Boston Flora

Tag: Morven Museum

  • Wednesday, March 1, 6:30 pm Eastern – Trailblazers and Trendsetters: Villa Lewaro, Live and Online

    Journey through the life and grand home of pioneering twentieth century African American beauty entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker. Morven Museum & Garden is pleased to present the 2023 Grand Homes & Gardens Speaker Series: Trailblazers and Trendsetters. Join us as we explore the people and spaces, past and present, who cultivated new opportunities and inspired breakthrough trends for future generations of landscape architects, designers, entrepreneurs, and horticulturalists. Today, these places continue the work of preserving historic and natural landscapes for public benefit and community engagement. The 2023 series will feature Manitoga, Villa Lewaro, Beauport – The Sleeper McCann House, and Bartram’s Garden. In this second lecture of the series on March 1 at 6:30, the presentation will include a book signing with our speaker – author and Walker’s great grand-daughter, A’Lelia Bundles. Copies of her book On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker will be available for purchase for the signing. The New York Times “Notable Publication” was the inspiration for Self Made, a Netflix series starring Octavia Spencer.

    There’s no doubt that Madam C.J. Walker was both a trailblazer and a trendsetter. She established a cosmetics empire developing beauty and hair products for Black women while also training nearly 23,000 sales agents and workers through her business. She is often recognized as America’s first self-made female millionaire. This talk will address how Madam C.J. Walker’s entrepreneurship and personal style translated to the unique architecture and grounds of her early-Twentieth century home, Villa Lewaro, while digging deeper into Walker’s fascinating life and work.

    Tickets ($10 – $30) are available HERE through Eventbrite.

  • Wednesday, October 19, 12:00 noon – The Mysterious World of the Garden Grotto, Online

    Join Dr. Gerald and Margaret Hull for a virtual presentation taking attendees on a trip across the world exploring the origins of the garden grotto. Discover and discuss the meaning of these mysterious and unique spaces, and their translation to homes and estates in the United States, ultimately providing visual and historical context for Annis Stockton’s lost grotto at Morven. 

    When Annis Boudinot Stockton established a terraced garden on Morven’s grounds in the 1760s, she added a grotto inspired by poet Alexander Pope’s gardens in England. Today, the location and design of Annis’ grotto is unknown. Explore the origins of the garden grotto in Europe, the meaning of these mysterious and unique spaces, and their translation to homes and estates in the United States. Speakers Dr. Gerald and Margaret Hull have spent the last fifteen years visiting and photographing over 300 grottoes, shell houses, and associated artifacts. Their presentation will take virtual attendees on a trip across the world ultimately providing visual and historical context for Annis’ lost grotto.

    Dr. Gerald and Margaret Hull just released an extended version of their book Conchinilia Journey II: Shell Artists and Collectors. You can learn more by visiting: www.shellhouse-talks.com.

    This Morven Museum program will be held virtually only. The Zoom webinar link will be shared via email prior to the event. A recording will be sent to those registered following the program. Free for Morven members, $5 for nonmembers. Register through Eventbrite HERE.

  • Tuesday, March 8, 6:30 pm – Early American Kitchen Gardens & Gardeners, Online

    Learn about early America’s kitchen gardens, and those who created and tended them, in a Morven Museum & Garden event presented by Holly Gruntner on March 8 at 6:30 pm.

    As any gardener knows, nothing grows in a garden without skill and effort. According to Holly Gruntner, the same was true in early America as she explores the lives of those who created and tended kitchen gardens of that era.

    This enlightening virtual presentation will be an overview of some of the themes of Ms. Gruntner’s PhD dissertation, Fertile Ground: Kitchen Gardens and Knowledge Production in Early America.

    Holly’s work seeks to understand the intellectual lives and influence of lower-class, enslaved, and bound people living in eastern British North America – and the early United States – by focusing on their kitchen gardens and gardening activities.

    Holly Gruntner received her BA from the University of Minnesota, Morris. After working for three years in Congressional Relations at the Library of Congress, she completed her History MA at William & Mary in 2017. Her MA portfolio explored how botanists in early America relied upon their spouses, children, enslaved people, and servants for crucial scientific labors.

    She is currently a PhD candidate in the History Department at William & Mary, working on a dissertation about kitchen gardens and scientific knowledge in early America, 1650-1830. Her work parses the intellectual and manual garden labors of non-elite people. Her dissertation views even the smallest garden plots as scientific laboratories; units of intense and extensive intellectual work, experiment, and exchange. Discoveries and practices originating with these common gardens and gardeners also transcended households and communities and served as the basis for published and otherwise formalized scientific discourse of the day. $5 for Morven members, $10 for nonmembers. Register through Eventbrite HERE.