Past Programs 2025
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Click here for upcoming programs
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Goodnight Barn!
A Shepherd Barn Open House
A Shepherd Barn Open House
Saturday, November 15, 2025 | 3 - 5 pm
66 Bridge Street, Northampton, MA 01060
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Join us for a barn open house to wish Shepherd Barn a winter's goodnight!
Explore the beautifully restored barn and its artifacts, listen to expert timber framer Alicia Spence about the barn's restoration, enjoy live fiddle music, and other fun activities for children and families. At 5 pm bedtime, everyone is invited to gather to say "Goodnight Barn!" featuring a special song written just for this occasion. Cider donuts and local apple cider will be available. FREE. All are welcome. Fun for adults and children. No registration required. |
In Defiance: 20 Abolitionists You Were Never Taught in School
A Zoom Presentation by Authors Tom Weiner & Dr. Amilcar Shabazz
Thursday, November 13, 2025 at 5:30 to 6:30 pm
Register for the Zoom link.
Sliding scale admission: $5-10.
Sliding scale admission: $5-10.
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Join us for a zoom presentation with Tom Weiner, Northampton-based writer and educator, and Dr. Amilcar Shabazz, University of Massachusetts Amherst Professor of History and Africana Studies in the W. E. B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies, to learn about their new book, In Defiance: 20 Abolitionists You Were Never Taught in School (Simon and Schuster, 2025).
The book features previously untold stories of individuals—Black and white—who risked their lives to fight enslavement in the United States. In this illustrated presentation, the authors will share some of the stories contained in the book as well as their motivation for writing it, their research, and the importance of this history, then and now. Learn More & Register |
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
A Film by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein & David Schmidt
A Special Preview Screening and Conversation with Historians Marla Miller & Alison Russell
Sunday, November 9, 2025 at 4 to 6 pm
Northampton Arts Trust Building at 33 Hawley Street, Northampton, MA 01060
Northampton Arts Trust Building at 33 Hawley Street, Northampton, MA 01060
This event is Sold Out!
Pre-registration is required.
Sliding scale admission: $15-50.
Sliding scale admission: $15-50.
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A special preview of the new Ken Burns' documentary series THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION will be presented by NEPM, Historic Northampton, and Historic Deerfield.
Following the 30-minute screening, UMass Amherst historians Marla Miller and Alison Russell—both experts in the American Revolution and the role of Connecticut Valley families during this period—will provide remarks and answer questions from the audience. The conversation and Q & A will be moderated by historian Erika Gasser, director of academic programs at Historic Deerfield. THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION is a new six-part, twelve-hour documentary series that explores the country’s founding struggle and its eight-year War for Independence. The series will premiere on PBS on Sunday, November 16, 2025 and air for six consecutive nights through Friday, November 21st from 8-10 pm on NEPM. Learn More |
Women’s History in Life & Death:
A Walking Tour of Bridge Street Cemetery
A Walking Tour of Bridge Street Cemetery
with Elizabeth Sacktor, Museum Educator, Historic Northampton
Tuesday, October 21, 2025 at 5 pm
Tuesday, October 28, 2025 at 5 pm
Gravestones of Sarah Gray and Sylva Church in the Bridge Street Cemetery, Northampton, MA. Photo by Bob Drinkwater.
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Join Historic Northampton’s Elizabeth Sacktor for a walking tour of the Bridge Street Cemetery. We’ll explore how gravestones, and their locations in the cemetery, help us understand how Northampton women have been remembered, or nearly forgotten.
The tour will visit the graves of ten women buried between 1776 and 1923, from early 18th century midwives to the first Indigenous woman to attend Smith College. Each woman has a story to tell, and by examining the grave itself and the material remnants of their lives, we will uncover these stories together. The tour involves walking and standing for about an hour on uneven ground, so comfortable walking shoes are recommended. |
Pre-registration is required. | Limited to 15. | Sliding Scale Admission: $10-25.
Barn Forensics: Examining Clues on the History of the Shepherd Barn
Saturday, October 25, 2025 | 2 to 3 pm
At the 1805 Shepherd Barn, 66 Bridge Street, Northampton, Mass.
At the 1805 Shepherd Barn, 66 Bridge Street, Northampton, Mass.
Limited to 30.
Sliding scale admission: $10-25.
Sliding scale admission: $10-25.
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Join timber framer, architect, and barn historian Jack Sobon for a special one-hour "tour" of the Shepherd barn. Jack will point out the clues that reveal the structure's previous "lives" and uses.
As a special bonus, Jack will give a show-and-tell of some barn tools and artifacts from his collection. In 2020-2021, Sobon examined the construction and carpentry of the Shepherd barn focusing on evidence of its original purpose and use and how it had been modified over 115 years.
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Diagram of an early 19th-century English Barn
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New England Barns: An Introduction to Their History and Carpentry
Wednesday, October 22, 2025 at 7:00 pm
A Zoom Presentation by Jack A. Sobon, Architect and Master Timber Framer
A Zoom Presentation by Jack A. Sobon, Architect and Master Timber Framer
Register for the Zoom link. Sliding scale admission: $5-$15.
