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Downtown Social Club Walking Tour of Arnold Arboretum

Explore the Arboretum's past, present, and future with this 90-minute guided tour of special collections, seasonal highlights, Arboretum history, mission, and more.

May 5, 2019
Event Date2019-05-05T10:00:00 - 2019-05-05T11:30:00

Learn about the plants and flowers that are native to New England as we enter spring.

Reservations required, limited availability.

May 5, 2019
Event Date2019-05-05T10:00:00 - 2019-05-05T11:30:00

How the Arboretum became the Arboretum: The first 25 years

The Arnold Arboretum did not come into existence full-formed, but had a long adolescence before it (literally) blossomed at 50.

May 5, 2019
  • 11:00am - 12:30pm
  • 243 Walter Street
    Boston, MA 02130
  • Contact:
    Arnold Arboretum
  • Price:
    Price
    FREE (registration required)
  • Neighborhood:
    Neighborhood
    Roslindale
    West Roxbury
  • Published Date
Event Date2019-05-05T11:00:00 - 2019-05-05T12:30:00

The first director, Charles Sargent, prepared a 50-year report in 1922, before the end of his own 54-year tenure. But, what about the first 25 years?

We don't have a 25-year report, however, we do have photos and the engaging stories from that time. Join docent Emily Wheeler to hear those stories, as she takes you on a timeline through the walnut and oak collections, to the beeches, and back via Bussey Hill.

Register for the event

May 5, 2019
  • 11:00am - 12:30pm
  • 243 Walter Street
    Boston, MA 02130
  • Contact:
    Arnold Arboretum
  • Price:
    Price
    FREE (registration required)
  • Neighborhood:
    Neighborhood
    Roslindale
    West Roxbury
  • Published Date
Event Date2019-05-05T11:00:00 - 2019-05-05T12:30:00

Tower Restoration Project Open House

Completed in 1872, First Baptist Church represents architect H.H. Richardson’s first consistent use of the Romanesque style.

May 5, 2019
Event Date2019-05-05T12:00:00 - 2019-05-05T15:00:00

First Baptist has assembled a team and raised funds to undertake a first phase of preservation work on its 176-foot tall tower (restoring the roof and making related masonry repairs) as well as completing critical repairs to the sanctuary roof.

Archival material about the history and architecture of the church will be on display and the sanctuary will be open for informal tours. At 1:30 p.m., project team members will make a brief presentation about the restoration work planned to begin this summer.

May 5, 2019
Event Date2019-05-05T12:00:00 - 2019-05-05T15:00:00

Polish Fest Boston 2019

Polish Fest Boston is a celebration of the rich culture, traditions, and contributions of Boston’s Polish-American community.

May 5, 2019
  • 12:00pm - 6:00pm
  • 82 Dorchester Street
    Boston, MA 02127
  • Contact:
    Polish American Citizens Club
  • Price:
    Price
    FREE
  • Neighborhood:
    Neighborhood
    South Boston
  • Published Date
Event Date2019-05-05T12:00:00 - 2019-05-05T18:00:00

Guests will enjoy delicious food, lively music, cultural experience, and the warm hospitality of the Polish-American community and its neighbors.

May 5, 2019
  • 12:00pm - 6:00pm
  • 82 Dorchester Street
    Boston, MA 02127
  • Contact:
    Polish American Citizens Club
  • Price:
    Price
    FREE
  • Neighborhood:
    Neighborhood
    South Boston
  • Published Date
Event Date2019-05-05T12:00:00 - 2019-05-05T18:00:00

Ames-Webster House tour

Preserving 19th-century splendor in a 21st-century City.

May 4, 2019
Event Date2019-05-04T09:30:00 - 2019-05-04T12:00:00

Standing proudly at the corners of Dartmouth Street and Commonwealth Avenue since 1871, and greatly expanded in 1882 for railroad and manufacturing heir Frederick L. Ames, this home represents the finest work of two prominent 19th-century Boston architectural firms, Peabody and Stearns and John Hubbard Sturgis.

For the first time in nearly 150 years, the mansion is being fully restored under the supervision of award-winning architectural firm, Hamady Architects. Murals by Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant and a magnificent stained glass by John La Farge have been meticulously restored. The home has received additions reflecting its architectural patrimony, the reinstatement of its elegantly gated carriage entrance and a new parterre garden — testaments honoring Boston’s unique architectural history. Richly carved oak woodworks were replicated by a contemporary millwork shop in Virginia, celebrating the accessibility of, and dedication to, American craftsmanship.

In observance of Boston’s Preservation Month, you are invited to tour the Ames-Webster Mansion.

May 4, 2019
Event Date2019-05-04T09:30:00 - 2019-05-04T12:00:00

Biking a historic landscape: Back Bay Fens to Arnold Arboretum

Join the Emerald Necklace Conservancy for an interpretive bike tour from the Fens to Arnold Arboretum, led by a Conservancy docent.

