Making it on Main Street: An Exhibit at Historic Northampton
Open Wednesday - Sunday, 12 noon to 5 pm
Open Wednesday - Sunday, 12 noon to 5 pm
Masks are recommended, but optional.
Face masks in both adult and children's sizes are available at the front entrance.
Face masks in both adult and children's sizes are available at the front entrance.
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See Facebook, Instagram & Twitter
for new ways to stay connected to Historic Northampton.
for new ways to stay connected to Historic Northampton.
Reading Bridge Street Cemetery: A Walking Tour with Jamie Mastrogiacomo
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Sunday October 8, 2023
9:30 to 11 am |
Sunday, October 15, 2023
9:30 to 11 am |
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Join us on this walking tour of the Bridge Street Cemetery, where we will travel through centuries of Northampton history.
By learning to “read” gravestones, we can better understand the lives of those who walked before us — in our case, solemn Puritans, hopeful citizens of the new republic, and sentimental Victorians. Tour guide Jamie Mastrogiacomo is a master’s student in Public History at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She graduated from Smith College in 2022 with a degree in English and American Studies. This past summer, she was a research intern at Historic Northampton, where she now works as the visitor services assistant on Sundays. Limited to 18.
Sliding scale admission: $15-25. |
Northampton Fires & Firefighting: A Walking Tour with Josh Shanley
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Thursday, October 5, 2023
9 to 10:30 am |
Saturday, October 7, 2023
9 to 10:30 am |
Onlookers examine the ruins of the Kirkland Block
on Main Street after a fire on April 7, 1895. |
Walk through downtown with retired Northampton firefighter Josh Shanley as he describes the history of fires and firefighting in Northampton, the topic of his latest book.
He will describe the fire history that shaped Northampton’s architecture and tell the story of the City’s fire department—from its establishment in 1857, when hose wagons and hand tubs were pulled by volunteers, to today when Northampton Fire Rescue responds to more than three thousand calls each year. Limited to 18. Sliding scale admission: $15-$25. Learn More |
Turning Back Time on Two 19th Century Sleighs:
A Talk with Conservator Mike Mascelli
A Talk with Conservator Mike Mascelli
Sunday, October 15, 2023 | 2 to 3:30 pm
At the Shepherd Barn at Historic Northampton
At the Shepherd Barn at Historic Northampton
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Join conservator Michael Mascelli to take an up-close look at two horse-drawn sleighs made around 1890 and now on exhibit in the Shepherd Barn. Mascelli will discuss the history of sleighs and then focus on how he restored each sleigh--both the process and materials--to return them to their original beauty.
Mike Mascelli is an upholstery conservator with over 45 years of experience working with historic vehicles and furniture. He teaches at the Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking and the Marc Adams School of Woodworking. Limited to 15 participants.
Sliding Scale Admission: $10 to $25. |
Acknowledging Indigenous History
Here, we acknowledge that we stand on Indigenous land, inhabited by Native American people for roughly 11,000 years, since the glaciers receded. This place that we now call Northampton was known to Native people as Nonotuck or Norwottuck. Nonotuck homelands stretched across both sides of the Kwinitekw (now called the Connecticut River), including the present-day towns of Amherst, Hadley, Hatfield, South Hadley, Northampton, and Easthampton.
Nonotuck people were closely connected, through trade, diplomacy, and kinship, to other Native communities in the region: the Quaboag in present-day Brookfield; the Agawam in present-day Springfield; the Woronoco in present-day Westfield; the Pocumtuck in present-day Deerfield; and the Sokoki in present-day Northfield. During the early 1600s, these Native groups engaged in reciprocal trade relations with English colonial settlers and with other Native nations. By the late 1600s, however, the pressures of colonial warfare forced many Native families to relocate, taking shelter in other Native territories. We offer condolences for the Nonotuck people who were forced to leave their homeland, while also offering gratitude for the Native communities that took them in.
Despite the loss of land due to colonial settlement, a number of Native nations have persisted across the territory that we now call “New England.” These include: the Nipmuc to the East; the Wampanoag and Narragansett to the Southeast; the Mohegan, Pequot, and Schaghticoke to the South; the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican to the West; and the Abenaki to the North, among others. Recognizing that the entirety of the North American continent constitutes Indigenous homelands, we affirm, honor, and respect the sovereignty of these and hundreds of other Indigenous Native American and First Nations peoples who survive today.
Learn More
Online resources to explore Northampton history at home
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