Event Archive: Past Programs 2022
Historic Northampton and the David Ruggles Center for History and Education present
Lydia Maria Child: A Radical American Life
A Zoom Presentation by Professor Lydia Moland
Wednesday, November 30, 2022 at 7 pm
When the prominent abolitionist Lydia Maria Child and her husband moved to Northampton in 1838, it was with an ambitious goal: to grow sugar beets to undermine the plantation sugar trade. Sugar beets had never been grown in the U.S. before, but abolitionists like Child (1802-1880) were determined to fight slavery in every way they could. 
Once in Northampton, Child attempted to help emancipate an enslaved woman who had been brought North by vacationing Southerners. She also sent reports to Boston abolitionists "outing" Northampton residents who supported the slave trade. Ultimately, the Childs' beet experiment in Florence failed.

But Lydia Maria Child's time in Northampton was formative for her activism and laid the groundwork for more abolitionist work. Child’s own philosophical thinking, moral courage, and extensive writing made her one of the most important voices among white Americans fighting to end slavery.

Lydia Moland will discuss her new biography of Child, entitled Lydia Maria Child: A Radical American Life, (University of Chicago Press) and suggest lessons from Child's Northampton activism that are relevant today.
Lydia Moland's new biography of Lydia Maria Child is available for purchase at Historic Northampton's Museum Store.
Exploring Northampton: An Excursion to the Loudville Lead Mines
A Walking Tour with Wayne Perrea
Wednesday, November 9, 2022 at 1-3 pm
Saturday, November 12, 2022 at 1-3 pm
Wayne Perrea will lead two walking tours to the ruins of the Loudville Lead Mines, which are located where Northampton, Easthampton, Westhampton, and Southampton meet. The mines operated intermittently in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.
 
In partnership with the New England Forestry Foundation, which owns the 148-acre Hartnett-Manhan Memorial Forest.

Sliding scale admission: $15-30.
Limited to 20 participants.
Registration is required.

Learn More & Register
Help Us Move the Barn! A Free Community Event
Saturday, November 5, 2022 | 2-4 pm
We need your muscle and cheers to move the historic Shepherd Barn so we can install a new foundation beneath it to preserve the structure long-term.

Timber framer Alicia Spence will direct volunteers to slowly and carefully slide the barn 35 feet off its footprint. With four ropes and ten people per rope, we will together pull the barn along a specially made track.

Register ahead to volunteer to pull the ropes or sign up at the event.

Learn More
All are welcome to watch and cheer on the volunteers.
(No registration needed for watching and cheering.)

Free cider and cider donuts.
Celebratory music by the Expandable Brass Band.
Sponsored by Joe's Cafe and Greenfield Savings Bank.
Now and Then: Lisa Thompson and the Arts on Main Street (and Beyond)
A Zoom Conversation marking Lisa Thompson's retirement
Thursday, November 3, 2022 at 7 pm
Lisa Thompson, Gordon Thorne, & Michael Tillyer, 2018
Photo by Stephen Petegorsky. 
During the past four decades, Lisa Thompson has played a key role in the arts and art spaces in Northampton—as a dancer, mentor, curator, and active agent in the creation of the City’s vibrant arts scene.  
 
During this special zoom conversation marking Thompson's retirement as A.P.E.’s Associate Director, she will share stories from the past as well as her thoughts on the future of Northampton’s arts and culture.
 
Followed by Q & A. 
 
Register for the Zoom link.
Sliding scale admission: $5-25.

Proceeds benefit A.P.E.'s Creative Coaching Fund
and Historic Northampton.

Learn More
Bridge Street Cemetery: Voices from the Archives
​A Walking Tour with Emma Winter Zeig of Historic Northampton
Saturday, October 22, 2022 | 10 am
Sunday, October 30, 2022 | 10 am
Learn about the people buried at Bridge Street Cemetery who have a special connection to Historic Northampton.

