Seek (and Find!) Sanctuary Where You Least Expect It
Jennifer Klein, PhD, The Trustees of Reservations
Photos: Jake Belcher, courtesy of The Trustees
So happy to have been joined by Jennifer Klein - make that DR. Jennifer Klein! - the Director of Outdoor Experiences for the Trustees of Reservations, an innovative land trust that shares a Massachusetts home base with 'that other Jen' (yours truly).
Whoever is behind the Trustees' lovely web presence deserves a lot of credit for their copywriting skills, because one of the first headings you see does a fantastic job of summing up what the Trustees of Reservations stands for - People. Places. Perpetuity.
Before we dive in, a quick history lesson - let’s take it back to the late 1800s, when the so called 'robber baron' industrialists were focused on extracting economic value from nature, and gridding out open spaces with railroads and buildings. A landscape architect named Charles Eliot recognized the benefits of preserving natural spaces for use for something other than lining pockets, and ideated and created the country’s first land trust, which was then called the Trustees of Public Reservations. As Eliot and others observed at the time, the ‘public’ was urbanizing fast, factory jobs were replacing farming, and they believed that the ability to spend time in nature would provide a very necessary respite from hectic, dirty, loud city life.
Now let's fast forward back to my new friend, Dr. Klein. She's no small-town-girl-livin'-in-a-lonely-world.... (you're welcome for that brain worm!) Dr. Jen grew up a city girl, spending vacations with her grandmother, enjoying the natural wonders of.... downtown Detroit. Cue record scratch.
So how did Jen Klein become interested in nature or outdoor recreation at all? That’s why we’re here, folks!
I hope you’ll check out the Trustees at thetrustees.org, and if you’re a full-fledged or proximate Masshole, please join me in the HikeTrustees Facebook group so we can get more intel on some fabulous spaces we haven’t yet discovered.
And speaking of discovery - I just KNOW you’d love to support the Guides Gone Wild podcast, and help more people discover all the cool, amazing women we talk to every week! Share those episodes when you’re on the pod player, tag a few friends on one of our inspiring Instagram posts, or find your favorite episode page right here on the website and link it up for someone who’s ready to find their own kind of sanctuary outside!
Some more fun links from this conversation for your browsing pleasure:
Doyle Community Park (Leominster, MA)
Ashintully Gardens (Tyringham, MA)
Ravenswood (Gloucester, MA)
Crane Beach (Ipswich, MA)
World’s End (Hingham, MA)
Fruitlands Museum (Harvard, MA)