Barn in North Egremont, Massachusetts
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In this illustrated talk, Jack Sobon--timber framer, forensic architect, author, and founder of the Timber Framers Guild of North America--will show the development of New England’s barns from the early small-sized self-sufficient farmstead “English” barns to the larger New England or “Yankee” barns common on more expansive farms of the 19th century.
Jack will describe how the design and layout of these buildings was transformed as farming changed. Along the way, you will learn about square pegs in round holes, riving, scribing, juggling, raising, shaving horses, beef rolls, dove holes, and gin poles. This hour-long presentation will be followed by a Q & A. |
Women’s History in Life & Death:
A Walking Tour of Bridge Street Cemetery
A Walking Tour of Bridge Street Cemetery
with Elizabeth Sacktor, Museum Educator, Historic Northampton
Tuesday, October 21, 2025 at 5 pm
Tuesday, October 28, 2025 at 5 pm
Gravestones of Sarah Gray and Sylva Church in the Bridge Street Cemetery, Northampton, MA. Photo by Bob Drinkwater.
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Join Historic Northampton’s Elizabeth Sacktor for a walking tour of the Bridge Street Cemetery. We’ll explore how gravestones, and their locations in the cemetery, help us understand how Northampton women have been remembered, or nearly forgotten.
The tour will visit the graves of ten women buried between 1776 and 1923, from early 18th century midwives to the first Indigenous woman to attend Smith College. Each woman has a story to tell, and by examining the grave itself and the material remnants of their lives, we will uncover these stories together. The tour involves walking and standing for about an hour on uneven ground, so comfortable walking shoes are recommended. |
Pre-registration is required. | Limited to 15. | Sliding Scale Admission: $10-25.
The Oldest Graves in Bridge Street Cemetery Walking Tour
with Elizabeth Sacktor, Museum Educator, Historic Northampton
Thursday, October 9, 2025 at 5 pm
Thursday, October 23, 2025 at 5 pm
Stoddard Family Tablestones, Bridge Street Cemetery, Northampton, MA.
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Join museum educator Elizabeth Sacktor on a visit to the cemetery's oldest graves, dating back to the 17th and early 18th-centuries, to learn about the lives they commemorate. From the elaborate markers of community leaders, such as Solomon Stoddard (died 1729), to the shared graves of children, Joel and Mary Lyman (died 1778), gravestones reveal social status, the strict hierarchy of early Northampton life, and Puritan New England's changing worldviews. Together we'll explore how the burial ground reflects shifting community values, new styles of gravestone carving, and changing beliefs of death and loss.
The tour involves walking and standing for about an hour on uneven ground, so comfortable walking shoes are recommended. |
Pre-registration is required. | Limited to 15. | Sliding Scale Admission: $10-25.
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Eekapella 2025A Halloween ACapella ConcertSunday, October 19, 2025
2 to 4:30 pm A Festive Musical Celebration
on the lawn near the Shepherd Barn
Acapella Music ~ Spooky Dances
Gourmet Candy Raffle ~ Kid's Costume Contest Free. Donations encouraged.
All proceeds benefit the Hampshire Support Alliance. |
Good Neighbors Paint Good Fences
Sunday, October 19, 2025
11 am to 12 noon
11 am to 12 noon
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Join the Painting Party!
No painting experience needed! All supplies provided. Only 150 brushes available! The first 30 people get a FREE painter’s hat. With your help, we'll paint 300 feet of fence in one hour! |
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Made in the Valley: 19th Century Music for Viols and Voices from the Connecticut River Valley
Saturday, October 18, 2025 at 7:00 pm
Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence
220 Main Street, Northampton, MA 01060
220 Main Street, Northampton, MA 01060
Sliding Scale Admission: $15-50
Scrolls of bass viols by Abraham Prescott of New Hampshire, one of the most prolific and better known makers of bass viols.
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Join us for a concert featuring voices and viols, including works by Sawney Freeman, a formerly enslaved composer from Connecticut as well as music that Freeman would have played and heard. Other selections will include hymns, fiddle tunes, songs, and dance music, some of which haven’t been heard for more than two centuries.
The music and commentary will be presented by five eminent musicians: vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Tim Eriksen; viol virtuoso Loren Ludwig; alto violist Alice Robbins of Arcadia Players; vocalist and violinist Allison Monroe, Director of the Five College Early Music Program; and bass violist Nate Steele of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Daphne Lamothe, Smith College Provost, will moderate the program. |
Gallery Talks with Simbrit Paskins, Exhibit Educator
Slavery and Freedom in Northampton, 1654-1783
Slavery and Freedom in Northampton, 1654-1783
Sunday, October 12, 2025 at 4 pm
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Join a gallery talk to explore the exhibit with a member of Historic Northampton’s staff.
Learn more details of the lives of local enslaved individuals and the narratives of enslaved people becoming free. We will share information about the legal arrangements that kept slavery in place, how enslaved labor fueled the Northampton and regional economy, and the research at Historic Northampton, Forbes Library, and elsewhere in the Valley that underlies the exhibit. As we explore the exhibit, we will discuss personal connections to this local history and discover what questions we still have about slavery in Northampton. |
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Free. Donations are welcome. No registration is required.
