Beacon Street Diary

Brown Bag Lunch -- England tour information session

We haven't mentioned it in a while, but the historical tour of England entitled "Retracing Our Puritan Roots" is less than a year away. This seems like a good time to have a quick overview for any of you who are going or still on the fence.

Join co-guide Roger Burke for a look at the 12-day itinerary that will take participants on a reverse-pilgrimage from Salem, Mass. to East Anglia, England with stops at several Pilgrim sites in between.

Bring your lunch and your questions.

Wednesday, November 16th
12:00 - 1:00 pm

Free.
No registration is required, but we appreciate an RSVP so we know how many people to expect.

If you'd like to look over the itinerary beforehand, you can download it at your leisure.

White on White

Our photographer friend, Steve Rosenthal, has created an online exhibit for his book White on White.

He writes:

It is with great pleasure that I invite you to the opening venue of Historic New England's Traveling Exhibit of White on White.

In conjunction with this exhibit at the Groton School, I am also pleased to announce the launch of my new website, which has been designed to help promote my book and traveling exhibit.

Please see the exhibits page of the website for information about this exhibit, and for dates and locations of future events.

http://whiteonwhite.steverosenthalphoto.com/

Steve's book is a favorite here in our Reading Room. I hope people will have the chance to see upcoming events:

• April 4 - June 5, 2011
  The de Menil Gallery, Dillon Art Center
  Groton School, Groton, Massachusetts
• June 30 - September 23, 2012
  Bruce Museum
  Greenwich, Connecticut
• October 6, 2012 - January 27, 2013
  Florence Griswold Museum
  Old Lyme, Connecticut

 

-Jessica

May 11 -- Walking Tour of 17th century Boston

"Where Did the Puritans Go?"

Following the Brown Bag Lunch (see previous posting), Linda Palmer lead her two-hour walking tour of 17th century Boston -- Where Did the Puritans Go? -- in costume as Ann Vassall. Stops include the original site of Old South Church, the Mary Dyer statue outside the State House, and the Old Burial Ground beside King's Chapel.

1:30 - 3:30 pm. Begins at the Congregational Library.

$20.00 -- Advance registration is required.
Note: Please make checks payable to Linda K. Palmer.

 

Another course by Linda Palmer as Ann Vassell

Linda has presented and lead tours from the Congregational Library several times over the past years. If you are interested in hearing her, Where Did the Puritans Go? Puritans: Saints or Scoundrels?, a four week course, will be offered at Tufts University, Jackson Hall March 18, 25 and April 1 and 8 from 10 a.m. to noon. Call Osher Lifelong Learning at 617-627-5885 to reserve.

Linda offers guided walking tours of 17th century Boston as a costumed interpreter portraying Ann Vassall. She can be reached at info@puritan-tour.com.

-Claudette

Escorted History & Theology Tour to East Anglia England May 17-29

co-sponsored by the Congregational Library

Join a once-in-a-lifetime journey tracing America's Puritan Roots back to East Anglia, England. The focus of this entertaining learning adventure is the history of the Congregational Church. Enjoy lectures and interactive discussions along the route, exploring the villages and churches the Puritan forefathers frequented, discovering the history not only of these people's lives but the theology that drove them to leave their homes for an unknown and unsure future. Tour accompanied by Rev. Dr. James Crawford, Dr. David Goss, and Roger Burke.

For more information contact Olde Ipswich Tours Toll free 877-356-5163 or email jean@ipswichtours.com

 

UPDATE: Due to unforeseen circumstances, the tour has been delayed until June 2012. Further details can be found on our Program & Workshop schedule page.

Retracing Our Puritan Roots

Historical tour -- May 17-29, 2011

If you love history and have a yen for travel, you are in luck! This coming May, Roger Burke and Jim Crawford — both great friends of the Congregational Library — will be leading a 12-day tour that will begin in Salem, Massachusetts, and end up in East Anglia. David Goss, a historian from Gordon College, will also provide lectures.

