Boston Flora

Tag: The Trustees

  • Agassiz Rock Renamed The Monoliths

    The Trustees of Reservations has renamed Agassiz Rock “The Monoliths” due to Louis Agassiz’s racist teachings being incompatible with The Trustees’ mission of inclusion.

    The Trustees’ mission is to protect and share Massachusetts’ iconic places for the simple reason that nature and culture soothes the soul and improves the lives of everyone, not just some of us. While that mission never changes, The Trustees is always seeking to learn and grow to find new ways to live up to it.

    It is with this commitment in mind that The Trustees announced its Agassiz Rock property in Manchester-by-the-Sea has been renamed “The Monoliths”—a nod to the site’s two massive, granite boulders. The change comes after more than a year of reflection and deliberation regarding the complex legacy of Louis Agassiz, the 19th century biologist who published works that proposed that non-white human groups are inherently inferior.

    After 65 years with the same name, people will want to know why The Trustees’ changed it now and what it hopes to accomplish.

    There is no doubt that Agassiz’s theories about the rocks dotting New England’s landscape being shaped and deposited by glaciers and not the biblical flood that floated Noah’s Ark, as believed at the time, were groundbreaking. However, Agassiz also vehemently promoted the theory of polygenism—the view that humans of varying skin color are of different origins and non-white races are inherently inferior—to a degree that was considered extreme even for his time.

    After receiving several letters from people in the community who questioned the appropriateness of honoring Agassiz despite his work that denied the humanity of African enslaved people, The Trustees embarked on a journey to research Agassiz the man and Agassiz the property, and to determine how tributes like this one align with its overall mission of inclusivity across its portfolio of 123 properties.

    After creating an internal review process and speaking to internal and external stakeholders as well as staff and local historians, The Trustees decided to change the name—the first time that’s happened in its 130-year history. The name change is official on the website, trail maps, and the main sign on-site. In time, interpretive signage will be installed on the property that puts Agassiz’s scientific contributions in perspective while explaining why the name was ultimately changed. The goal is not an erasure of history; it’s a chronicling of change and taking an opportunity to learn and grow.

  • Saturday, March 12, 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm – The Life and Legacy of Elizabeth Freeman, Online

    Join long time guide of Naumkeag, Mission House and the Ashley House, Kendra Knisley, on March 12 at 5:30 pm for an online lecture about the life and legacy of Elizabeth Freeman. This lecture will feature stories on her enslavement with Colonel Ashley in what is now known as the Ashley House in Sheffield and her fight for freedom which led to her settling down in her own home in Stockbridge where she lived her life as a free woman working closely with the Sedgewick family. In honor of her life and in celebration of Black History Month and Woman’s history month, join The Trustees for an hour long lecture hosted via Zoom.

    Pre-registration required. Please email aduquette@thetrustees.org for more information. Register at www.thetrustees.org. Trustees members $5, nonmembers $10.

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  • Wednesday, February 23, 12:00 noon – State of the Coast: Salt Marsh and Habitats, Online

    Salt marshes are one of the most productive ecosystems on the planet, and these beautiful landscapes also protect our shorelines, provide habitat, and help preserve water quality. But salt marshes depend on their ability to migrate with rising sea levels. Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket and the Elizabeth Islands have nearly 1,800 acres of marsh that sea level rise threatens to outpace, the second annual State of the Coast report finds. Some marshes may have a chance to migrate landward and survive where the absence of built barriers and natural topography allow. In this webinar sponsored by The Trustees of Reservations on February 23 at noon, we discuss options for restoring salt marsh, and models for managed retreat to protect these natural systems, which, if healthy, can serve as natural buffers to storm surge and sea level rise. Free, but registration required at www.thetrustees.org

    Speakers include Liz Durkee, Martha’s Vineyard Commission Climate Change Planner, Cynthia Dittbrenner, Director of Coast and Natural Resources at The Trustees, and Russell Hopping, Lead Coastal Ecologist.