Hear the words they wrote in their letters, poems, and diaries that are archived in our collections: hear from parents sending their child off to college, a girl witnessing the dawn of moviemaking, and a soldier seeing battle for the first time.

Registration is required.
Each walk is limited to 20 participants.
Sliding scale admission: $10-20.

Learn More & Register
A Walking Tour of Bridge Street Cemetery
with Emma Winter Zeig of Historic Northampton
Friday, October 21, 2022 | 10 am
Saturday, October 29, 2022 | 10 am
Get to know your historical neighbors in a walking tour of Bridge Street Cemetery. We will "meet" some Northampton residents--like Revolutionary War patriot Joseph Hawley, Samuel Bartlett of witchcraft accusation fame, Indigenous spinner and weaver Sally Maminash, Sylvia Church, a woman who was enslaved in Northampton, and a family who were all killed in the Mill River Flood. Along the way, we will examine changing artisanry and symbolism of gravestone design.

Registration is required.
Each walk is limited to 20 participants.
Sliding scale admission: $10-20.

Learn More & Register
Eekappella! A Halloween A Capella Concert
On the Grounds of Historic Northampton
Saturday, October 22, 2022 at 4 pm

On Saturday, October 22 at 4 PM, come to a festive musical celebration on the grounds of Historic Northampton. The concert lineup features the Smith College Chamber Singers, Groove, Smiffenpoofs, Smithereens, Vibes, Noteables, special guests the Mount Holyoke Nice Shoes and more!

Donations will be accepted to support the Friends of Hampshire County Homeless Individuals.

There will be a raffle for gourmet candy and gift certificates. Please bring a chair or blanket.

Sponsored by Cornucopia, Boho Chocolate, the Downtown Northampton Association, Firetype Chocolate, State Street Fruit Store, and Sweeties.

Learn More
Eagles, Owls and Hawks with Tom Ricardi
A Presentation with Live Birds of Prey
Friday, October 14, 2022 | 5 pm
On the Grounds of Historic Northampton
Tom Ricardi of the Birds of Prey Rehabilitation Center in Conway, Massachusetts
Tom Ricardi is one of the nation’s most respected bird of prey rehabilitators and educators. He will bring some of the permanently injured owls, hawks, and eagles from his Birds of Prey Rehabilitation Center in Conway, Massachusetts to Historic Northampton, and describe each bird’s natural history and why their populations have changed over time.
 
A special area on the lawn closest to Ricardi will be reserved for children.

Please bring a blanket or chair.  The event is free and open to all.  
 
All donations collected will benefit Tom’s Birds of Prey Rehabilitation Center at his home in Conway, MA.
 
The rain date is Friday, October 21, 2022 at 5 pm.

Sponsored by Greenfield Savings Bank.

Learn More
Fish Scales, Pearlware, and More:
Stories from the Soils around the Shepherd Barn & Parsons House 
A Zoom Presentation by Dr. Greg Walwer, Archaeological Consulting Services
Thursday, October 13, 2022
7 pm
Last spring, archaeologist Greg Walwer and his team surveyed the soils in and around the 1805 Shepherd Barn and 1719 Parsons House. Their investigation was in anticipation of the restoration of the barn and regrading around the Parsons House, and it was done to make sure no significant archaeological features were hidden below the soil surface.
 
Walwer will tell the stories revealed by 1,000 unearthed fragments—clay pipes, ceramic pieces, coal lumps, metal hinges, shoe buckles, and more.
 
Register for the Zoom link.
Sliding scale admission: $5-20.
Exploring Northampton: Beaver Brook Greenway
A Walking Tour with Bob Zimmermann and Laurie Sanders
Saturday, September 24, 2022 at 10 am
Saturday, September 24, 2022 at 1 pm
Beaver Brook Greenway
Join Broad Brook Coalition president Bob Zimmermann and Historic Northampton’s co-director Laurie Sanders for an exploration of the human and natural history of the Beaver Brook Greenway. Learn about the family that lived here during the early 1900s, who ran a sawmill, operated a large farm and planted daffodils around their home. Fast-forward to today and learn about how this became a conservation area, how the timber-frame wildlife blind was built, and the natural history of the adjacent beaver marsh and surrounding uplands.
 
