmnh.harvard.edu.

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  • Thursday, November 14, 6:00 pm – Illustrating Thoreau’s Maine Woods: A Photographer’s Journey

    On Thursday, November 14, beginning at 6 pm at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, Scot Miller will discuss his seven-year project photographing northern Maine for his new book, The Maine Woods: A Photographic Journey Through an American Wilderness. Miller combines contemporary imagery with text from Henry David Thoreau’s classic essay collection, The Maine Woods (first published 150 years ago). He will also screen The Unexpected Journey, a short documentary about the making of the book.Free and open to the public. Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street. Free event parking is available in the 52 Oxford Street Garage after 5:00 pm.  Members-only gallery preview and reception to follow in the exhibition gallery. RSVP to members@hmsc.harvard.edu or call (617) 496-6972.

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