The Trustees is launching eight weeks of property tours, Momentum in Sight: A Trustees Open House Series available exclusively to governance members and leadership donors. We invite you to join us at our special places this Fall to meet with our program experts and Executive Team for a peek behind the scenes at projects underway across the state.
Each tour will be an hour in length, and you will have the opportunity to explore the grounds with our own Trustees experts. We are eager to catch up with all of you and share the beauty of Fall in New England. We hope that you will be able to join one, or all, of these exciting tours.
Advance registration is required. To register: please click the link below. Each tour will be limited to 10 guests at a time, and masks will be mandatory. A hand sanitizing station will be available onsite as well. If you have questions, please email events@thetrustees.org
Jewell Hill Ashby, Ashburnham, & Fitchburg Wednesday, September 23
Jewell Hill, the Trustees’ newest reservation, occupies over 300 acres of rolling hay fields, forest, and Jewell Hill itself, which offers spectacular views of the region, and, on a clear day of the Boston skyline. This quintessential New England farmscape was protected through a complex partnership with three communities, the regional land trust, and with a strong commitment to conservation on the part of the Crocker family, the long-time owners of the farm. Jewell Hill will serve as a four-season destination for hikers, skiers, snowshoers and birders. Participants in the open house will take a hike to the top of Jewell Hill and be able to see the reservation-related improvements being made by the Trustees’ stewardship team as we ramp up to a formal opening of the property in the spring.
Trustees Experts: Rob Warren, Managing Director of Conservation Operations & Programs and Vanessa Farny, Land Conservation Specialist
Armstrong-Kelley Park Osterville Wednesday, September 30
Armstrong-Kelley Park is a beautiful, community-scale public garden and park woodland property located in the heart of Osterville Village on Cape Cod. Owned and managed since the 1930’s by the Cape Cod Horticultural Society, the park is in the process of transitioning to Trustees’ stewardship. The 8.5-acre property will be enhanced with a refreshed garden design and programming built on the foundation created by the Horticultural Society. Visitors will get a guided tour of the park with Trustees’ cultural resources and conservation staff, with an emphasis on the changes embodied in the new master plan completed this spring.
Trustees Experts: Cindy Brockway, Cultural Resources Program Director and David Santomenna, Associate Director of Conservation
Old Town Hill & Great Marsh Newbury Wednesday, October 7
Join Lead Coastal Ecologist Russ Hopping and Director of Coast and Natural Resources Tom O’Shea for a loop hike up iconic Old Town Hill and through the salt marsh. Participants will learn firsthand about the Great Marsh, the risks it is facing and the innovative efforts The Trustees is implementing to save the marsh including protection of migration pathways and ditch remediation to save the habitat from sea level rise. Russ and Tom will also discuss efforts to restore grassland habitat and The Trustees coastal strategy priorities more broadly.
Trustees Experts: Tom O’Shea, Program Director for Coast & Natural Resources and Russell Hopping, Lead Coastal Ecologist
Long Hill Beverly Wednesday, October 14
Join us to see the fall splendor and fresh vistas at Long Hill in October! Senior Horticulturist extraordinaire, Dan Bouchard, and Director of Horticulture, Joann Vieira, will lead you through this magical garden sharing the results of recent work to reclaim distant views to the horizon, as well as plans to refresh and restore internal views and plantings. Evidence of the passion of successive plant collectors, as well as our efforts to catalog this passion, will surround us as we move from room to room within the garden. Immerse yourself in the beauty of Long Hill as the last of the blooming perennials, set against a backdrop of vibrant foliage, celebrate our recent achievements and hail the work yet to be done.
Trustees Experts: Joann Vieira, Director of Horticulture and Dan Bouchard, Senior Horticulturalist
The Stevens-Coolidge Place North Andover Wednesday, October 21
Our guests to The Stevens-Coolidge Place will see all phases of work, from in-design to completed construction, on the Public Gardens Transformation project. Upgrades include new site-wide accessible visitor circulation, new garden rooms building on the property’s existing legacy gardens, conservation of collections items (the most extensive and complete collection under Trustees management), and a new visitor orientation and public programming space. Wear closed toed shoes to walk the new landforms overlooking the new event lawn and Helen’s Meadow.
Trustees Experts: Joann Vieira, Director of Horticulture and Elizabeth Keary Soules, Structures & Landscapes Project Manager
Mary Cummings Park Burlington Wednesday, October 28
Discover Mary Cummings Park and experience recent improvements managed by Trustees. Attendees will stroll an accessible trail through developing pollinator meadow, learn about habitat restoration and volunteer engagement efforts, hike the Science & Nature Trail and explore a marsh by boardwalk, and perhaps watch RC planes soar overhead at Flyer’s Field.
Trustees Experts: Rob Warren, Managing Director of Conservation Operations & Programs and David Santomenna, Associate Director of Conservation
deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum Lincoln Wednesday, November 4
Join deCordova Senior Curator Sarah Montross and Curatorial Fellow Sam Adams for an intimate look at new exhibitions in the museum and sculptures in the Park. From large-scale installations to pioneering photography and immaculately crafted objects, we will see how some of the most innovative artists in our region are channeling utopian, mystical, spiritualist, and Indigenous histories in the newly opened exhibitions, Visionary New England and Transcendental Modernism. Please note, this includes an optional indoor tour.
Trustees Experts: Sarah Montross, Senior Curator and Sam Adams, Curatorial Fellow
Fruitlands Museum Harvard Wednesday, November 18
As of September 4th, Fruitlands Museum is opening our most ambitious schedule of new exhibitions both inside the art galleries and outside on the trails. Join us as we explore, Polly Thayer Starr: Nearer the Essence, Recruiting for Utopia: Print and the Imagination and The Native American Gallery has recently undergone a re-installation to better represent the perspective of the indigenous perspective on the objects and artifacts. Please note, this includes an optional indoor tour.