Co-sponsored by Broad Brook Coalition and Historic Northampton, in partnership with the Leeds Civic Association.

Proceeds to benefit Broad Brook Coalition, Historic Northampton and the Leeds Civic Association.
Northampton State Hospital in History & Fiction: A Walking & Reading Tour
A Tour with Local Author Ellen Meeropol
Tuesday, September 20, 2022 | 10 am
Wednesday, September 21, 2022 | 5 pm
Friday, September 30, 2022 | 10 am
Northampton State Hospital Grounds
Join local author Ellen Meeropol on a walk and talk around the former Northampton State Hospital and the Village Hill neighborhood, the setting and inspiration for her new novel. The Lost Women of Azalea Court begins one November morning, when 88-year-old Iris Blum goes missing from a fictional six-bungalow development on the grounds of the long-closed hospital, where her husband was the last head psychiatrist. Their daughter, the neighbors, and police detective suspect Dr. Blum of being involved in Iris’s disappearance and dig into his past. The neighbors, family, and detective narrate this story together, uncovering ghosts, secrets, and lies.

The tour will stop at historical landmarks. Hear short scenes from the novel set in those places, and think together about the challenge of both honoring our local history and telling a good story.
Northampton Neighbors DoozyDo Parade
Downtown Northampton
Saturday, September 17, 2022
11 am
Come join the fun and watch Historic Northampton and lots of your friends and favorite organizations be silly and celebrate Northampton’s first DoozyDo Parade. The parade, organized by Northampton Neighbors, promises to be a joyful, inclusive, unconventional celebration in—and of—the City of Northampton. It will include people of all ages, as well as local organizations, businesses, local bands and musicians, roller derby devotees, bagpipers, floats and antique cars, and teams of kids, adults and seniors joining in the fun.

Northampton Neighbors is a volunteer-based organization providing free programs and services to help seniors in Northampton, Florence, and Leeds live independent, engaged lives in their homes and communities.

The parade will begin outdoors at the Northampton Center for the Arts at 33 Hawley Street and end outside the Academy of Music.
Daniel Shays's Honorable Rebellion
A Zoom Presentation by author Dr. Daniel Bullen
Thursday, September 15, 2022
7 pm
Daniel Shays's Honorable Rebellion
by Daniel Bullen
In this Zoom lecture, Daniel Bullen will discuss his interpretation of Shays Rebellion (1786-87), which is the subject of his new book Daniel Shays’s Honorable Rebellion: An American Story.

Telling the narrative from the people’s perspective, Bullen asserts that Shays, and thousands of other farmers, protested flagrantly unjust economic policies that forced some farmers off their land, while profiting financiers. Through five months of protests, the farmers kept the peace and later won reforms they sought.
Firsting & Lasting: Writing Indians Out of Existence in New England
A Zoom Presentation with author Dr. Jean M. O'Brien (White Earth Ojibwe)

Wednesday, September 14, 2022
7 pm
Firsting and Lasting:
Writing Indians Out of Existence
by Dr. Jean M. O'Brien
Professor Jean O'Brien (White Earth Ojibwe) will discuss how local historians in New England, writing between 1820 and 1880, promoted the myth of Indian extinction, if they wrote about the Indigenous population at all.

Local historians erased Indians from the record by focusing on "firsting," which refers to the practice of listing the firsts of the proud English (e.g. first born, first settlement) and then "lasting," in which local histories told of the tragic disappearance of the last members of the Indian population, who had not disappeared at all.  

During the discussion, presenters will read from the historical record (found in the Leverett Library and in Amherst's Jones Library Special Collections), which demonstrates how western Massachusetts "firsted" and "lasted" its Indigenous people and often "replaced" them with monuments.