Shepherd Barn Dance
Friday, October 10, 2025 | 7 to 9 PM
At the 1805 Shepherd Barn, 66 Bridge Street, Historic Northampton, Northampton, MA
Inaugural Shepherd Barn Dance 2023
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It's a great American tradition to dance in barns, and we're so pleased to honor that tradition and host a contra dance this season in the Shepherd Barn. Steve Howland will call a variety of circle, square and contra dances, and the band will feature long-time valley contra dance musicians: Becky Hollingsworth on piano, Joe Blumenthal on bass, and Rebecca Weiss and Rose Jackson on fiddle.
All dances will be taught; no partner is necessary to come. All ages and experience levels welcome! If the weather is good, additional registrations will be accepted on the night of the event for outdoor dancing. Limited to 40.
Pre-registration is required. Sliding scale admission: $15-$35. |
Hidden History: A Walking Tour
with Betty Sharpe, Co-director, Historic Northampton
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Friday, September 19, 2025
Sunday, September 28, 2025
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Friday, September 26, 2025
Wednesday, October 8, 2025
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Photo by Lewis Hine of newspaper boys on Market Street, Northampton, August 1912. Courtesy of the National Child Labor Committee Collection, Library of Congress.
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Many of today’s familiar locations in downtown are the sites of historical events which are no longer remembered but which ought to be.
Join co-director Betty Sharpe as we visit sites where moments of injustice, political division, and social progress took place, including where:
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Pre-registration is required. | Each walk is limited to 12. | Sliding Scale Admission: $15-25.
Exploring Northampton Series
From Elwell Island to the Boundary Waters (of Hatfield)
From Elwell Island to the Boundary Waters (of Hatfield)
Saturday, October 4, 2025 | 9 to 11 am
Paradise City Dragon Boat
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Take in the beauty of the Connecticut River in a dragon boat and learn about the rich natural and cultural history in the stretch between Elwell Island and the boundary of Hatfield. The outing will begin with a paddling lesson by members of the Paradise City Dragon Boat team, followed by a paddle with commentary by co-director and naturalist Laurie Sanders about the environmental and human history of this part of the Connecticut River.
This is an active outing. Participants are expected to be fit enough to paddle and to handle themselves in the boat. For ages 18+. All equipment provided, no prior paddling experience necessary. Sliding scale: $25–50. Limited to 20 participants. Registration required. All proceeds will benefit the Paradise Dragon Boat Team and Historic Northampton. |
Gallery Talk Slavery and Freedom in Northampton, 1654-1783
September 2025
Free. Donations are welcome.
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Sundays
11 am and 4 pm No registration is required. |
Thursdays
4 pm Pre-registration is required. |
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Join a gallery talk to explore the exhibit with a member of Historic Northampton’s staff.
Learn more details of the lives of local enslaved individuals and the narratives of enslaved people becoming free. We will share information about the legal arrangements that kept slavery in place, how enslaved labor fueled the Northampton and regional economy, and the research at Historic Northampton, Forbes Library, and elsewhere in the Valley that underlies the exhibit. As we explore the exhibit, we will discuss personal connections to this local history and discover what questions we still have about slavery in Northampton. |
Immigration to Northampton: A Walking Tour
with Elizabeth Sacktor, Museum Educator, Historic Northampton
Tuesday, September 9, 2025 10 - 11 am
Tuesday, September 16, 2025 10 - 11 am
Tuesday, September 16, 2025 10 - 11 am
Simon Cohn (at right) and possibly Marcus Cohn in front of Cohn's clothing store, circa 1890s. Note: This site is the current location of Sweetie's Candy Store on the corner of Main and Pleasant streets.
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Historic Northampton’s Elizabeth Sacktor will lead a walking tour of downtown Northampton as seen through the theme of immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries. The tour will be a non-chronological exploration of how Northampton’s many immigrant populations worked and built community amid changing sentiments and discrimination.
Hear the stories of two Irish men executed for a crime they did not commit. See the former home of a successful Jewish family who turned their clothing business into a Northampton staple. Learn about the ways Puerto Rican women made a name for themselves for their fine needlework. Visit the site of a former Chinese Laundry and learn about the U.S.’s first laws limiting immigration based on race. Together, we will ask questions about what it means to be American, what it means to be from Northampton, and how our home is shaped by the communities with whom we share it. |
Northampton Slavery Document Study Day
Saturday, September 13, 2025
11 am to 2 pm
at Historic Northampton's Shepherd Barn, 66 Bridge Street, Northampton, Mass.
Saturday, September 13, 2025
11 am to 2 pm
at Historic Northampton's Shepherd Barn, 66 Bridge Street, Northampton, Mass.
Agreement between Sue, Mingo, and their enslaver Samuel Parsons, August 30, 1698.
Collection of Forbes Library. |
For one day only, see original 17th- and 18th-century documents relating to slavery in Northampton. Gain deeper insight into enslaved lives and the institution of slavery as it was practiced in town.
