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
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.
Immigration to Northampton: A Walking Tour
with Elizabeth Sacktor, Museum Educator, Historic Northampton
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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.
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. Learn More |
Photograph of Marcus Cohn, Carrie Cohn, Sarah Cohn, and Rose Cohn, children of Simon Cohn and Augusta Seiler Cohn. In 1866, Simon Cohn emigrated from Poland where he made a living as a tailor. He established a clothing store on Main Street, Northampton in the 1860s. The business passed to Marcus in 1912. Sarah and Rose ran a millinery shop on the second floor of the store. Photograph by A.J. Schillare of Northampton.
Pre-registration is required. | Limited to 15. | Sliding Scale Admission: $10-25.
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Native Strategies:
Tracking Indigenous Families in Western Massachusetts During the American Revolution |
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Indigenous Prophet of Democracy:
William Apess, King Philip, and the American Revolution
An Illustrated Lecture by Dr. Drew Lopenzina, Old Dominion University
William Apess, King Philip, and the American Revolution
An Illustrated Lecture by Dr. Drew Lopenzina, Old Dominion University
Wednesday, May 27, 2026 at 6:30 pm
Registration required. Sliding scale admission $10-$35. MCC Card to Culture welcome
Drawing of William Apess (1798 - 1839) from
Son of the Forest: The Experience of William Apes, A Native of the Forest by William Apes, (New York: Published by the Author, 2nd Edition), 1831. |
In the aftermath of the American Revolution, white leaders of the new republic foresaw the demise of Indigenous nations, as prophesied in the vision of "manifest destiny." Pequot minister William Apess, however, spoke to a different kind of historical prophecy, one that challenged the narrative of extinction of Indigenous people. In his writing, Apess called on the Indigenous memories of both King Philip's War and the American Revolution to construct a radical new narrative that promised a sustained Native presence.
William Apess was one of the nation’s most important Native intellectuals. Born into poverty in Colrain, Massachusetts, in 1798, Apess moved to Connecticut where he was bound out as an indentured servant. At age 14, he joined the American Army and served in the War of 1812. He later became an itinerant Methodist minister and was a popular and controversial speaker in the Connecticut Valley and beyond. In 1829, he wrote the first published Native autobiography, A Son of the Forest. Throughout his life, Apess lectured on the traumas of the past and engaged in activism to improve the quality of life for Native people. He died in 1839 in New York City. Learn More |
"Faces of Downtown"
A Slide Show Tribute to Northampton in the 1980s and 1990s
Friday, June 12, 2026
8:00 to 9:30 pm
8:00 to 9:30 pm
Free. Seating available.
Outdoors at 58 Bridge Street, Northampton, MA 01060.
Outdoors at 58 Bridge Street, Northampton, MA 01060.
Photograph of Tommy McCue projected onto Parsons House at Historic Northampton as part of an outdoor slide show of 60 photographs by Paul Shoul.
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Sixty portrait photographs by Paul Shoul will run on a continuous loop as an outdoor slideshow projected on Parsons House at 58 Bridge Street in Northampton.
Sorting through thousands of his photographs, Northampton resident and internationally known photographer Paul Shoul has chosen sixty portraits in memory of the local artists, activists, musicians, politicians, and entrepreneurs who played a role in Northampton’s revitalization in the 1980s and 1990s. Shoul will narrate this special slideshow and be on-hand for conversation.
The images will be projected onto the front of Historic Northampton's Parsons House and run on a continuous loop. Paul Shoul is a Northampton-based photojournalist. |
Lace Curtain Irish: A One-Woman, One-Act Play
Written by Carolyn Gage
Performed by Katie Migdal
Saturday, June 13, 2026 at 7 pm Registration required
Sunday, June 14, 2026 at 2 pm Registration required
The 1805 Shepherd Barn at Historic Northampton
66 Bridge Street, Northampton, MA 01060
66 Bridge Street, Northampton, MA 01060
"Bridget Sullivan" in Lace Curtain Irish
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In 1927, thirty-five years after the infamous Fall River axe murders, an Irish woman, working in her kitchen in Anaconda, Montana, opens a newspaper to read about the death of the alleged murderer, Lizzie Borden. The woman is Bridget Sullivan, the Bordens’ former maid. As Bridget recalls those years, her memories turns the accepted narrative on its head.
Lace Curtain Irish is a solo, one-act play telling Bridget's version of what may have happened in Fall River, Massachusetts in the months leading up to August 4, 1892. Two shows only with a talk-back session after the play with playwright Carolyn Gage and performer Katie Migdal. Registration required.
General Admission. No assigned seating. Sliding scale admission $20-$50. Mass Cultural Council Card to Culture: $0. Learn More |
All sales are final. Admission and fees are non-refundable for change-of-mind
purchases or time conflicts. See the refund policy for health-related refunds only.
purchases or time conflicts. See the refund policy for health-related refunds only.
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Mass Cultural Council
Card to Culture |
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EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare cardholders receive free or reduced admission
to Historic Northampton's events, public talks, and programs.
to Historic Northampton's events, public talks, and programs.
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Historic Northampton is proud to participate in Mass Cultural Council's Card to Culture program in collaboration with the Department of Transitional Assistance, the Department of Public Health's WIC Nutrition Program, the Massachusetts Health Connector, and hundreds of organizations by making cultural programming accessible to those for whom cost is a participation barrier.
To access this benefit, EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare cardholders can select the CARD TO CULTURE option on the event registration page. Some exclusions apply.
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