Sponsored by On Native Land: Leverett Advocacy and Education Group.
Paradise East Open Mic Night
Friday, September 9, 2022 | 6 - 8 pm
On the Grounds of Historic Northampton
Picture
Paradise East Open Mic Night
Northampton's Arts Night Out
Follow-up your walking tour of Northampton’s Chalk Art Festival with an evening of music, poetry, story-telling….and a special performance by Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra!

Please join us to enjoy and/or share one of your talents: music, poetry, comedy, dance, name yours!  Bring a blanket, picnic, and friends.  Performance time is 5-10 minutes, and child performers are encouraged.
 
Bonus: Chalk will be available all day at Historic Northampton to create your own chalk art on our driveway and parking area. Art by children encouraged.

Open Mic Night is held in partnership with the Downtown Northampton Association, Downtown Sounds, the Fiddle Orchestra of Western Massachusetts, the Graves Avenue Association, the Northampton Community Music Center, Northampton Neighbors and the Ward 3 Neighborhood Association.
Paradise East Open Mic Night
Arts Night Out | Friday, August 12, 2022 | 5 - 8 pm | Free
On the Grounds of Historic Northampton
Picture
Open Mic Night (July 2022)
Share your talent: music, poetry, comedy, dance,
name yours!  Bring a blanket, a picnic, and your friends.

Performance time is 5-10 minutes.
5-6 pm: Children up to age 12 
6-8 pm: All others

Open Mic Night is held in partnership with
  • Downtown Northampton Association
  • Downtown Sounds
  • Fiddle Orchestra of Western Massachusetts
  • Graves Avenue Association
  • Northampton Community Music Center
  • Northampton Neighbors
  • Ward 3 Neighborhood Association
Shake Your Soul on Historic Northampton's Grounds
with Hayley Spizz, Certified Instructor
Tuesday, August 9, 2022 | 5 - 6 pm
Tuesday, August 23, 2022 | 5 - 6 pm
Shake Your Soul with Hayley Spizz
Since the 1830s, when Sylvester Graham first championed the benefits of exercise, to the present, Northampton residents have promoted and participated in a wide variety of physical activities.

This summer, join Hayley Spizz on Historic Northampton’s grounds for an hour of Shake Your Soul, a fluid and fun movement event. Experience the joy of dance, release tension, nurture your body and soul, and delight in this dynamic practice.

Hayley Spizz is a Certified Instructor in Shake Your Soul: The Yoga of Dance.
 
All ages and all levels of movement/dance experience, and fitness are welcome.  No registration required. Free.
Canceled in the event of rain.
Music at the Museum
A Chamber Music Concert to Benefit Historic Northampton &
The Pioneer Valley Symphony
Wednesday, August 3, 2022
Exhibit at 5:30 pm | Concert at 6:30 pm
​On the Grounds of Historic Northampton
Arrive at 5:30 pm to meet the curators and explore Historic Northampton’s exhibit, Making it on Main Street.

At 6:30 pm, settle in with your picnic for a concert of chamber music with musicians from the Pioneer Valley Symphony Orchestra.

Bring your own picnic and lawn chair/blanket. 

This event is open to the public by donation to benefit both Pioneer Valley Symphony and Historic Northampton. Both organizations are 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organizations.

Rain date: Wednesday, August 10, 2022.
Jubilant & Joyful! Learn a Tune & Play Along with the Fiddle Orchestra of Western Massachusetts
Saturday, July 30, 2022 | 9:30 am - 11 am| Free
​On the Grounds of Historic Northampton
Fiddle Orchestra of Western Massachusetts
Bring your acoustic instrument and find how easy it is to learn a tune by ear!
 
FOWMers (as we call ourselves) play not only fiddles but other instruments as well. Or, relax on the lawn and listen as we celebrate the Jubilant & Joyful days of summer swooning along with traditional tunes from the New England, American South, Celtic, Quebecois, and Scandinavian heritages, along with original compositions by contemporary musicians.