The documents will be on display in collaboration with Forbes Library and the Hampshire County Probate Court. Among the documents will be:
This event is free and open to the public. Learn More |
Exploring Northampton Series
A Visit to Northampton’s Original Lead Mine and Vicinity
A Walking Tour with Wayne Perrea
A Visit to Northampton’s Original Lead Mine and Vicinity
A Walking Tour with Wayne Perrea
Friday, September 12, 2025 | 1 to 3 pm
Saturday, September 13, 2025 | 1 to 3 pm
Saturday, September 13, 2025 | 1 to 3 pm
Illustration of the seam of the lead mine
by artist Nancy Haver. |
In 1678, a seam with lead ore was discovered not far from where today’s boundaries of Northampton, Easthampton, Westhampton, and Southampton meet. Nearly a century after the initial discovery, in 1765, a group of investors purchased the site, and with labor from three enslaved men—Cato, Cesar, and Tom—began actively mining.
Wayne Perrea will lead a walking tour to the mine site where Cato, Cesar, and Tom worked and lived. Perrea, a local historian who grew up in Loudville, has spent decades assembling a history of this original mine and the subsequent mining activities in the vicinity. On the walk, Perrea will describe the geology, methods of extracting lead and silver, and the challenges the miners faced. |
Pre-registration is required. | Each walk is limited to 20. | Sliding Scale Admission: $15-35.
Illuminating Truth: A Special Presentation on Parsons House
An Outdoor Slideshow by Whitney Designworks
at Historic Northampton outside 58 Bridge Street, Northampton, Mass.
Friday, September 12, 2025 at 6:30 pm to 8 pm - 8-minute loop
Saturday, September 13, 2025 at 6:30 pm to 8 pm - 8 minute loop
Illuminating Truth: A Special Presentation on Parsons House
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Silhouettes and images of historic documents from the exhibit Slavery and Freedom in Northampton, 1654 to 1783 will be projected onto the 1719 Parsons family house at 58 Bridge Street in Northampton in an outdoor slideshow by Whitney Designworks of Northampton.
For at least 129 years, slavery was part of the fabric of everyday life in Northampton. At least 50 enslaved individuals lived here from the town’s English settlement in 1654 until 1783 when slavery was abolished in Massachusetts. The outdoor slideshow features silhouettes of men, women, and children who were enslaved here. |
Extended Evening Hours: On Friday, September 12, 2025, the exhibit Slavery and Freedom in Northampton, 1654 to 1783 will be open in the Damon Education Center until 8 pm.
In Partnership with State Representative Lindsay Sabadosa, Mass Humanities, and Community Partners
Reading Frederick Douglass Together 2025
A Public Reading of Frederick Douglass's 1852 Fourth of July Address
A Public Reading of Frederick Douglass's 1852 Fourth of July Address
On the Grounds of Historic Northampton, 46 Bridge Street, Northampton, MA
Saturday, July 5, 2025 at 11 am
Reading Frederick Douglass Together 2025
#RFDT25 |
Reading Frederick Douglass Together brings people together to read aloud Frederick Douglass’s speech, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?
Copies of Douglass’s speech will be distributed to all in attendance. The public can take turns reading passages from it in succession. Come to listen or come to read a passage. Dr. Ousmane Power-Greene will give the opening and closing remarks for the 2025 Northampton event. Power-Greene is chair of the Northampton Reparations Study Commission and a professor of history at Clark University. The event is free and open to the public. 200 chairs will be available. Feel free to bring your own chair. Douglass first delivered the speech in 1852, in Corinthian Hall, Rochester, New York to the Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society. The themes addressed in the speech still resonate 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. |
Illuminating Truth: A Special Presentation on Parsons House
An Outdoor Slideshow by Whitney Designworks
At Historic Northampton outside 58 Bridge Street
Thursday, July 3, 2025 at 8:30 pm to 10 pm
Saturday, July 5, 2025 at 8:30 pm to 10 pm
Illuminating Truth: A Special Presentation on Parsons House
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Silhouettes and historic documents from the new exhibit Slavery and Freedom in Northampton, 1654 to 1783 will be projected onto the 1719 Parsons family house at 58 Bridge Street in Northampton in an outdoor slideshow by Whitney Designworks of Northampton.
For at least 129 years, slavery was part of the fabric of everyday life in Northampton. At least 50 enslaved individuals lived here from the town’s English settlement in 1654 until 1783 when slavery was abolished in Massachusetts. The outdoor slideshow features silhouettes of men, women, and children who were enslaved here. |
Northampton Fires & Firefighting
A Walking Tour with Josh Shanley, retired firefighter and author
Sunday, June 22, 2025 at 10 - 11 am
Sunday, June 28, 2025 at 10 - 11 am
Ruins of the Edwards Church, 1870
corner of Main & South streets (now Old South Street) where Assemble is located today at 164 Main Street, Northampton |
Walk through downtown with retired Northampton firefighter Josh Shanley as he describes the history of fires and firefighting in Northampton, the topic of his recent 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.
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Pre-registration is required. | Each walk is limited to 15. | Sliding Scale Admission: $15-25.
Summer Barn Open House
The 1805 Shepherd Barn, 66 Bridge Street, Northampton, MA 01060
Saturday, June 21, 2025 | 1 to 4 pm
The 1805 Shepherd Barn
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Join us for a Summer Barn Open House when you’ll have the opportunity to learn more about the artifacts in the barn from Historic Northampton’s staff and attend special 30-minute programs (1 pm; 2 pm) about the history and restoration of the barn from lead timber framer Alicia Spence.
