Author Nate Schweber at the DeVoto Memorial Cedar Grove in Idaho’s Clearwater National Forest.
Award-winning author Nate Schweber brings to life the story of two remarkable environmental warriors and former Lincoln residents Avis and Bernard DeVoto in the next Bemis Free Lecture on Thursday, Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. in Bemis Hall. The DeVotos’ decades-long battle to protect public lands and save our national park system is chronicled in Schweber’s latest book, This America of Ours: Bernard and Avis DeVoto and the Forgotten Fight to Save the Wild. Lecture immediately followed by book sales and signing with the author. Hosted by the Bemis Free Lecture Series with Friends of Minute Man National Park, Lincoln Historical Society, Lincoln Land Conservation Trust, and Walden Woods Project.
Limited seating; click here for reservations. The event will also be available via livestream and will remain available on the Bemis Free Lecture Series website.
During this evening slide show and house tour on Friday, Sept. 15 from 7-9 p.m. at the Gropius House (68 Baker Bridge Rd.), see how Walter Gropius’s innovative lighting scheme comes to life at night. Gropius, founder of the German design school the Bauhaus, was one of the most influential architects of the twentieth century. His 1938 home highlights the clean lines of Modernist design. Light refreshments are individual “nibbles” picnic bags. Advance tickets required ($65 for Historic New England members, $75 for nonmembers). Please call 781-259-8098 for more information. Note: the Gropius House is not handicapped-accessible.
During an evening slide show and house tour on Friday, June 9 (as well as July 7, August 11, and September 15) from 7–9 p.m., see how Walter Gropius’s innovative lighting scheme comes to life at night. Gropius, founder of the German design school the Bauhaus, was one of the most influential architects of the twentieth century. His 1938 home at 68 Baker Bridge Road highlights the clean lines of Modernist design. Light refreshments are individual “nibbles” picnic bags. $65 for Historic New England members, $75 for nonmembers. Advance tickets required; call 781-259-8098 or buy online.
Veteran environmental writer Douglas Chadwick will present ideas from his most recent book Four Fifths A Grizzly: A New Perspective on Nature that Just Might Save Us All. He will present examples of successful recoveries of species and habitats, with the thought that “we really can save a whole lot in a hurry.” Doug will be introduced by Kim Davitt from the Vital Ground Foundation, a land trust working to protect and connect wildlife habitat in the West. Click here to register. Donations to the Vital Ground Foundation gladly accepted.
Historic New England presents “Right Space, Right Time: Eleanor Raymond’s Architecture” on Thursday, Sept. 21 from 7-9 p.m. in the Codman Estate carriage house and via Zoom. The presenter is Justin Kedl, an artist and scholar with an interest in 20th-century modernism — particularly Surrealism, the Bauhaus school, and Abstract Expressionism — who works for Lincoln’s Gropius House and a local pottery studio. Advance tickets required; click here for more information. This program is funded in part by the Lincoln Cultural Council a local agency funded by Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
On Friday, Sept. 22 from 1–3 p.m., meet at the famous “twisted tree” in front of Lincoln Public Library for a special Quiet Walks and Poetry for Seekers collaboration. We’ll walk for a mile or two in the neighborhood, stopping four or five times beneath particular trees. Beneath the shade of each tree, we will hear a poem that in some way honors or features that tree species. In between each poem, we will walk in silence. At the end, we will gather in a circle and reflect on what we saw and heard. If the weather looks questionable, email Rev. Nate Klug (nate@fplincoln.org) for the latest updates.
LincFam welcomes new and expecting parents to a meetup for families with children under 2 or expecting a child (both parents and children are welcome) on Sunday, Sept. 24 at 3:30 p.m. Meet at the commuter parking lot next to Donelan’s to walk the Codman trails. No RSVP required. If you’d like to join the list for information on future events and meetups, click here.
Celebrate the freedom to read with a conversation between young people and their caregivers at two discussion groups during Banned Books Week at the Lincoln Public Library. On Monday, Sept. 25 at 6 p.m., children’s librarian Debbie Leopold will facilitate a talk for kids age 4+ about Answers in the Pages by David Levithan. Email dleopold@minlib.net to register.
Lincoln author Ray Shepard (A Long Time Coming) will host a session with middle schoolers and caregivers on Wednesday, Sept. 27 at 6 p.m. to talk about Stamped by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi. Email sfeather@minlib.net to register.
