Needham Community Education

How can you find your way without the use of GPS? This class will provide you with route-finding strategies based on heightened awareness and reading the landscape. Ranging off trail over varied terrain, you will develop and test your inner compass, while tuning into nature's directional “signposts” and honing your lost-proofing instincts. Additionally, this offering will include reflections and hands-on instruction surrounding the art and intricacies of “tarpitecture,” a skill set equally useful in the event of a backcountry emergency or casual visit to the beach. Basic knots common to multiple applications will be taught. Children ages 12+ are welcome to register with an adult.

The spring season’s beauty and bounty intersect in the realm of feral food. Tasty and nutrient dense, many common plants offer us opportunities for broadening our palate as well as connecting us to our surroundings. Along this accessible wander, participants will be introduced to a host of edible roots, shoots, flowers, leaves and fruit. Come ready to engage your senses (taste buds especially!) while lavishing attention upon the overlooked. This program will run rain or shine.

“If you would know strength and patience, welcome the company of trees.” – Hal Borland, Naturalist Indeed, the generosity of trees extends well beyond their common practical uses, and they are perhaps most abundantly vital during the spring season. Led by the trees, this walk will build on the Fall 2023 program content (all newcomers are welcome), beginning with a review of identification basics. Further topic areas will include explorations of seasonal growth cycles, life stages, habitat preferences and ecological relationships with fauna, funga and other flora. Additionally, we will read a bit of the landscape history as told by the trees. This program will run rain or shine.

Join guide Yanni Tsipis with WS Development, the largest developer driving the recent evolution of Boston’s Seaport District, for a behind-the-scenes tour of the past, present, and future of Boston’s newest neighborhood. From humble beginnings as Boston’s working port, through a long period of decline and decay, to today’s vibrant mixed-use destination and economic engine, no part of Boston has transformed more quickly than the Seaport or has had a greater impact on the trajectory of the city in the last decade. During this 90-minute presentation and walking tour, you will learn about the role that the Big Dig played in unlocking the potential of the area and the philosophy that the Seaport’s largest developer is applying to the neighborhood’s future; and you will tour some of the newest buildings and outdoor spaces defining the skyline and public realm of Boston’s future. Note: The tour will involve multiple stair climbs. Limited to 20.

This walking tour of the West End traces a circle around the neighborhood while discussing the people and places of the area over the past 4 centuries. The history of the West End is one of continual change, American firsts, Boston innovations, and modern icons. The West End Museum, and this walking tour, celebrate the story of the neighborhood that led the way in Boston’s immigrant era, supporting thousands of the world’s “huddled masses” as they found their way from North End slums to the American Dream. By then, the West End had already produced America’s first native-born architect, provided a home for free Black citizens after the Revolution, and led the way in the construction of railroads, electric street cars, and so much more. The neighborhood changed dramatically after 1950. Two decades of Urban Renewal led to the clearing of more than half the neighborhood, and reinvention in its modern form.

Before heading out to learn about two of Boston’s most beautiful neighborhoods, your guide will spend a few moments providing an overview of the founding of Boston. Then, we will “meet” William Blackstone, Boston’s first settler, and relate his part in the establishment of Boston Common as the first Public Park in the United States. With a magical leap in Boston history, we will jump to the American Revolution and its impact on the creation of Beacon Hill as we know it in its role in Boston’s growth and culture – actually cultureS! Then it’s time to really begin our walking tour of Beacon Hill and share the interesting and beautiful architecture and its historical place melding and directing the culture and growth of Boston, including the gas-lit streets, “new” current Massachusetts State House (from 1797) and the homes of Boston’s most prominent citizens – and some who aren’t. In our travels, we’ll see the only mansion on Beacon Hill, Louisburg Square, cobblestoned Acorn Street and Beacon Hill’s main street – Charles Street. And a whole lot more, of course. Next, it’s on to Back Bay – how and why it came to be and its history, including the beautiful 19th architecture style, the design and building of America’s first Botanical Garden and the biggest landfill operation in the world up until the 20th century. We’ll stroll by the brownstones of Paris-inspired Commonwealth Avenue, the shops of Newbury Street and Back Bay’s “main street," Boylston Street, where we will see some of Boston’s most beautiful architecture and end near the Boston Marathon Finish Line. Note: We will walk about 1.5 miles, so wear comfortable shoes. The tour ends in Copley Square. You can either walk back to your car, or take the T.

On April 19th, 1775, the simmering cauldron of colonial discontent finally boiled over into inevitable bloodshed at the Old North Bridge in Concord, MA. In this 2-hour walking tour of Concord Center and the Old North Bridge, we will explore the events of that fateful day, and the places in which they actually happened. Learn how the myriad strengths and weaknesses of the British Army and Patriot Militia clashed to form a spark that grew to the conflagration of the American Revolution. Please wear comfortable shoes, bring water and dress for the weather.