  • The Trustees Acquire Two New Properties in Osterville and Becket

    This fall two new properties have come into the care of The Trustees. Armstrong-Kelley Park, in Cape Cod, has become The Trustees’ twelfth public garden, and Becket Quarry and Historic Forest, in the Berkshires, joins their many woodland properties.

    A recent merger between The Trustees and the Cape Cod Horticultural Society (CCHS), officially brought Armstrong-Kelley Park in Osterville under The Trustees’ umbrella. The 8.5-acre Osterville Village property is Cape Cod’s oldest and largest privately-owned park, featuring an arboretum, central green, garden rooms, a boardwalk, trails, and beloved features such as Liam’s Train and the John Folk Water Garden.

    A recent partnership between The Trustees and the Becket Land Trust has brought the Becket Quarry and Historic Forest property into care, ensuring a place for this unique natural and cultural landscape.

    This 300-acre property is the former site of the Chester-Hudson Granite Quarry. It was acquired by the Becket Land Trust more than 20 years ago, when the quarry was proposed to be re-activated to provide crushed stone for use in the Big Dig project. Visited by more than 14,000 people in the last year, Becket Quarry’s popularity and stewardship challenges led the Land Trust to seek a partner entity to take over the management of the property.

    After more than 100 years of operation, the Chester-Hudson Granite Quarry ceased full operation in the late 1940s, and a variety of vehicles and industrial equipment were abandoned. These artifacts from a bygone age are still there, and slowly being reclaimed by the forest. Planned improvements to Becket Quarry under Trustees stewardship include work on the extensive trail system which laces the interior of the property, signage updates, and upgrades to the main access trail (the former rail bed for the quarry railroad). An unofficial opening will be planned for 2022. For more information on both these properties, visit http://thetrustees.org

    photo credit: H. David Stein

  • Friday, December 17 – Sunday, December 19 – Winter Solstice with The Trustees

    The Trustees are celebrating the Winter Solstice on December 17, 18, and 19 at a number of different venues. Appleton Farms in Hamilton and Ipswich is the site of a Winter Solstice Family Fun, and Fruitlands Solstice Stroll in Harvard  features a candlelit walk followed by hot chocolate and s’mores around the outdoor firepit. The deCordova Museum presents a solstice clay candle lanterns workshop. Castle Hill on the Crane Estate in Ipswich is where you’ll get to participate in a Winter Solstice Hike.  Powisset Farm in Dover will hold a Winter Solstice Supper,  and for those near Governor Hutchinson’s Field in Milton, enjoy a fire dance performance at Solstice Illumination Night. Chestnut Hill Farm in Southborough holds a Solstice Celebration. This is just a sampling,  Fees and times vary, so to check them all out visit www.thetrustees.org for details.

  • Saturday, December 18, 10:30 am – 12:00 noon – Make Your Own Aromatherapy Heat Pad

    Join The Trustees in the heated greenhouse at the City Natives plant nursery in Mattapan on December 18 from 10:30 – noon for a hands-on herbalism class, learning how to make your own aromatherapy heat pad. Charline Xu, a local herbalist, grower, and educator will walk through the sensory benefits of different herbs and essential oils, and how to best incorporate them into your heat pad. All of the materials for making your heat pad will be provided – you only need to microwave at home for therapeutic use! Homemade heat pads, or the class it self make a great holiday gift.

    Candles, tea blends, salves and other products from Charline’s mobile apothecary, @rootsaboveground will be available for sale onsite. Participants will be invited to explore the grounds of City Natives with a cup of hot herbal tea.

    Masks will be required inside the greenhouse and proof of vaccination is required for all attendees over age 12. $28 for Trustees members, $35 for nonmembers. Register at https://thetrustees.org/event/70341/

  • The Campaign to Save Moraine Farm: Revitalizing and Unifying an Olmsted Masterpiece

    Nestled on 175 acres along Wenham Lake in Beverly is Moraine Farm, a Frederick Law Olmsted masterpiece landscape designed in 1880. Moraine Farm is, “the finest existing example of Olmsted’s approach to planning a country estate,” according to pre-eminent Olmsted scholar Charles E. Beveridge.