Free Admission.  Donations will benefit Historic Northampton and the Fiddle Orchestra of Western Massachusetts.
Les Boulevardiers at Historic Northampton
Friday, July 22, 2022 | 6:30 pm | Free
​A Free Concert on the Grounds of Historic Northampton
Les Boulevardiers will offer a concert on the grounds of Historic Northampton on July 22, 2022.
Join us for a fun, jazzy evening of music.
​
Les Boulevardiers, an ensemble with diverse musical backgrounds, is united by a shared love of swinging vintage jazz, sultry tango, and fresh arrangements of the great American songs.

​The cabaret and café-concert instrumentation is accordion, clarinet, cello, piano, guitar, mandolin, string bass, and percussion. Les Boulevardiers often collaborate with singers and dancers to create unforgettable events. Les Boulevardiers are based in Massachusetts.
Special Performance by the Fiddle Orchestra of Western Massachusetts
Saturday, July 16, 2022 | 6 pm - 8 pm | Free
​On the Grounds of Historic Northampton
Fiddle Orchestra of Western Massachusetts
Historic Northampton and the Fiddle Orchestra of Western Massachusetts (FOWM) invite you to tap your toes, bob your head, and let your feet dance along with some Midsummer Melodies on the lawn.  

Our tunes bring the joy of old-time music into modern times. The repertoire includes music from the New England, American South, Celtic, Quebecois, and Scandinavian heritages, along with original compositions by contemporary musicians.

Free Admission.  Donations will benefit Historic Northampton and the Fiddle Orchestra of Western Massachusetts.​
Paradise East Open Mic Night
Arts Night Out | Friday, July 8, 2022 | 5 - 8 pm | Free
On the Grounds of Historic Northampton
Share your talent: music, poetry, comedy, dance,
name yours!  Bring a blanket, a picnic, and your friends.

Performance time is 5 minutes.
5-6 pm: Children up to age 12 
6-8 pm: All others

Open Mic Night is held in partnership with
  • Downtown Northampton Association
  • Fiddle Orchestra of Western Massachusetts
  • Graves Avenue Association
  • Northampton Community Music Center
  • Northampton Neighbors
  • Ward 3 Neighborhood Association
Reading Frederick Douglass Together
A Public Reading of Frederick Douglass's Fourth of July Address
Sunday, July 3, 2022 at 11 am
On the Grounds of Historic Northampton
Reading Frederick Douglass Together brings people together to read aloud Frederick Douglass’s speech, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?

The event will take place on Sunday, July 3, 2022 at 11 am outdoors on the grounds of Historic Northampton.  Copies of Douglass’ speech will be distributed to all in attendance. The public can take turns reading passages from it in succession.  People may simply attend or attend and read. The event is free and open to the public.

The speech was first delivered in 1852, in Corinthian Hall, Rochester, New York to the Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society. The themes addressed in the speech still resonant with Americans more than 150 years after they were written.  Now more than ever, the speech forces us to reckon with the legacy of slavery and the promises of democracy.
​
Frederick Douglass had strong ties to the Northampton Association of Education and Industry in Florence and spoke in downtown Northampton in the 1840s about slavery and the abolitionist movement.
Reading Frederick Douglass Together is a statewide initiative coordinated by Mass Humanities.
​Now in its 13th year, the program will take place in communities across Massachusetts. 
200 chairs will be available.  Feel free to bring your own chair.
​During the reading, the grounds are closed to dog walking. Certified service dogs only, please.
Natural History Along the Mill River: Smith College to Federal Street
A Walking Tour with Co-director & Naturalist Laurie Sanders
Wednesday, June 22, 2022 | 5:30 - 7:30 pm
Join co-director and naturalist Laurie Sanders to explore along a stretch of the Mill River that is rich in natural and human history. For centuries, it has been among the most popular walks in Northampton.

