On Saturday, October 21 from 11am - 3pm, make your way over to our friends at the Dillaway-Thomas House/Roxbury Heritage State Park for a family-friendly day of fall themed snacks, crafts, vendors, and historical activities. Shirley-Eustis House staff and representatives will be co-hosting the event. The festival will include:

• Crafts such as make-your-own dried herb sachets and rag wreaths

• A mini-exhibit on apple history through botanical art

• Free cider and snacks (including apple cider donuts!)

• A fall themed scavenger hunt

• Resources from local urban farming initiatives (UMass Extension and BFCLT)

• Demonstrations of how to make apple juice and cider on a historic apple press

• AND MORE!

At 6pm, orchardist and pomologist John Bunker will give an hour-long lecture on the history of the Roxbury Russet, and answer attendee questions on the breed. This portion of the event is sponsored by Roxbury Historical Society, and will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry (UUUM), just across the street.

We hope to see you there!

The festival is free to all attendees, and will take place rain or shine. For more information, contact Rachel at programs@shirleyeustishouse.org or (617)-442-2275.

Join the Newmarket Business Improvement District and the Shirley-Eustis House from 4pm-5pm on Thursday, September 21 for a talk by Nancy Seasholes, author of Gaining Ground: A History of Landmaking in Boston. Light refreshments will be served. This talk will take place in the Great Hall of the Shirley Place mansion.

This talk is free. Register Here!

Questions? Contact us at programs@shirleyeustishouse.org

“Why and how Boston was transformed by landmaking.

Fully one-sixth of Boston is built on made land. Although other waterfront cities also have substantial areas that are built on fill, Boston probably has more than any city in North America. In Gaining Ground historian Nancy Seasholes has given us the first complete account of when, why, and how this land was created.The story of landmaking in Boston is presented geographically; each chapter traces landmaking in a different part of the city from its first permanent settlement to the present. Seasholes introduces findings from recent archaeological investigations in Boston, and relates landmaking to the major historical developments that shaped it.”

Co-sponsored by the Center for the History of Medicine, Countway Library, Harvard Medical School.

What were 19th century ideas about sickness and health? How are they different from our medical practices today?

The field of medicine has undergone many changes throughout history. One of the most significant was the so-called "professionalization" of western medicine in the early 19th century. While medical professionals in the 17th and 18th centuries included midwives, surgeons, apothecaries, and physicians, the early 19th century saw the consolidation of the medical field and its evolution into a predominantly male profession. Dr. Olivia Weisser (Associate Professor, UMass Boston) will provide an overview of health and wellness in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and an academic perspective on the evolution of medicine. From humors to trepanation to at-home remedies, discover how medicine has changed over time in this hybrid event.

This is a brown bag lunch talk - you can either bring your own lunch to eat during the lecture or place an order through your Eventbrite reservation for an additional fee. PLEASE NOTE: All tickets including lunch must be purchased at least two days in advance of the event so that we can place our order in time.

This is a hybrid event. Seating is limited for the in-person audience at the Shirley-Eustis House, and the lecture will also be livestreamed online. Tickets for in-person attendance are $10, livestream attendance is $5. In-person admission including lunch is $15.

Questions? Contact programs@shirleyeustishouse.org or (617)-442-2275.

Join us for an afternoon of early Federal-era melodies showcasing our newly restored 1820s Babcock pianoforte!

Enjoy a charming and witty selection of popular songs and academic chamber pieces from the post-Revolutionary era when we host the inaugural concert for our Babcock piano at Shirley Place. In this specially programmed event, pianist and scholar Mark Kroll will be joined by violinist and Baroque historian Carol Lieberman to give us a taste of what was playing in America's drawing rooms when Governor and Madam Eustis lived at Shirley Place. Their program includes works by Mozart and Bach, as well as the early American composer James Hewitt. Refreshments will be provided following the concert.

Tickets now on sale! EBT recipients are eligible for free admission. Contact us at (617)-442-2275 for more information.

Help us provide this and future musical programming at Shirley Place with a $100 music sponsorship.

Who gets to create our national histories? What role do house museums and historic sites play in our public conversations about race? Join our discussion with Corinne Fowler, author of Green Unpleasant Land for a look at how these questions are playing out in England’s country estates.

The ongoing racial controversy at Montpelier, the home of President Madison, reminds us that the difficult politics of race and equity extend even into the heritage tourism industry. What's more, the United States is not the only nation where there's controversy about who controls how we tell our history. Join us for an insightful discussion with Corinne Fowler, Professor of English at Leicester University, on the legacy of colonialism in rural Britain. Corinne will talk about the fallout from the British National Trust's efforts to highlight black and enslaved lives in their great country houses in 2020, and she'll share some of the creative ways Black and white Britons are reclaiming and redefining those histories. This event is graciously co-sponsored by our friends at the Loring Greenough House. This event costs $14 to attend, but we have some tickets available at a reduced rate for EBT card holders. To inquire about discounted tickets call 617-442-2275.

