On Sunday, April 6, from 1 – 2:30 at the Shattuck Visitor Center in the Back Bay Fens across from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Emerald Necklace docent Susan Helms Daley will give a talk on Harriet Hemenway, founder of the Massachusetts Audubon Society. Find out why there’s a street in the Fens bearing the family name. Free and open to the public. Sponsored by The Emerald Necklace Conservancy.
Last year the Emerald Necklace Conservancy sponsored a popular talk which will be repeated by popular demand on Sunday, March 16, beginning at 1 pm at the Shattuck Visitor Center, in the Back Bay Fens across from the Museum of Fine Arts. Docent Lola Heiler-Stillman has spent many hours over the last three years researching the story of the 17th Century Japanese Temple Bell that resides in the Back Bay Fens. She continues the journey with an updated presentation on the significance of the bell among the peace bells of the world. Free and open to the public.
Led by Emerald Necklace docent Barbara Balasa, this informal talk on Sunday, March 2, from 1 – 2:30, focuses on all things coniferous and will feature a hands-on exhibit of a variety of cones from North America, including the infamous “widow-maker.†The program begins at the Shattuck Visitor Center located in the Back Bay Fens across the street from the Museum of Fine Arts, and is free and open to the public. Image from www.travelinggardener.com.
The Emerald Necklace Conservancy invites you to join them for free walking tours on Sundays, July 15 – August 26, from 1:00 – 2:30 pm, led by Emerald Necklace docents. Tours will begin and end at the Shattuck Emerald Necklace Visitor Center. The specific tours are as follows:
Sunday, July 15
The Changing Landscape of the Back Bay Fens
Frederick Law Olmsted turned a foul-smelling tidal creek and swamp that periodically flooded into “scenery of a winding, brackish creek, within wooded banks; gaining interest from the meandering course of the water.” Much has changed to Olmsted’s landscape over the years. Hear the fascinating story of the Fens on this guided walk.
Sunday, July 22
19th Century Women Activists and Reformers and the Back Bay Fens
Several 19th Century women played a part, though often overlooked, in Fens history. Join Emerald Necklace docents on a guided walking tour of the park and hear the stories of Marie Antoinette Evans, Mrs. Johnson, Ida Agassiz and others, while stopping at gardens and historic sites along the way.
Sunday, July 29
History and Landscape of the Back Bay Fens
From foul muddy flats to the parkland of today– the Fens has undergone many transformations in the last 125 years. Join Emerald Necklace docents as they talk and walk the historic landscape. Includes stops at the Kelleher Rose Garden, with its 1,500+ roses, and the oldest World War II Victory Gardens in continuous operation in America.
Sunday, August 5
Along The Muddy River
Where does it start and where does it go? Learn the answers and more on this guided walking tour of all things Muddy! Once tidal, the Muddy River has been reconfigured, widened, narrowed, dredged and filled. Hear the story of Olmsted’s plan for the Muddy and what the future holds for this waterway. Tour includes stops at two historic bridges that span the Muddy.
Sunday, August 12
The Plant Life of the Back Bay Fens
Explore the plant life in the Back Bay Fens with Emerald Necklace docents. Stroll among cherry trees and crabapples, see (and smell!) 200 varieties of roses in the Kelleher Rose Garden; view recently planted native species such as oakleaf hydrangea, sweet and hay-scented fern, witch hazel, common snowberry, and mountain laurel on the slope at Mother’s Rest; and meander through the Victory Garden for an eye-popping array of blooms and veggies. You may want to bring along a camera and notebook!
Sunday, August 19
The Changing Landscape of the Back Bay Fens
Frederick Law Olmsted turned a foul-smelling tidal creek and swamp that periodically flooded into “scenery of a winding, brackish creek, within wooded banks; gaining interest from the meandering course of the water.” Much has changed to Olmsted’s landscape over the years. Hear the fascinating story of the Fens on this guided walk.
Sunday, August 26
History and Landscape of the Back Bay Fens
From foul muddy flats to the parkland of today– the Fens has undergone many transformations in the last 125 years. Join Emerald Necklace docents as they talk and walk the historic landscape. Includes stops at the Kelleher Rose Garden, with its 1,500+ roses, and the oldest World War II Victory Gardens in continuous operation in America.
Summer blooms, scented gardens, and a leisurely stroll all combine to make this one-hour guided walk on the Emerald Necklace the perfect antidote to the workday. The Tuesday, July 10 tour starts and ends at the Shattuck Visitor Center. Free, beginning at 6:30 pm. For more information, and to see a complete schedule of summer tours of the Emerald Necklace, visit www.emeraldnecklace.org/tours-presentations/.
Meet Joseph Weiler, the photographer whose work will be on display at the Shattuck Visitor Center from April 29 through June 15, at a reception at the Shattuck Visitor Center, 125 The Fenway, on Sunday, April 29, from 2 – 4. Mr. Weiler’s fine-art photographs are black and white gelatin silver prints made from film negatives. He works with conventional photographic processes and does all his own darkroom work. Preview his photographs at www.weilerphotogallery.com.
Don’t miss this moving and poignant tale presented by Lola Heiler-Stillman on Sunday, March 18, from 1 – 2:30 pm at the Shattuck Visitor Center. All are invited to come hear the fascinating history of a treasured cultural artifact: the Japanese Temple Bell, the last of its kind in America. Heiler-Stillman’s quest to learn the secrets of the bell began early in her docent training. On one of the earlier walks she took with the Conservancy’s Director of External Relations Jeanine Knox last April, the two paused by the bell, and realized how little was known about the history of the ornate artifact. “I found it kind of frustrating that there wasn’t that much information,†she said. “What are [we] doing with a Japanese bell for Pete’s sake?â€
With the memory of the previous month’s devastating tsunami fresh in her mind, Heiler-Stillman decided to pursue an independent study of the instrument after reading on the Bell’s plaque that it was from Sendai. “Anything like that really burns itself on your brain,†said Heiler-Stillman.
With Knox’s encouragement, Heiler-Stillman began her research. It was the beginning of an arduous undertaking. “The story is there, but every time I talked to people about it, it would just lead to more and more questions,†she says.
To date, she has spent more than 600 hours poring over historical records in the Boston Arts Commission’s archives, conducting interviews with the men who served aboard the USS Boston, the ship that brought the bell from Japan to America, and speaking with craftsmen who, over the years, have restored the bell to its current condition.
Heiler-Stillman, a social worker who studied anthropology as an undergraduate, has always been fascinated by how different cultures interact. The bell proved a particularly rich object for study.
Forged in 1675, the 450-pound bell rang for centuries in religious ceremonies at the Manpuku-ji temple in Sendai. During World War II, the Japanese government compelled its citizens to donate metals to be smelted down and turned into artillery, and the bells were granted no exception. As a result, nearly 95% of all of the temple bells in Japan were lost. During the American invasion of Japan, Navy soldiers found 500 bells ready to be repurposed into weapons of war and took several back to America. Capt. Marion Kelley of the USS Boston brought this particular bell back in 1946.Over the next decades, all but one of the bells were returned to their original homes in Japan as diplomatic gestures. When the US State Department contacted Sendai in 1953 to arrange the bell’s return, a group called the Temple Believers offered to allow the bell to remain in Boston as a gift. “They were donating it in the spirit of peace and friendship between the two cities,†says Heiler-Stillman.
Heiler-Stillman’s lecture will delve even deeper into the moving history of the bell. Free, but seating is limited, so reservations are recommended. Call 617-522-2700, or visit www.emeraldnecklace.org/japanesebell. Pastel below by high school student Solomzi Colbert, created especially for this event.