Registration is required.
Each walk is limited to 20 participants.
Sliding scale admission: $10-20.
Bridge Street Cemetery: Stories in Stone
​A Walking Tour with Emma Winter Zeig of Historic Northampton
Saturday, June 18, 2022 | 9:30 am
A Second Walk in Bridge Street Cemetery
Visit more of Bridge Street Cemetery’s “residents” as we read aloud from their letters and diaries. We will think about how they are commemorated as we hear them describe in their own words the Northampton they left behind.

Registration is required.
Each walk is limited to 20 participants.
Sliding scale admission: $10-20.
A Walking Tour of Bridge Street Cemetery
with Emma Winter Zeig of Historic Northampton
Friday, June 17, 2022 | 9:30 am
Sunday, June 19, 2022 | 1 pm
Back By Popular Demand!
Get to know your historical neighbors in a walking tour of Bridge Street Cemetery. We will "meet" some Northampton residents--like Revolutionary War patriot Joseph Hawley, Samuel Bartlett of witchcraft accusation fame, Indigenous spinner and weaver Sally Maminash, Sylvia Church, a woman who was enslaved in Northampton, and a family who were all killed in the Mill River Flood. Along the way, we will examine changing artisanry and symbolism of gravestone design.

Registration is required.
Each walk is limited to 20 participants.
Sliding scale admission: $10-20.
Paradise East Open Mic Night
Arts Night Out | Friday, June 10, 2022 | 5 - 8 pm | Free
Share your talent: music, poetry, comedy, dance, name yours!  Bring a blanket, a picnic, and your friends.

Performance time is 5 minutes.
5-6 pm: Children up to age 12 
6-8 pm: All others

Open Mic Night is held in partnership with
  • Downtown Northampton Association
  • Fiddle Orchestra of Western Massachusetts
  • Graves Avenue Association
  • Northampton Community Music Center
  • Northampton Neighbors
  • Ward 3 Neighborhood Association
Natural History Along the Mill River:
Village Hill and the Former Northampton State Hospital Grounds
A Walking Tour with Co-director & Naturalist Laurie Sanders
Wednesday, June 8, 2022 | 9:30 - 11:30 am
Join co-director and naturalist Laurie Sanders to explore along a stretch of the Mill River that is rich in natural and human history.

For centuries, it has been among the most popular walks in Northampton.

Registration is required.
Each walk is limited to 20 participants.
Sliding scale admission: $10-20.
A Hike to the Ruins of the Williamsburg Dam
with co-director and author Elizabeth Sharpe
Friday, June 3, 2022 | 10 am
Saturday, June 4, 2022 | 10 am
Stereoview depicting the west bank of the Williamsburg Dam showing the break in both walls. Knowlton Brothers Photographers.
Join co-director Elizabeth Sharpe on a hike to the ruins of the Williamsburg reservoir dam in Williamsburg, Massachusetts.  On May 16, 1874, the 42-foot tall earthen dam suddenly burst, unleashing one hundred acres of water onto the valley below. Within an hour, the flood devastated the villages of Williamsburg, Skinnerville, Haydenville and Leeds; 139 persons were dead.  It was the first major dam disaster in US history.

Dr. Sharpe will discuss the dam's siting, construction, the flood itself, and the inquiry into who was responsible.  Elizabeth Sharpe is the author of In the Shadow of the Dam: The Aftermath of the Mill River Flood of 1874 (Free Press, 2004).

The trail is approximately 1.5 miles total, of moderate difficulty, with some steep, slippery and rugged portions.  This program is offered in conjunction with Williamsburg Woodland Trails.

Registration is required.
Limited to 20.
Donation: $10-25. Contributions will be split between Historic Northampton and Williamsburg Woodland Trails.
Exploring Parsons Brook
A Walking Tour with co-director & naturalist Laurie Sanders
Sunday, May 22, 2022 | 1:30 - 3:30 pm
Monday, May 23, 2022 | 9 - 11:30 am
Parsons Brook Greenway
During the last twenty years, the City of Northampton has protected more than 100 acres in the Parsons Brook Greenway. This landscape is underlain by outwash plains that were deposited 16,000-13,000 years ago, when braided glacial streams, choked with sands and sediments, flowed into Glacial Lake Hitchcock. Today, this area includes a mix of habitats, nearly all of which have been highly manipulated by people during the last fifty years.
 