A variety of activities for children and families will also be available, including a hands-on program with Chinese silk worms with Faith Deering. An expert on silkworms and many other insects, Faith will answer questions about the role that silkworms, mulberries, and silk played in the history of Northampton and Florence and the curious life cycle of Chinese silk worms. Free. No Registration is required. |
Immigration to Northampton: A Walking Tour
with Elizabeth Sacktor, Museum Educator, Historic Northampton
Thursday, June 12, 2025 at 10 - 11 am
Thursday, June 26, 2025 at 10 - 11 am
Simon Cohn (at right) and possibly Marcus Cohn
in front of Cohn's clothing store, circa 1890s. Note: Current location of Sweetie's Candy Store on the corner of Main and Pleasant streets. |
Join Historic Northampton’s Elizabeth Sacktor on a walking tour of downtown Northampton as seen through the theme of immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries. The tour will be a non-chronological exploration of how Northampton’s many immigrant populations worked and built community amid changing sentiments and discrimination.
Hear the stories of two Irish men executed for a crime they did not commit. See the former home of a successful Jewish family who turned their clothing business into a Northampton staple. Learn about the ways Puerto Rican women made a name for themselves for their fine needlework. Visit the site of a former Chinese Laundry and learn about the U.S.’s first laws limiting immigration based on race. Together, we will ask questions about what it means to be American, what it means to be from Northampton, and how our home is shaped by the communities with whom we share it. |
Pre-registration is required. | Each walk is limited to 15. | Sliding Scale Admission: $15-25.
Women’s History in Life & Death:
A Walking Tour of Bridge Street Cemetery
A Walking Tour of Bridge Street Cemetery
with Elizabeth Sacktor, Museum Educator, Historic Northampton
Tuesday, June 17, 2025 at 5 to 6 pm
Gravestones of Sarah Gray and Sylva Church
Bridge Street Cemetery, Northampton, MA Photo by Bob Drinkwater |
Join us for a walking tour of the Bridge Street Cemetery, where we’ll explore how Northampton has remembered women after their death.
Using gravestones to study women’s history, lets us understand which women Northampton has deemed worthy of remembering, and which are forgotten. The tour will visit the graves of 10 women buried at Bridge Street Cemetery, from 1776 to 1923, from early 18th century midwives, to the first Indigenous woman to attend Smith College. Each woman has a story to tell, and through examining the grave itself and the material remnants of their lives, we will uncover these stories together. The tour involves walking and standing for about an hour on uneven ground, so comfortable walking shoes are recommended. |
Pre-registration is required. | Each walk is limited to 15. | Sliding Scale Admission: $10-25.
Exploring Northampton Series: Parsons Brook Greenway
A Walking Tour with Laurie Sanders, Co-director & Naturalist
A Walking Tour with Laurie Sanders, Co-director & Naturalist
Tuesday, June 10, 2025 | 9:30 - 11:30 am and 1 - 3 pm
Monday, June 23, 2025 | 5 - 7 pm
Parsons Brook Greenway
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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.
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Pre-registration is required. | Each walk is limited to 15. | Sliding Scale Admission: $15-25.
Northampton Stories: From the Operas of Sawyer & Erdman
At the Shepherd Barn at Historic Northampton, 66 Bridge Street, Northampton, MA
Friday, June 6, 2025 | 7 pm
Saturday, June 7, 2025 | 2 pm & 7 pm
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Eric Sawyer and Harley Erdman's operas The Garden of Martyrs (2013) and The Scarlet Professor (2017) dramatize searing events from Northampton's history: the 1806 execution of two Irish immigrants for a murder they likely didn't commit, and the 1960 arrest of a gay Smith College professor for possessing "indecent" materials.
Join us for three special concerts featuring musical highlights from both of these works, heard for the first time since the operas' premieres, and sung by a group of extraordinary vocalists--Katherine Saik DeLugan, William Hite, Ann Moss, Keith Phares, and Alan Schneider.
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Immigration to Northampton: A Walking Tour
with Elizabeth Sacktor, Museum Educator, Historic Northampton
Tuesday, May 13, 2025 at 10 to 11 am
Saturday, May 24, 2025 at 10 to 11 am
Simon Cohn (at right) and possibly Marcus Cohn
in front of Cohn's clothing store, circa 1890s. Note: Current location of Sweetie's Candy Store on the corner of Main and Pleasant streets. |
Join Historic Northampton’s Elizabeth Sacktor on a walking tour of downtown Northampton as seen through the theme of immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries. The tour will be a non-chronological exploration of how Northampton’s many immigrant populations worked and built community amid changing sentiments and discrimination.
Hear the stories of two Irish men executed for a crime they did not commit. See the former home of a successful Jewish family who turned their clothing business into a Northampton staple. Learn about the ways Puerto Rican women made a name for themselves for their fine needlework. Visit the site of a former Chinese Laundry and learn about the U.S.’s first laws limiting immigration based on race. Together, we will ask questions about what it means to be American, what it means to be from Northampton, and how our home is shaped by the communities with whom we share it. |
Pre-registration is required. | Each walk is limited to 15. | Sliding Scale Admission: $15-25.
