Johnny Kinsman Thursday, May 15 at 2pm
The Boston Public Garden: The Soul of the City
In 1839 an amateur group of horticulturalists undertook a feat of verdant grandeur that was unprecedented in our nascent country; an opulent botanical garden, resplendent with Victorian flair, not hidden away behind the gates of an exclusive country manor, but rather free and open to the people of a city whose pastoral quaintness had been marred by the breakneck pace of industrial endeavor.
The Boston Public Garden is an unassuming name when considered in its entirety, yet is aptly rich in significance when its words are considered singly as the description of a fertile and delightful place of renewal, open to all, for the enjoyment of our quintessentially American city. Beauty for beauty’s sake; a living fireworks show at a tiny snail’s pace; a celebration of Boston’s aspirational civic identity epitomized by human effort guiding Nature’s hand.
The resulting magnificence of the Boston Public Garden belies the backbreaking yet ever-optimistic toil of reaping and sowing; the centuries-old tradition of the hearty New Englander. In a break from our yankee custom, however, within this 24-acre green at the heart of Boston, the gardeners labor not for sustenance to nourish the body, but for richness to rejuvenate the soul. These beds are guarded not by scarecrows, but by the statues of titans from our past who fought for progress, and whom now in gratitude are immortalized upon pedestals of stone. Amid these reminders of our collective history, the floral splendor made possible by the Bostonians of today provides serenity and reflection enough to inspire perennial courage to roll up our sleeves and dirty our hands in the work for growth and new beginnings.
In this presentation by Johnny Kinsman, we’ll examine the history of the garden itself, discuss the art and artistry of this open-air museum, and explore things large and small, animate and inanimate– including the pedal-powered swans inspired by an epic opera, the beloved bronze ducklings that waddled into our hearts from the pages of a children’s book, the snack-seeking squirrels that give better driving directions than most locals, and…what exactly are those white squares in the trees?! This talk will be accompanied by slides and stories, so a sense of curiosity is mandatory! (Snacks for the squirrels are optional.)