Join co-director and naturalist Laurie Sanders on a two-hour loop in a portion of the conservation area, through abandoned gravel pits and oak and pine woods, past ponds and marshes, and beside a stretch of Parsons Brook that reveals exposures of 200-million year old sandstone.

Registration Required.
Each tour is limited to 15.
Sliding Scale Admission: $10-20.
Architectural Geology: Building Stones of Northampton
A Walking Tour with geologist John Brady
Tuesday, May 17, 2022 | 9:30 to 11:30 am
Thursday, May 19, 2022 | 1:30 to 3:30 pm
Hampshire County Courthouse, Main Street
Photo by Rob Weir
Geologist John Brady will lead a walk on Main Street and describe the geologic origins of the building stones used to construct some of downtown Northampton's most iconic structures--from the Court House and First Churches to City Hall and beyond. This walk will expand your view of Northampton's architecture and give you a new appreciation for some of the 400 million years of earth's history that the building stones reveal.

Meet at Historic Northampton, 46 Bridge Street, Northampton.

Registration Required.
Each tour is limited to 15.
Sliding Scale Admission: $15-25.
Walk with the Indian Doctress:
Restorative Approaches to Interpreting Native American Medicine
A Zoom Presentation by Dr. Margaret Bruchac
Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania
Thursday, May 12, 2022 | 7 pm
Margaret Bruchac as Indian Doctress
Photo by Justin Kennick
Dr. Margaret Bruchac will describe the lives and work of several 19th century Indigenous healers, including Rhoda Rhoades (1751-1841), who treated people in Northampton and other western Massachusetts locales.

Rhoades doctored people at her home in “Indian Hollow,” a section of Huntington later destroyed by the construction of the Knightville Dam. She cured illnesses using special diets and traditional medicines made with boneset, Joe Pye weed, wake robin, and other indigenous plants. Rhoades' neighbors recalled that she grew “every kind of flower imaginable” and used them to make an herbal medicine called "The Extract."

Dr. Bruchac will discuss her research on these gifted Native healers, revealing how their knowledges were exploited by patent medicine peddlars and Yankee physicians. She will also discuss her approach to restorative research, including living history performances in the character of “Molly Geet, the Indian Doctress” at Old Sturbridge Village museum.

Register for the Zoom link.
Sliding Scale Admission: $5-25.
Sponsored by Whalen Insurance
Patches of Wildness:
A Preliminary Inventory of the Overlooked Plants in and around Downtown Northampton
A Walking Tour with co-director and naturalist Laurie Sanders
Tuesday, May 3, 2022 | 9 to 11 am
Saturday, May 7, 2022 | 8 to 10 am
In the midst of an otherwise built-up landscape, cracks in the sidewalk, roadside edges, and other "neglected" patches are places where a variety of plant species--grasses, wildflowers and trees--have taken hold.  Although usually dismissed as "weeds," these plants have fascinating life histories (many come from other parts of the world) and when considered up-close, their flowers and features are beautiful. What's more, larger, untended patches often support a variety of butterflies, bees, ants and other insects. 
 
On this outing, we'll begin to identify and inventory some of the most common "weeds" in downtown Northampton.

Registration Required.
Each session is limited to 15.
Sliding Scale Admission: $10-20.
"To Live in the Common Cause:"
Activism and Community at the Northampton Association
A Zoom Presentation by Dr. Christopher Clark
Professor of History, University of Connecticut
Friday, May 6, 2022 | 3 - 4 pm
Williston's Cotton Mill from the series Stereoscopic Views of Florence by the Knowlton Brothers Photographers
In April 1842 (180 years ago), a group of radical abolitionists formed the Northampton Association of Education and Industry, a utopian community they sustained for four-and-a-half years. How did their activism contribute to the campaign against slavery?  What did they learn about living in community?  And although the Association itself broke up in 1846, how did its members help found the village of Florence that still thrives today?