Women’s History in Life & Death:
A Walking Tour of Bridge Street Cemetery
A Walking Tour of Bridge Street Cemetery
with Elizabeth Sacktor, Museum Educator, Historic Northampton
Thursday, May 8, 2025 at 5:30 to 6:30 pm
Tuesday, June 3, 2025 at 5:30 to 6:30 pm
Gravestones of Sarah Gray and Sylva Church
Bridge Street Cemetery, Northampton, MA Photo by Bob Drinkwater |
Join us for a walking tour of the Bridge Street Cemetery, where we’ll explore how Northampton has remembered women after their death.
Using gravestones to study women’s history, let us understand which women Northampton has deemed worthy of remembering, and which are forgotten. The tour will visit the graves of 10 women buried at Bridge Street Cemetery, from 1776 to 1923, from early 18th century midwives, to the first Indigenous woman to attend Smith College. Each woman has a story to tell, and through examining the grave itself and the material remnants of their lives, we will uncover these stories together. The tour involves walking and standing for about an hour on uneven ground, so comfortable walking shoes are recommended. |
Pre-registration is required. | Each walk is limited to 15. | Sliding Scale Admission: $10-25.
William Fenno Pratt's Downtown Northampton
with Emma John, Historian
Sunday, June 1, 2025 at 10 am
Sunday, June 15, 2025 at 10 am
Northampton's Town Hall was built according to a
plan by William Fenno Pratt in 1849-1850. Town Hall from Northampton Illustrated: Twenty-Nine Views. Lithotype Printing Company, Gardner, Massachusetts. |
William Fenno Pratt (1814-1900) was a prolific architect, who designed several buildings in Northampton and surrounding towns. Historian Emma John will lead a walk from Historic Northampton to the Academy of Music focusing on Pratt’s architectural contributions to Main Street, which include City Hall and the Smith Charities Building. We will also talk about the role of civic pride, social order, historic preservation and the lasting legacy of Pratt’s work.
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Pre-registration is required. | Each walk is limited to 15. | Sliding Scale Admission: $10-25.
Exploring Northampton Series: A Visit to the Fire Zone
with Laurie Sanders, Co-director, Historic Northampton
In Partnership with Broad Brook Coalition
Tuesday, May 27, 2025 |10 am - 12 noon
Tuesday, May 27, 2025 |1 - 3 pm
Saturday, May 31, 2025 | 10 am - 12 noon
Tuesday, May 27, 2025 |1 - 3 pm
Saturday, May 31, 2025 | 10 am - 12 noon
Fitzgerald Lake Conservation Area
Photograph by Laurie Sanders |
Explore a portion of the 50+ acres of the Fitzgerald Lake Conservation Area that experienced a brush fire in November 2024 to see first-hand how the herbaceous layer is recovering. How damaging are brush fires of this size and intensity? What are the short and long-term effects of fire on a woodland ecosystem? How might this fire resemble those set by the Nonotuck?
Important: You must be able to walk for 2 miles and over uneven ground. We will be walking on and off-trail. The meeting location will be provided to registrants in the reminder email. |
Pre-registration is required. | Each walk is limited to 15. | Sliding Scale Admission: $10-25.
Lesbians of Color Oral History Panel
Film Screening & Panel Discussion
Film Screening & Panel Discussion
Moderated by Erika Slocumb with participants from the Lesbians of Color Oral History Project
Graham Hall, Hillyer Art Building, Smith College
Wednesday, April 30, 2025 at 6 pm
Marching with the banner for
De Colores: Lesbians of Color Western MA, circa 1994. Photo courtesy of Marcel Walters.
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Join Erika Slocumb and members of Northampton's community of lesbians of color, Pippa Flemming and Marcel Walters, as they discuss the history of Northampton’s queer community and the historic organization, De Colores.
Historic Northampton will screen De Colores: Defining Kinship, Finding Peace, a short documentary film telling the story of the community created by Black lesbians who came to Northampton, Massachusetts, in the 1970s and 1980s to live, work, and love. Slocumb will then discuss Historic Northampton's recent Lesbians of Color Oral History project, followed by a panel discussion from participants in the project and an open Q&A with the community. Bookends Florence will be in attendance selling books on local lesbian history. Free and open to the public. Limited to 100. |
Northampton Night Fest 2025
Tuesday, April 22, 2025 | 8 to 9:30 pm
(Rain/cloud date: Saturday, April 26, 2025, 8:00-9:30 pm)
(Rain/cloud date: Saturday, April 26, 2025, 8:00-9:30 pm)
On the Grounds of Historic Northampton
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Join us for the third annual Northampton Night Fest in celebration of International Dark Sky Week 2025. Learn about the night sky from astronomer James Lowenthal, followed by a mix of stargazing and night-time exploring in and around Historic Northampton.
