NANTUCKET MA: The Nantucket Historical Association (NHA) will present “The Greater Light Garden,” led by the NHA’s Mark Avery and Kathrina Pearl, at the Food for Thought series, on Thursday, February 10, in the Whaling Museum, 13 Broad Street, at noon. Free admission; bring your lunch.
With its planned opening this summer, the NHA’s restored property will again resound with the spirit of Gertrude and Hanna Monaghan, who in 1929 transformed the livestock barn into a lively salon for the arts. Avery, NHA director of historic properties, will introduce the Greater Light restoration project and update guests on the current progress. Pearl, NHA landscape and garden manager, will discuss how the garden was created by the Monaghans “with the same artistic flair and trust in Divine providence that informed the transformation of the old barn into their summer home, and what an important element the garden became to that home.” She will showcase how the garden has evolved in the intervening eighty years into today’s shady retreat, and also how much has remarkably survived. “Many of the original plant materials and almost all of the structural elements and decorative accents that make it such a unique personal expression of the women who created it are still in place,” said Pearl. The discussion will conclude with the upcoming garden restoration and the challenges and opportunities they present as Greater Light enters a new era.
The Thursday, February 17, Food for Thought will feature a “Collectors Gam.” Each talk begins at noon; bring your brown-bag lunch to the Whaling Museum. Talks are free to the public and are given by notable Nantucketers on a range of fascinating topics. The Food for Thought programs are supported by a grant from the M. S. Worthington Foundation.
For additional information about the 2011 Food for Thought series, please call 508-228-1894, ext. 0, or visit the website calendar of events..