    In the past 150 years, the estate has been fractured into parcels owned by different families, a private school, Project Adventure, and The Trustees. Remarkably, Olmsted’s design has remained largely unchanged over that time, making it a rare gem among the estates created by the father of American landscape architecture. According to Beveridge:

    “Moraine Farm was a forerunner for that greatest of Olmsted’s ventures in the designing of private estates and retains more of his spirit than any other residential design still in existence today.”

    The Trustees owns four small disparate parcels on the property, and today we have the opportunity to acquire the key central plot of land that includes scenic Wenham Lake access, the main estate house, tea garden, terrace, and areas most intensely designed by Olmsted.

    Acquiring this 66-acre parcel is the culmination of a decades-long effort by The Trustees to reunite and restore this historic property and open it to public access for the first time.

    Providing people with Moraine’s sweeping views, winding trails, and lush Olmsted landscape lies at the heart of our mission to create publicly accessible open space in iconic places.

    For the project details and purpose statement, and to learn how to contribute to this project (it’s Olmsted 200, remember!), visit www.thetrustees.org

  • Saturday, September 18, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm – Plein Air Painting: Premier Coup/First Attempt Technique

    This workshop sponsored by the Trustees at Weir River Farm in Hingham focuses on painting the landscape using the Premier Coup Technique. We’ll put a mark down, leave it and finish the painting in one session. This technique aims to simplify the process of seeing, color mixing, and composing, and includes a pared down materials list. Through a combination of demos and in-class assignments we’ll learn approaches to create direct, energetic paintings.

    All levels welcome, demos will be in acrylic. Materials list will be sent to registrants. Since 2009, instructor Lisa Daria Kennedy has committed to an on-going daily painting project. As a young adult cancer survivor, she discovered living is not just surviving. Each painting seeks to give a voice to the fiber of the everyday.

    Kennedy received a BA from Roger Williams University, a BFA in Illustration and an MFA in 2D from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Currently she is the Design Editor for the literary publication Mount Hope and an Assistant Professor at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston, MA. She lives in an old fishing camp at World’s End in Hingham, MA with Olive the dog. View the daily painting project and everything else at lisadariakennedy.com

    Workshops to be held outside with access to inside studio with doors open. Masks required inside the building

    $152 for Trustees members, $180 for nonmembers. Register HERE.

  • Fridays – Sundays, August 27 – October 3 – Nature: A Walking Play

    This immersive and family-friendly telling of Emerson, Thoreau, and their mutual love of the natural world returns to The Trustees. Offered at three properties throughout the state, audience members walk along with the actors as the play’s scenes unfold throughout the grounds of each property. Performances are filled with music, song, story, and celebration as scenes unfold around them in this feast for the senses. The play will be performed August 27 – September 6 at Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, on September 10 – 19 at Appleton Farms in Ipswich, and September 24 – October 3 at Francis William Bird Park in Walpole. For complete information on locations and times, and to order tickets, visit www.thetrustees.org.

  • Sunday, August 22, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon – Garden Tour and Tea Making

    Join Clinical Herbalist Liane Moccia and Stevens-Coolidge House & Gardens on August 22 at 10 am for a stroll through the gardens and tea-making workshop to unlock the powerful herbs in your home and garden and support optimal health and well-being. Stevens-Coolidge House & Gardens is located at 153 Chickering Road in North Andover.

    Liane is an herbalist who helps people find natural solutions to their chronic health problems. She specializes in stress, energy, sleep, fertility and pre-pregnancy planning.

    Space is limited; pre-registration is required. Register HERE

    For more information please contact kbibeau@thetrustees.org

    Refund policy: Refunds must be requested no less that 7 days prior to event date to be honored.

    Trustees member: $15 Nonmember: $25