William Eustis is little known today, but in his day, he knew everyone, and everyone knew him. His adventures as a young apprentice to Dr. Joseph Warren in the 1770s brought him into the genteel drawing rooms of Boston society and then to the bloody siege lines at Bunker Hill in 1775. Swept up in the War, Eustis soon found himself treating the wounded and sick in New York under General George Washington. He was in the room when Benedict Arnold's treachery was revealed. But for his own ardent patriotism, Eustis might have had a bit of sympathy for Arnold. Underpaid and sometimes unpaid at all for years at a time, he weathered professional and personal attacks and thankless assignments but never lost his desire to serve. Late in life, settled comfortably into Roxbury, he reached the height of political power in Massachusetts, becoming governor in 1823. Tamsen George's biography of Eustis sheds new light on the social and political trials of a man, a young nation, and on the rewards of deep and loyal friendships. Copies of Allegiance: The Life and Times of William Eustis will be on sale at the event. Call us at 617-442-2275 or email director@shirleyeustishouse.org if you have questions.

This event is free but registration is recommended because seating is limited.

Weather permitting, this event will be held in the Carriage House at 17 Rockford Street. Parking is available on Shirley, Clifton and Dudley Streets, and in the parking lot at the entrance to Rockford Street.

An online talk presented by Master Gardener Mary Lou O’Connor.

Mary Lou will showcase the growing selection of medcinal plants in the historic gardens at Shirley Place and how they were used to promote wellness and treat illnesses and injuries in early New England. She’ll also explore the ways Native American and African practitioners shared their knowledge with Anglo and European colonists to create, briefly at least, a particularly American herbal medicine cabinet or pharmacopeia.

This event is free, but we hope you can make a $10 donation to help support our mission.

Graciously co-sponsored by the Roxbury Historical Society.

For Roxbury families: your ghosts, goblins, witches, harley quinns, princesses and whatnots can stop by Shirley Place on Halloween between 6pm and 8pm on October 31 to pick up your treats and scare our pumpkins, or be scared by them. 33 Shirley Street, Roxbury.

Gather with us on July 18 at 2 p.m. on The Lawn at Loring Greenough House, 12 South St., Jamaica Plain, for “Reading Frederick Douglass Together,” a community reading and conversation program based on one of Douglass’ most famous speeches.

 On July 5, 1852, in Rochester, N.Y., at the invitation of the Rochester Ladies’ Antislavery Society, Douglass gave what was promoted as “a Fourth of July Oration.” The speech is now widely called “What to the Slave is Your Fourth of July?” based on a question he posed in his address. “Reading Frederick Douglass Together” will use the speech to highlight the continuing significance of Douglass’ caustic indictment of racism and white supremacy that rebuked slavery.

 There will be a post-reading conversation with attendees led by historian Byron Rushing, a past president of the Museum of African American History in Boston and a former state representative who served for more than 30 years. Light refreshments will be available.

This event is free and open to the public.

 Call us at the Shirley-Eustis House if you’d like more information: 617-442-2275

If you are interested in being a reader, email dclark@loring-greenough.org.

Zoom Lecture: Garrett Dash Nelson of Boston Public Library’s Leventhal Map Center explores just how Boston, New England and the Shirley-Eustis House were situated in the British Empire’s Northern Atlantic ambitions. Garrett will introdoce participants to some of the most important maps and collections of maps of the era to explore how Governor William Shirley and others tried to measure and shape those ambitions. Paying special attention to the historical geography of the Shirley-Eustis House, Garrett will situate the house itself in the stories of various spatial scales, from the town of Roxbury to the Atlantic seaboard.

This free event is generously sponsored by The Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati.

Space is limited.

Questions? Reach us at 617-442-2275 or director@shirleyeustishouse.org

Tea Tasting

Select your favorite teacup and enjoy a sampling of teas just like the women who lived at the historic Shirley-Eustis House.

Sunday, March 14, 2021 at 2:00 PM.

A virtual event - space is limited.

Three kinds of teas will be mailed before the event. Learn about the vital role social tea drinking played in the lives of political families in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Registration deadline: March 5, 2021 at 5:00 PM

A Zoom workshop on how to recognize common pollinators in urban gardens and maximize the benefits for beauty, health, and sustainability.

About this Event

Join the Shirley-Eustis House Association and The Food Project for an online workshop on the benefits of encouraging pollinators in urban gardens.

There are many beneficial insects and animals in our neighborhoods that help plants thrive and reproduce. Learn how active and diverse the ecosystems of urban gardens can be.

Presenter:

Mary Lou O'Connor is a master urban gardener, home beekeeper, and volunteer gardener for the historic gardens at Shirley-Eustis House. The house and grounds are a rare surviving royal governor's mansion built in 1747 and located in the urban area of Roxbury.

Workshop topics

• Recognizing common pollinators in your urban garden

• Selecting plants that encourage a variety of pollinators

• Identifying the benefits that control pests as well as fertilize plants.

• Understanding your garden and its pollinators as part of a larger ecosystem

• Q & A

Helpful handouts and a reading list will be provided.

Who Should Attend

- Urban gardeners from the seasoned professionals to the newbies and everyone in between.

- Anyone who loves flower gardens or is curious about how to maintain them.

- Garden clubs and school groups

The event is free, but a suggested donation of $8 per participant would help defray costs. There is a cap of 100 participants for this workshop.

Register early to reserve your seat.

For more information, contact the Shirley-Eustis House

Email: director@shirleyeustishouse.org

Call: 617-442-2275 .

Join us from the comfort of your own nest for a journey through four centuries of architecture, in three of Boston’s iconic neighborhoods on this virtual tour. See the Paul Revere House, 1680, The Shirley-Eustis House 1747, the Harrison Gray Otis House, 1795, The Nichols House, 1804, and the Gibson House, 1860. Winding its way through picturesque Boston, it makes for one special experience from the safety of your own home. A donation is suggested for this event, but not required.