Boston Flora

Tag: John F. Kennedy

  • Tuesday, November 14, 5:15 pm – 7:30 pm – Drafting the Cape Cod Formula

    When the National Park Service wanted to create a federal park on Cape Cod, residents worried about what would happen to their homes, communities, and coastal traditions. This Massachusetts Historical Society lecture examines how citizens articulated their concerns, and how these responses helped the NPS and Senators John F. Kennedy and Leverett Saltonstall to create a new acquisition and land management policy that would then be applied to other living landscapes. The lecture will be given at the Massachusetts Historical Society building on Boylston Street in Boston by Jacqueline Gonzales of Historical Research Associates, with comment by Steven Moga of Smith College.

    Free and open to the public. To RSVP: email seminars@masshist.org or call (617) 646-0579.

  • From the Archives: Road Tripping

    In June of 1982, Club members traveled to Hammersmith Farm in Newport.  Lunch followed at The Inn at Castle Hill. Hammersmith Farm was built by John W. Auchincloss in 1887 as his family’s 28-room summer “cottage.” After Jacqueline Bouvier, daughter of Mrs. Hugh Auchincloss, became Mrs. John F. Kennedy, the wedding reception was held at Hammersmith Farm. President Kennedy and his wife enjoyed visiting the farm when they could find the time, and no wonder. Beautiful rolling lawns and gardens, nature paths and copses of trees—not to mention the lovely old house itself—make the farm a seaside paradise.
    Mrs. Auchincloss sold Hammersmith Farm mansion in 1977, and it was opened to the public until recently, when it was reclaimed as a private residence. Many of its original furnishings from the times when it figured prominently in the news have been sold off. Those who had the opportunity to visit were fortunate indeed.

    The Garden Club of the Back Bay offers a selection of road trips as part of each year’s program calendar.  This season we traveled to Wellesley for a program at the Botanic Garden on cycads and gymnosperms, to Smith College for a peek at greenhouses and evolutionary plant murals, and to Windermere Community Gardens for a groundbreaking ceremony, in addition to two trips to The Country Club in Brookline for Boston Committee of the GCA meetings and lectures.  Our great disappointment is the lack of widespread support these trips garner.  While in theory everyone wants the opportunity to “get out of town” in practice we find difficulties in scheduling members to attend.  We encourage all members to consider participating in future field trips, and anyone wishing to organize an outing should email info@bostonflora.com.