We will observe together the profound changes nature undergoes every 24 hours: the sights, sounds, smells, and sensations of the temperature falling; the wind shifting; animals from birds to mammals to insects around us heading for sleep or waking up for a night’s activity; and, if weather permits, the stars coming out. Special guest Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra will read the City’s proclamation recognizing April 21-28, 2025 as International Dark Sky Week 2025. All are welcome, including families with children. Rain/cloud date: Saturday, April 26, 8:00-9:30 p.m. Free. No registration required. |
Join us on the grounds of Historic Northampton for Northampton Night Fest 2025 coordinated by Northampton City Lights in partnership
with Historic Northampton. |
Sophia Smith — Hatfield, Northampton, and the Founding of Smith College
A Presentation by Laurie Sanders, co-director of Historic Northampton
First Congregational Church, 41 Main Street, Hatfield, MA
Co-sponsored by the Hatfield Historical Society, the Hatfield Public Library, and Smith College
Co-sponsored by the Hatfield Historical Society, the Hatfield Public Library, and Smith College
Wednesday, April 16, 2025 at 6 pm
Sophia Smith, 1858
Smith College Special Collections |
In April 1870, Sophia Smith, a lifelong resident of Hatfield, executed her will, ensuring that her future namesake college would be located in Northampton–not in Hatfield as she had initially envisioned. To mark the 150 year anniversary of this event, on Wednesday, April 16, the Hatfield Historical Society and Historic Northampton are collaborating:
Reserve your place. Walk-ins welcome. Sliding scale: $5-20. All contributions jointly benefit the Hatfield Historical Society and Historic Northampton. |
Slavery and Freedom in Northampton and in the Colonial North Lecture Series: Lecture 4
Living and Laboring in the Business of Slavery in Rhode Island
Dr. Christy Clark-Pujara, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Moderated by Olivia Haynes, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Thursday, April 10, 2025 at 7 pm | On Zoom
Dr. Christy Clark-Pujara will speak via Zoom on April 10, 2025. Clark-Pujara is professor of history in the Department of African American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of Dark Work: The Business of Slavery in Rhode Island (NYU Press, 2016).
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The Business of slavery—specifically the buying and selling of people, food, and goods—shaped the experience of slavery, the process of emancipation, and the realities of Black freedom in Rhode Island from the colonial period through the American Civil War. In the colonial period, Rhode Islanders dominated the American trade in African slaves and provided the slave-labor-dependent West Indies with basic necessities. In the post-colonial period, as slavery was legally dismantled, Rhode Islanders became the leading producers of slave clothing. Black people resisted their bondage, fought for their freedom, and strove to build a community in a racially hostile colony and state; their assertions of humanity shaped Rhode Island society, politics, and economy. The erasure of this history has allowed for a dangerous myth—that the North has no history of racism to overcome and that white northerners had no substantive investments in race-based slavery.
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In Partnership with the Northampton Reparations Study Commission
A Light Under the Dome: A Staged, Dramatic Reading
A play by Patrick Gabridge, Producing Artistic Director, Plays in Place
A play by Patrick Gabridge, Producing Artistic Director, Plays in Place
Wednesday, April 2, 2025 or Thursday, April 3, 2025 | 6:30 pm
Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence, 220 Main Street, Northampton, MA
Historic Northampton, in collaboration with Plays In Place and in partnership with the Racial Justice Team of the Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence, proudly presents two staged, dramatic readings of A Light Under the Dome.
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On February 21, 1838, exiled Southerner Angelina Grimke became the first American woman to address a legislative body when she delivered a speech about abolition and the full citizenship of American women at the Massachusetts State House.
A Light Under the Dome brings us to this moment in history, showcasing Grimke and taking us inside the minds and hearts of four abolitionist and suffragist leaders--Maria Weston Chapman, Susan Paul, Julia Williams, and Lydia Maria Child, who in 1838 was living in Northampton. As Grimke readies herself for this moment, her four friends help support and guide her through this pressure-packed moment. A few years later, Grimke would give a similar speech here in Northampton. Each hour-long performance will be followed by a post-show discussion with the playwright and a historian. |
Slavery and Freedom in Northampton and in the Colonial North Lecture Series: Lecture 3
An Introduction to Transatlantic Slavery and Canadian Slavery
Dr. Charmaine A. Nelson, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Wednesday, March 19, 2025 at 7 pm
On Zoom | Register for the Zoom link
Dr. Charmaine A. Nelson, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Wednesday, March 19, 2025 at 7 pm
On Zoom | Register for the Zoom link
THE PRINTER (William Brown),
"RANAWAY from the Printing-office," Quebec Gazette, 27 November 1777, no. 639, p. 3 |
If you're unfamiliar with slavery in Canada, you’re not alone. Most people have never had the opportunity to learn about the 200-year history of Canadian participation in Transatlantic Slavery under the British and the French. This lack of knowledge is principally because scholarship on Canadian Slavery falls far short of the research that has been produced about the U.S. South, the Caribbean, and northern South America.
This talk explores various dimensions of Canadian Slavery within the broader context of transatlantic histories with attention to how scholars conduct research on unfree people using archival and cultural sources. It also connects the dots between histories of slavery and ongoing anti-Black racism. |
In Partnership with the Northampton Reparations Study Commission
Road Trip!
A Visit to The New York Historical museum, with a Special Tour of the exhibition Real Clothes, Real Lives: 200 Years of What Women Wore, featuring clothing from the Smith College Historic Clothing Collection
Date: Saturday, March 15, 2025
7:30 AM Departure from Northampton’s Sheldon Field (26 Old Ferry Road, Northampton, MA)
5:30 PM Depart from New York City, arriving in Northampton by 9:00 PM
7:30 AM Departure from Northampton’s Sheldon Field (26 Old Ferry Road, Northampton, MA)
5:30 PM Depart from New York City, arriving in Northampton by 9:00 PM
Price: $100 per person. Pre-registration is required.
