Enter our NEW RAFFLE for a chance to WIN a private Appalachian Trail Hike for up to five (5) people, led by Institute Naturalist, Pam Rowland (our Director of Education).
Hike the AT with Pam! Her knowledge and expertise will ensure that you discover unknown treasures along the trail.
Your guide will share a wealth of stories and information—learn about wildflowers, wildlife, trees and other plants and the magic of forest ecology.
After your morning of fun & adventure, enjoy a picnic-style, delicious, packed lunch from Café del Sol.
Enter by 4 p.m. on June 30! Drawing on July 4 at our Salamander Scramble 5K.
Entry fee: $20. Grand Prize includes the guided hike and lunch for five people, plus 1 set of hiking poles.
Enter the drawing Here. More entries = more chances to win! –OR– Mail a check for $20 per entry (multiple entries welcome!!), along with your name, email address & phone number, to:
Kick off the holiday season with Renfrew as we remember back to the era of our last private residents, Edgar and Emma Nicodemus!
Christmas in America from the 1940s through the 1960s meant aluminum trees, department store Santas, and cartoon specials on TV.
Every kid in the suburbs had to have an Easy-Bake Oven, a G.I. Joe, or a Slinky.
The coolest houses had rotating color wheels for their trees.
Historian Leslie Goddard explores this optimistic era in a new illustrated lecture, using photographs, advertisements, greeting cards, and catalogs to explain why this era was such a turning point for how we celebrate the holidays.
Saturday December 4th &11th, 2021 * 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Wreath-maker, Phillip Lobaugh says: “This past spring I read an article in Country Gardens about the historic language of flowers…
If a flower arrangement can have a message, why not wreaths” For example, a wreath of pine, spruce and arborvitae decorated with poinsettias and holly berries would send this message: Be of good cheer, may our friendship be unchanging, your holiday filled with Christmas joy, and may you have hope when faced by adversity.” Or a wild grapevine wreath decorated with cedar, magnolia leaves, corn, wheat, oranges, lemons, and pineapple would say: “You are welcome and may your future be filled with riches and prosperity, generosity, dignity, strength, charity, sweetness, and zest.”
Not only will there be wreaths of evergreen and grapevine, but also swags tabletop trees, decorated frames, greens for your own decorating and design, and grapevine snowmen. The beauty of local evergreens will be enhanced with ribbons in Christmas colors of red, gold, burgundy, and plaid, cones, berries, apples, and nuts.