It's kind of a backward pilgrimage, though with much nicer accommodations than they had in the 1630s. You'll get to visit London, Ipswich, and Cambridge — all the Puritan sites plus a few other fun trips on the side, like the Viking remains at Sutton Hoo.

If you're interested, contact Old Ipswich Tours by phone (877-356-5163 or 978-356-5163) or email (jean@ipswichtours.com).

-Peggy

 

UPDATE: Due to unforeseen circumstances, the tour has been delayed until June 2012. Further details can be found on our Program & Workshop schedule page.

Exploring Boston's Religious History - Tour

Peggy Bendroth, our Executive Director, began giving tours of Congregational Boston as an addendum to her very popular course on Congregational history, "Growing Deeper Roots." This summer while Peggy was on sabbatical, one of our summer interns, Sari Mauro, began the work that resulted in our newest booklet for a self-paced tour of Boston's religious history in the downtown area. Peggy reviewed and revised the descriptions with her historian's eye and voice to complete this unique tour booklet.

"Not many of the original buildings remain, of course, but this tour of Boston's 'old downtown' will take you to sites important to the story of American Congregationalists, to their religious neighbors, and to one of the nation's oldest and most intriguing cities."

Join us at 1:00 Wednesday, October 13 to celebrate the publication of this booklet and to receive your free copy. A guided walk through four centuries of history will begin in the library.

Please call to let us know you are coming: 617-523-0470 x 4.

Rain date: October 20.

-Claudette

Colonial Cambridge Tours Offered by Mistress Elizabeth de la Rue

Donna LaRue as Mistress Elizabeth de la Rue offers tours and children's activities each Saturday in July and August in Harvard Square, Cambridge.

11:30 AM - 12:30 PM "Have You Milked the Cow Today?" Colonial children's activities, stories, games, music and dancing

1:00 - 2:30 PM "Cambridge Churches as Agents of Change" Discover how Baptists, Puritans, Separatists, Quakers, Jews and Anglicans contended together -- often anticipating later conflicts.

3:00 - 4:15 PM "The Old Cambridge Burying Grounds" Soldiers, scholars, salves and stones: the oldest Colonial artworks

Contact Donna at ihsdlrue@gmail.com for additional details.

In the past, Donna has lectured and offered tours at the Congregational Library.

-Claudette

Walking tour of local churches with Boston By Foot

If you're going to be in the Boston area over Memorial Day weekend, you may want to check out this walking tour. People interested in church history and architecture should find it particularly enjoyable.

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Boston By Foot presents a Tour of the Month:

Churches of the Back Bay
Sunday, May 30 from 2:00-3:30 pm

While dwarfed by modern high rises, Boston's Back Bay churches hold their own as spiritual sentinels of the city's skyline. Many continue to house Boston's oldest congregations; others, in re-use, serve the city in new and delightful ways. Sites visited include the Arlington Street Church, the oldest in the Back Bay; the Church of the Covenant, whose steeple was proclaimed "absolutely perfect" by Oliver Wendell Holmes; First Lutheran; First Church of Boston; Brattle Square (First Baptist); First Spiritualist; New Old South; and Trinity Church.

Meet at Arlington Street Church, corner of Arlington and Boylston Streets

Nearest T-stop: Green Line, Arlington Station

Admission: $15.00 (BBF Docents and Members: $5.00 with card). Reservations not required.

Reminder: Walking Tour of the North End Wednesday

Walking Tour of the Congregational North End of Boston

Join Donna La Rue, a local church historian, gravestone researcher, and expert tour guide on this walking tour of Congregational Boston's North End. Follow La Rue into the historic North End and learn how Congregationalists worshiped and how churches were built, burnt, and sold. We'll also visit ministers' and congregants' homesites and gravestones.

The tour begins at Noon in the North End. The cost of the tour is $5.00 and is payable at the tour.

Reservations are required. Contact Peggy Bendroth at 617-523-0470 x 5 or mbendroth@14beacon.org.