This event is co-presented by Northampton Neighbors,
Historic Northampton and the David Ruggles Center for History \
and Education.
When Movement Struggles Produce Progressive Thought
A Zoom Presentation by Dr. Sarah Lynn Patterson
Assistant Professor, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Thursday, April 28, 2022 | 7 pm
"The National Colored Convention in Session at Washington, D. C." Sketched by Theo. R. Davis. Harper’s Weekly,
February 6, 1869. Howard University (mss_5785A).
Over seven decades, from 1830 until 1900, tens of thousands of Black men and women from different walks of life attended meetings publicly advertised as “Colored Conventions.”

Professor Sarah Lynn Patterson will discuss the rise and the fall of the Colored Conventions movement as a way of understanding dialogues about progressive politics at the turn of the twentieth century.

Professor Patterson is a founder of the award-winning archive www.ColoredConventions.org and an editor and contributor to The Colored Conventions Movement (UNC Press, 2021). 

Register for the Zoom link.
Sliding Scale Admission: $5-25.
Sponsored by Whalen Insurance
What Happened to the Milky Way?
A Zoom Presentation by Astronomer James Lowenthal
Tuesday, March 29, 2022 | 7 pm
Photograph of the Milky Way
from Mount Willard
Today in the United States, only about 20% of us can see the Milky Way from where we live.
 
In this illustrated presentation, astronomer James Lowenthal will discuss the night sky and describe steps we can take to bring back the spectacular views of the Milky Way and its stars. The simple changes he proposes will also save money on wasted electricity, improve public health and safety, and protect the naturally dark sky that many species depend on to thrive.

Register for the Zoom link.
Sliding Scale Admission: $5-25
Students: Free
In partnership with the International Dark-Sky Foundation
Exploring Northampton
A Sunset Walk in the Meadows
A Walking Tour led by Co-director & Naturalist Laurie Sanders
Friday, March 18, 2022 | 6 - 8 pm
Saturday, March 19, 2022 | 6 - 8 pm
Registration is Full.  To be placed on the waitlist, please email [email protected]
Subject line: Meadows Walk March 18th or
Subject line: Meadows Walk March 19th
Hockanum Ferry by Moonlight, Northampton, Mass.
Postcard by Edgar T. Scott.
Courtesy of the Jones Library, Amherst
Join co-director and naturalist Laurie Sanders for a walk down Hockanum Road to the site of the former Hockanum Ferry on the Connecticut River. The return leg will coincide with the sunset, which is one of the most beautiful times to be in the Meadows.  We will view the Holyoke Range and appreciate the broad floodplain that shaped so much of Northampton's history.

To and from the river, we'll hope for flocks of migrating Canada geese and ducks ... and possibly an aerial performance by a woodcock (or two).  The walk on March 18th will also include a bonus: the rise of the full moon.
Thinking Through Stories: Children, Philosophy, and Picture Books
A Zoom Presentation by Tom Wartenberg

Wednesday, March 16, 2022 | 7 pm
Can picture books be more than a means of getting children to sleep? Tom Wartenberg thinks so.
 
In his new book, Thinking Through Stories: Children, Philosophy, and Picture Books, Wartenberg describes how picture books are a great way to get children thinking about the central issues in Western philosophy, such as: How do I know that I’m not dreaming now? Is it morally acceptable to deceive someone by telling them a white lie? What is the best way for a person to be happy?

Wartenberg, who has been working with elementary-school children for more than twenty years, will explain why he is such a champion of children’s picture books and why he thinks that it's important for children to be introduced to philosophy from an early age.
 
In partnership with Broadside Bookshop, R. Michelson Galleries, and the UMass Center for Philosophy and Children.
 
Register for the Zoom link.
Sliding Scale Admission: $5-25
Students: Free