In connection with the town’s discussion of multi-family housing at the September 30 State of the Town meeting, Friends of Modern Architecture/Lincoln invites residents on a tour of Lincoln Woods on Sunday, Oct. 1 from 3–6 p.m. “Celebrating Lincoln Woods: Our History of Building Community” presents the design elements in architecture, landscape architecture, and town planning that have made Lincoln Woods an accessible, inclusive community, providing housing for a diverse range of ages and needs for 50 years.
The event begins at 3 p.m. with Lincoln architect Woodie Arthur speaking about the architecture and history of the community. A tour of the property and three dwellings will follow the presentation. The event is free to all. Share refreshments and community in our reception tent after the tour. Please visit the FoMA web page at www.fomalincoln.org/outreach to reserve your place.
Reading Circle participants will read “The Wellfleet Oysterman” from Thoreau’s Cape Cod and come together for discussion with Walden Woods Project Curator of Collections and resident Thoreau Scholar Jeffrey S. Cramer. “The Wellfleet Oysterman” as well as discussion questions will be provided upon registration. “The Wellfleet Oysterman” (as well as the full Cape Cod text) is available to read on this Walden Woods web page.
The Reading Circle is an event in association with the Thoreau’s Cape Cod Readathon, a first-of-its-kind event sponsored by the Barnstable Land Trust, the Walden Woods Project, the town of Concord, and other partners in Concord and on Cape Cod. The Readathon will be held October 7 and 8 at Fuller Farm in Marstons Mills as well as live-streamed. Find out more here.
In 1991, Spooky World opened in Berlin, Mass., as the first Halloween scream park. The attraction became so popular that it expanded well beyond its original haunted hayride and shaped a generation of New England Halloween lovers. Join David Bertolino, the man who started it all, and Jeff DePaoli, host of “That Halloween Podcast,” to hear how an idea became a Halloween institution in Massachusetts on Saturday, Oct. 7 from 1-2 p.m. via Zoom (click here to register).
Join us for a reading, presentation, and Q&A with Lincoln’s Lawrence Buell about his forthcoming book Henry David Thoreau: Thinking Disobediently, the first concise account of Thoreau’s life, thought, and impact in more than half a century. Buell is the Powell M. Cabot Professor of American Literature Emeritus at Harvard University and has written and lectured worldwide on Transcendentalism, American studies, and the environmental humanities. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for a wine and cheese reception. The book will be available for purchase at the event (address provided upon registration).
Learn about commonly encountered wildlife such as deer, coyote, and raccoons, and their intersection with wild and developed spaces. Find out best practices for maintaining bird feeders and attracting visitors and learn about amazing pollinators and problematic mosquitoes and ticks. Led by Tia Pinney, lead naturalist and educator at Mass Audubon’s Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary.
Go into the woods with Farrington Nature Linc Educator and Program Manager Meg Ito to look for “Signs of Animals” on Saturday, Nov. 11 from 2–3:30 p.m. Expect to see some real animal bones, skins, and other signs as part of this workshop (including an introduction to local wildlife and a 45-minute walk around the site) featuring animal track cards and a small piece of snake skin home. Click here to purchase tickets ($25–$45).
Join us for “Recovering Lost Voices” on Sunday, Nov. 12 from 4–5 p.m. at the Codman Estate’s Carriage House with Jen Turner of the Robbins House as we explore an important and often overlooked part of our history here in Lincoln — the lives of people who worked this land, many of whom did so without choice. Click here to RSVP (appreciated but not required).
Do you need holiday gift book suggestions for the young readers in your life? Join the children’s librarians as they review their favorite new books of the year as well as some perennial favorites. The event is open to all adults. Email dleopold@minlib.net for the Zoom invite.
This year marks the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. In a virtual session on Thursday, Dec. 7 from 7-8 p.m., Prof. Benjamin L. Carp will bring to life the diverse array of people and places that the Tea Party brought together, from Chinese tea-pickers to English businessmen, Native American tribes, sugar plantation slaves, and Boston’s ladies of leisure, and he’ll show how a determined group of New Englanders shook the founders of the British Empire and what this has meant for Americans since. Registration required; click here.
Former U.S. Capitol Police Officer Winston Pingeon will give a talk titled “Three Years Later: A Reflection on the January 6th Insurrection” on Friday, Jan. 19 at 12:30 p.m. in Bemis Hall. Winston grew up in Lincoln and moved to Washington, D.C. in 2012 to study at American University. Upon graduation. he joined the U.S. Capitol Police and was an officer from 2016–2021. Join us to learn what life was like as an officer and what it was like to be an officer on January 6, 2021 and the days following.