News & Events – Page 4 – Harvard Conservation Trust

Harvard Conservation Trust Annual Meeting

November 8, 2021

Guest Speaker Lindsay Randall, Expert on Local Indigenous Peoples Harvard, MA and the broader Nashoba Valley have a deep and rich indigenous history that spans over 15,000 years to the present day. HCT is pleased to announce that Lindsay Randall, Curator of Education and Outreach at the Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology at Phillips Academy, is the keynote speaker for the Harvard Conservation Trust’s annual meeting this November. A passionate archaeologist and educator, Lindsay uses material objects to bring historic cultures to life. She will explore the fascinating history of Native Americans in and around Harvard, focusing on how

Video: Mysteries of Harvard’s Stone Walls Solved

October 5, 2021

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAU2naemki4[/embedyt] Watch Prof. Robert Thorson’s Presentation On Stone Walls. The Harvard Conservation Trust is excited to share the video of last week’s Speaker Series: Mysteries of Harvard’s Stone Walls Solved. Prof. Robert Thorson helped us understand why New England is only place in the US you find over stone walls. We have over 240,000 miles of stone walls. This video will help you further understand the archeologic, historic and folk art importance of the stone walls to Harvard’s history, and the important steps that our community can take to preserve them. Here is what some participants had to say:

HCT Speaker Series: Harvard’s Stone Wall Mysteries Solved

September 22, 2021

Join Geologist and New England’s expert on stone walls, Dr. Robert Thorson, as he decodes mysteries from the thousands of stones that make up stone walls laid by colonists, Native Americans & enslaved people. Thorson writes “[Stone walls are] a visceral connection to the past. They are just as surely a remnant of a former civilization as a ruin in the Amazon rain forest.” Professor Thorson reveals why New England is uniquely situated to be the quintessential landscape for stone walls and the work that communities are doing to preserve them. Have questions about Harvard’s old stone walls? Professor Thorson will join

Hike HCT’s Storybook Trail featuring The Gruffalo

July 28, 2021

Experience “The Gruffalo” at HCT’s Storybook Trail! When: August 13th – September 6th from dawn ’til dusk Where: Start at the Burgess-Brown Land trailhead entrance at the end of Murray Lane in Harvard, MA Cost: Free of charge Ideal for young readers of all skill levels, the storybook trail at Brown Burgess Land offers an opportunity to experience a children’s story while wandering along a ½ mile path through the woods. Join us for the first time or return to experience this trail again and again in all its summer glory! About the GruffaloThe Gruffalo, written by Julia Robinson, is

Hike the Storybook Trail at Burgess-Brown Land

March 15, 2021

Introduce your children to the wonders of spending time in the woods with HCT’s inaugural storybook trail, featuring Owl Moon, the children’s book by Jane Yolen. Now open from March 15th – April 2nd, you’ll find the start of the walk at the Brown-Burgess Land trailhead entrance at the end of Murray Lane in Harvard, MA. Ideal for young readers of all skill levels, the storybook trail offers an opportunity to experience Owl Moon while wandering along a ½ mile path through the woods. Each station contains two pages of this children’s book, chosen to help build connection

New Year’s Day 2021 Poetry Walk

December 23, 2020

This year our traditional HCT New Year’s Day Walk will be modified in keeping with best practices for safety during the pandemic. We are hosting a Poetry Walk on the Burgess-Brown land, and participants are advised to walk alone or in small groups that maintain appropriate social distance. A favorite HCT trail traverses this landscape and scattered along the path you will discover, among the trees, poems about winter and new beginnings. We hope that the self guided and reflective nature of this activity helps us all to confidently step into a bright and hopeful new year, when we can

Shaker Spring House Trail

December 14, 2020

An often-overlooked trail here in Harvard is the Shaker Spring House trail! It’s recently been refreshed, and the 45-min loop offers beautiful walk through forest and wetlands as well as a close-up look at a historic landmark: the Shaker Spring house. The house and water system underneath was originally built by the Shakers in 1855. Suffering from a drought, they laid an aqueduct about a mile long from the spring at this site to a reservoir in Shaker Village (now Route 2 runs between these two sites, so you won’t be able to hike from this trail over to the

CARES ACT Changes to Charitable Giving

December 1, 2020

HCT Members & Friends: The COVID 19 Stimulus Package, also known as the CARES Act contained language that impacts the way your charitable contributions to the organizations you care about are rewarded by the IRS. To highlight a few of these changes: The adjusted gross income (AGI) limit for cash donations was increased for individuals. In 2020, cash contributions may be deducted up to 100 percent of your AGI (increased from 60 percent). If you’re between 59½ years old and 70½ years old, benefits similar to a QCD (Qualified Charitable Distribution) are now available; you can take a cash distribution