Events and News
Autumn Garden Tour
The varied landscape of Concord is still a draw for songbirds, wildlife, painters, and nature lovers, as it was in Emerson's time. Join us for a leisurely tour of his garden and grounds during foliage season. Though he enjoyed expeditions further afield, Emerson also took a lively interest in the practical arts of landscaping, orchard-keeping, small farming, and ornamental horticulture. His wife Lidian was an early animal rights advocate and doted on her heirloom roses. Here their friend and neighbor Henry David Thoreau planted an original scion of the 'Concord' grape that still bears fruit. We'll tour the special features and plantings, including some magnificent mature native trees. Along the way we'll explore how the landscape and outbuildings have evolved as they continue to reflect Emerson's interest in the natural world and our relationship to it.
Birding Event on the Grounds of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Home
Summer is a wonderful time to identify and learn more about local birds and on July 7th 2024 there will be an event to walk Ralph Waldo Emerson’s property to identify native birds and their habitat. The event, which starts at 8 a.m., is free and visitors will walk the grounds that Emerson, Thoreau and many others strolled, with experienced birdwatchers Pat and Tony Nastase. Pat is the former Vice President of Valley Forge Audubon Society and is currently Chairperson of the Publications and Communications Committee. Tony is an award-winning bird photographer. They have been birding for over 20 years and lead bird walks throughout their local area.
Be prepared to see nesting birds as well as fledglings who recently left their nest. Children are welcome if accompanied by a parent. Bring your binoculars and water, and wear comfortable waterproof shoes. If you are new to birding, the leaders will help you with using your binoculars, providing fun facts about the birds we see, and providing tips to identify them.
A successful birding event was held with birders of all ages
Give All to Love: A New Documentary on Ralph Waldo Emerson Debuts
Released November 1, 2023, “Ralph Waldo Emerson: Give All to Love” is an impassioned and endearing documentary about one of America’s greatest thinkers. A celebration of the life and ideas of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Michael Maglaras has created a gentle and reverential “essay in film” about a remarkable American who challenged the way we see the world, seeking to create a foundation of respect, love, and dignity that he imagined America should be built upon. For more information click here.
The late Robert D. Richardson Jr.’s final book Three Roads Back has been published and is available. Three Roads Back captures how Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and William James coped with grief in losses of loved ones. The foreward was written by Megan Marshall, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Margaret Fuller: A New American Life.
Wall Street Journal reviewer Christoph Irmscher writes “…Three Roads Back is Richardson’s legacy condensed, his grace note to posterity, the massive effort behind his three great books – Henry Thoreau, Emerson: The Mind on Fire (1995) and William James: In the Maelstrom of American Modernism (2006) – refracted in the shimmering prism of a hundred pages of perfectly polished prose.”
Washington Post reviewer Diane Cole commented “Richardson…narrates each ordeal with sympathy and compassion. His portrayal of their journeys from raw vulnerability to the reawakening to life’s possibilities invites us inside their souls, and speaks to our own.”
When the Ralph Waldo Emerson House reopens in late April we will have this wonderful book available as well as many other Emerson biographies and collections of his works.
The Emerson Barn Decorated for the Holidays
As part of the recent Concord Museum Holiday House Tour, the Emerson barn was decorated to reflect a nineteenth century dining space for the holidays. The photos on the left were taken in the barn. A lovely setting for a holiday dinner.
Emerson Barn Virtual Tour
The Concord Museum has recorded an online virtual tour of the renovated Emerson barn. The presentation describes the history and architecture of the barn along with its role in the everyday life of the Emersons. The tour is available at the Concord Museum website.
Emerson in His Library
April 6, 2019; 8:30-10:30 a.m.
Colonial Inn, Concord Center, Main Dining Room
$25, includes full breakfast. Reservations required, by sending a check made out to The Friends of Sleepy Hollow for $25 for each reservation and send to The Friends of Sleepy Hollow, P.O. Box 313, Concord, MA 01742
Speaker: David Wood, Curator of the Concord Museum. David’s topic will bring guests into the inner sanctum of this world-famous poet, essayist and speaker who lived in Concord and spent his writing, thinking and conversing hours in his beloved study. The Museum has recently catalogued all the objects in Emerson’s study and David will share highlights of particular Emerson possessions, interwoven with the literary, philosophical, and courageous people who spent time with him in the study.
www.friendsofsleepyhollow.org
Monument Man: The Life and Art of Daniel Chester French
March 6, 2019; 7:00-8:00 p.m.
Concord Museum; Churchill and Janet Franklin Lyceum in the Rasmussen Education Center
$5.00 for members, $10 for non-members
Speaker: Harold Holzer, one of the leading historians of Abraham Lincoln and the political culture of the Civil War era, explores the long life and dramatic artistic career of pre-eminent American sculptor Daniel Chester French, whose statue for the Lincoln Memorial is arguably the nation’s most iconic statue.
www.concordmuseum.org