May 4, 2019
  • 11:00am - 1:00pm
  • 125 The Fenway
    Boston, MA 02115
  • Contact:
    Emerald Necklace Conservancy
  • Price:
    Price
    FREE
  • Neighborhood:
    Neighborhood
    Fenway/Kenmore
  • Published Date
Event Date2019-05-04T11:00:00 - 2019-05-04T13:00:00

Tour begins at the Shattuck Visitor Center, 125 The Fenway, Boston, MA 02115. Please register online:

May 4, 2019
  • 11:00am - 1:00pm
  • 125 The Fenway
    Boston, MA 02115
  • Contact:
    Emerald Necklace Conservancy
  • Price:
    Price
    FREE
  • Neighborhood:
    Neighborhood
    Fenway/Kenmore
  • Published Date
Event Date2019-05-04T11:00:00 - 2019-05-04T13:00:00

The City-State of Boston: The rise and fall of an Atlantic World, 1630-1865

Join us for this groundbreaking history of early America that shows how Boston built and sustained an independent city-state in New England before being folded into the United States

May 2, 2019
Event Date2019-05-02T17:30:00 - 2019-05-02T19:30:00

In the vaunted annals of America’s founding, Boston has long been held up as an exemplary “city upon a hill” and the “cradle of liberty” for an independent United States. Wresting this iconic urban center from these misleading, tired clichés, "The City-State of Boston" highlights Boston’s overlooked past as an autonomous city-state, and in doing so, offers a pathbreaking and brilliant new history of early America.

Following Boston’s development over three centuries, Mark Peterson discusses how this self-governing Atlantic trading center began as a refuge from Britain’s Stuart monarchs and how — through its bargain with slavery and ratification of the Constitution — it would tragically lose integrity and autonomy as it became incorporated into the greater United States.

Peeling away the layers of myth surrounding a revered city, "The City-State of Boston" offers a startlingly fresh understanding of America’s history.

May 2, 2019
Event Date2019-05-02T17:30:00 - 2019-05-02T19:30:00

Boston Philharmonic: Interpretations of Music - Lessons for Life

Boston Philharmonic's world-renowned master classes on musical interpretation return for another season in Rabb Hall.

May 4, 2019
  • 10:00am - 12:00pm
  • Rabb Lecture Hall, 700 Boylston Street
    Boston, MA 02116
  • Contact:
    Boston Public Library and Boston Philharmonic
  • Price:
    Price
    FREE
  • Neighborhood:
    Neighborhood
    Back Bay
  • Published Date
Event Date2019-05-04T10:00:00 - 2019-05-04T12:00:00

Witness Boston's brightest young performers delve into the most inspiring aspects of music-making as conductor and renowned educator Benjamin Zander brings his musical interpretation expertise to an intimate and dynamic workshop setting.

May 4, 2019
  • 10:00am - 12:00pm
  • Rabb Lecture Hall, 700 Boylston Street
    Boston, MA 02116
  • Contact:
    Boston Public Library and Boston Philharmonic
  • Price:
    Price
    FREE
  • Neighborhood:
    Neighborhood
    Back Bay
  • Published Date
Event Date2019-05-04T10:00:00 - 2019-05-04T12:00:00

Waterworks Book Club: Meet the author of 'New England Neon'

Author and photographer Susan Mara Bregman will discuss her book, "New England Neon."

May 1, 2019
Event Date2019-05-01T10:00:00 - 2019-05-01T11:00:00

The golden age of neon in New England lasted more than 30 years, from the dark days of the Great Depression through the go-go years of the 1960s, but its spectacular legacy remains—if you know where to look. 
Susan Mara Bregman is on a mission to document New England’s neon landscape before it completely disappears. 

This event takes place in the Chestnut Hill Waterworks complex, designated a Boston Landmark in 1989.

May 1, 2019
Event Date2019-05-01T10:00:00 - 2019-05-01T11:00:00

Freedom Trail Walk Into History Tours

Boston's official Freedom Trail Walk Into History Tours take you to places where history was made!

May 1, 2019
  • 11:00am - 12:30pm
  • 139 Tremont Street
    Boston, MA 02111
  • Contact:
    Freedom Trail Foundation
  • Price:
    Price
    $14 adults, $12 seniors and students; $8 children, Free ages 6 and under
  • Neighborhood:
    Neighborhood
    Back Bay
    Downtown
  • Published Date
Event Date2019-05-01T11:00:00 - 2019-05-01T12:30:00

Walk Into History along the iconic Freedom Trail – the 2.5 mile red line leading to nationally significant historic sites, every one an authentic treasure. The Freedom Trail is a unique collection of museums, churches, meeting houses, burying grounds, parks, a ship, and historic markers that tell the story of the American Revolution and beyond.

Led by 18th-century costumed Freedom Trail Players, tours feature tales of high treason, mob agitations, revolutionary actions, and partisan fights of the American Revolution. Walk the Freedom Trail through history!

May 1, 2019
  • 11:00am - 12:30pm
  • 139 Tremont Street
    Boston, MA 02111
  • Contact:
    Freedom Trail Foundation
  • Price:
    Price
    $14 adults, $12 seniors and students; $8 children, Free ages 6 and under
  • Neighborhood:
    Neighborhood
    Back Bay
    Downtown
  • Published Date
Event Date2019-05-01T11:00:00 - 2019-05-01T12:30:00
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