There’s a joke that goes: “What are the four seasons in New England? Winter, still winter, and three months of bad sledding.” Any shrewd Yankee – or wise visitor – chuckles at this saying but knows it just ain’t true. Rather, winter in the northeast is a wonderland of opportunity. As the sage Henry David Thoreau observed, “a healthy man, indeed, is the complement of the seasons, and in winter, summer is in his heart.” And in Concord, where Thoreau tread across snowy dells and meadows blanketed in white, hearts are “warm and cheery, like cottages under drifts, whose windows and doors are half concealed, but from whose chimneys the smoke cheerfully ascends.”
When Sophia Peabody met Nathaniel Hawthorne at her home in Salem, Massachusetts, he had little to offer but his Byronic good looks. He had published two books, but they brought him neither fame nor fortune, and at age 33, he had run out of ideas and motivation.
“I will take another walk to the Cliff, another row on the river, another skate on the meadow, be out in the first snow, and associate with the winter birds. Here I am at home. In the bare and bleached crust of the earth
I recognize my friend.”
Dedicated in 1922, the Lincoln Memorial has become a cultural icon and a gathering place for some of the most significant and symbolic events of the past 100 years. It has become an almost sacred space for civic expression focusing on race relations and human rights.
Chanukah will once again be celebrated by the Town of Concord and Temple Kerem Shalom at Rideout Park on December 21st. Families will enjoy the blessing (and lighting) of the menorah, music, games, stories, and delicious latkes from Debra’s Natural Gourmet. And another beloved tradition will also take place this winter. The stunning display of menorahs in the window of Debra’s Natural Gourmet will be there for people to admire and enjoy all December long.
The first onstage lesbian kiss in the United States took place at the Apollo Theater in 1923 in the play God of Vengeance by Polish-born Jewish playwright Sholem Asch. Obscene, indecent, and immoral were words New York theater-goers used to describe the production. So incensed were the “moral” authorities of the time that the entire cast and the producer were arrested and convicted for indecency. This over a story that the playwright called “a little Jewish play,” one that had been staged in countries throughout Europe for a decade without incident.
October 2022 marks the 30th anniversary of the Concord Festival of Authors (CFA), a town-wide celebration of the written and spoken word. The CFA is managed by the Friends of the Concord Free Public Library and led by Curator Lara Wilson, founder of Be Well Be Here, who collaborates with local organizations to promote top-notch literary events. This year’s CFA will run October 13 – 30 and will feature over thirty online and in-person events. Barbara Gugluizza, CFPL Head of Reference, interviewed CFA Curator Lara Wilson about the 30th annual Concord Festival of Authors.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the incorporation of the Concord Art Association, a cornerstone of Concord’s vibrant art community. The incorporation papers were filed with the Commonwealth on July 3, 1922, and were signed by eleven people, including Daniel Chester French, Russell Robb, and Alicia, George, and Grace Keyes.