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Join Historic Northampton co-directors and Kiki Smith, Smith College professor of theatre, clothing historian, and author, on a special visit to the exhibition Kiki Smith conceived and curated: Real Clothes, Real Lives: 200 Years of What Women Wore at The New York Historical museum.
Featuring garments from the Smith College Historic Clothing Collection, the exhibit reveals the history, economics, and stories behind the everyday fashion worn by women over the last two centuries. Since its opening last September, reviewers have spotlighted Real Clothes, Real Lives as one of the most important new exhibits on display. It will close in June 2025. Our group will be treated to private, docent-led tours of the exhibit. There will be time to view other exhibitions at The New York Historical museum and explore New York City on your own. |
Blood on the Snow: A Staged Reading
A play by Patrick Gabridge, Producing Artistic Director, Plays in Place
A play by Patrick Gabridge, Producing Artistic Director, Plays in Place
Wednesday, March 5, 2025 or Thursday, March 6, 2025 | 6:30 pm
Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence, 220 Main Street, Northampton, MA
Historic Northampton, in collaboration with Plays In Place and in partnership with the Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence, proudly
presents two staged readings of Blood on the Snow. |
On March 5, 1770, British soldiers in Boston killed four unarmed civilians and wounded eight more in what is known today as the Boston Massacre. This play focuses on the events that took place the day after--March 6, 1770—when the leaders of Boston gathered in the Council Chamber of what is now the Old State House and made decisions that placed Massachusetts on the road to revolution. These live readings will be the first time this play has been performed outside of Boston.
The live performance will be directed by Brianna Sloane and feature local professional actors, many of whom performed in Pulling at the Roots at Historic Northampton in 2023 and 2024. The actors include: Matt Haas, Bill Stewart, Gabriel Levey, Andrew Roberts, Marcus Neverson, Lindel Hart, Scott Braidman, Luke Haskell, Rich Vaden, and Patrick Toole. Each hour-long performance will be followed by a discussion with the playwright and a historian. |
Slavery and Freedom in Northampton and in the Colonial North Lecture Series: Lecture 2
Of Bondage and Isolation: Meditations on the Lives of Black Women
Enslaved in the Pioneer Valley
Enslaved in the Pioneer Valley
Dr. Jennifer DeClue, Smith College
Moderated by Gina Nortonsmith, Archivist, Northeastern University and Historic Northampton Board Member
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Tuesday, February 18, 2025 | 7 pm
On Zoom The names of Black women enslaved by the powerful men remembered in history as “River Gods” can be found in their diaries, account books, wills, probate inventories, and church records. These records do the good work of offering confirmation that John Stoddard owned a woman called Elizabeth; that Jonathan Edwards owned Leah and Rose and Venus; that the Dwight family owned Sylvia Church; and that the Phelps family owned Peg and Rose and Phillis and Rose's daughter Phillis.
Smith College professor Jennifer DeClue will discuss how these archival records make incontrovertible the fact of slavery’s violent history in the valley, but leave many questions unanswered. Dr. DeClue will work to paint a clearer picture of what life might have been like for Black women enslaved here, in the long years before abolition would unfold in Massachusetts. |
Silhouette of Hannah, her baby, and Mingo
(Design Division, 2025) |
Slavery and Freedom in Northampton and in the Colonial North: Lecture 1
Slavery & Freedom in Northampton
A Zoom Presentation with Dr. Ousmane Power-Greene, Dylan Gaffney & Dr. Elizabeth M. Sharpe
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Thursday, January 16, 2025 | 7 pm
On Zoom For the last five years researchers at Historic Northampton and Forbes Library have been uncovering stories of slavery and freedom in Northampton. These investigations have revealed that perhaps as many as fifty enslaved people lived in Northampton between 1654, when Northampton was settled by the English, until 1783, when slavery was abolished in Massachusetts.
As elsewhere in the North, slavery in Northampton was inextricably linked to local commerce, local and regional family networks, and the global economy. Among the narratives of Northampton’s enslaved people—who were Indigenous, African, and African American—are stories of a few individuals who were able to take control over their lives, gain freedom, start families, manage careers, and acquire property.
Presenters Dylan Gaffney, Elizabeth Sharpe, and Ousmane Power-Greene will discuss what we presently know about enslaved lives in Northampton and conclude with questions that remain unanswered and avenues for future research. |
Silhouette of Hannah, her baby, and Mingo
(Design Division, 2025) |
About the silhouette of Hannah, her baby, and Mingo
In 1692, Hannah was unmarried and enslaved in Northampton. She bore a child, and in court she named Mingo as the father. The court called their act a “heinous crime against the light of nature” and sentenced both Hannah and Mingo to 15 lashes. Their baby was born into slavery. The court decided that Samuel Parsons (Mingo’s enslaver) and Timothy Baker (Hannah’s enslaver) would be “joint + equal in charge of the child” until the child was nine years old. At age nine, either Parsons or Baker could buy out the other for the value of the child or they could arrange to jointly own him. In this case, the child’s wages if hired out, or the child’s value if sold, would be “divided betwixt them.”