MA250

Revolutionary Roads: From Anti-Catholicism to the founding of Emmanuel College
2026-04-16 12:15 - 13:30 (America/New_York) | Emmanuel College, Pilgrim Road 103, Boston, MA, 02215, United States
The American Revolution helped usher in greater religious toleration in Massachusetts. With the adoption of the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780, Catholics and other religious minorities were guaranteed freedom of worship in the Commonwealth. Although the path toward acceptance was not always easy, these changes allowed Catholicism to take root and, over time, become a defining characteristic of the Bay State.
Education, long central to Massachusetts society and its Puritan founders, was also a core value shared by Catholics. In 1849, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur arrived in Boston’s North End to educate Irish immigrants. Their mission of teaching and service continued to expand, culminating in the founding of Emmanuel College in 1919, the first Catholic women’s college in New England.
Join us for a panel presentation and discussion that connects the revolutionary spirit of 1776 with the pioneering work of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and their enduring legacy in Massachusetts.

AudaTours Stoneham Audio Tour: Timeless Tales of Historic Pride and Heritage
2026-04-16 12:00 - 14:00, 2026-04-15 12:00 - 14:00, 2026-04-14 12:00 - 14:00, 2026-04-13 12:00 - 14:00, 2026-04-12 12:00 - 14:00 | Nobility Hill Historic District, Stoneham, Massachusetts, 02180, United States
In Stoneham, the shadows of colonial fires and twentieth-century neon flicker side by side. Few realize how many secrets linger behind these iconic facades.
This self-guided audio tour leads straight through the city’s untold stories. Encounter corners and chapters that even locals walk past, and let carefully crafted tales reveal what hides beneath the ordinary.
Why did a quiet night at the Bernard Cogan House erupt into controversy that changed a neighborhood? Who vanished beneath the glowing beacon of Stoneham’s eerily beautiful gas station? What explains the perfectly preserved pencil marks under the Warren Sweetser House staircase?
Move between centuries as you cross storied main streets and hidden lanes. Each step peels back another layer of rebellion, ambition, and intrigue, letting Stoneham rise up around you as never before.
Tap play and see how deep Stoneham’s shadows can stretch. The secrets are waiting.

Salt and Revolution: The Saltworks of Cape Cod in the 18th Century
2026-04-16 10:30 - 12:00 | Cape Cod Museum of Art, 60 Hope Lane, Dennis, MA, 02638, United States
Join historian Bob Kelley of the Historical Society of Old Yarmouth for a fascinating talk on the saltworks developed on the uplands at Sesuit Creek in the East Precinct of Yarmouth. He will discuss why the Atlantic coast was unable to produce salt as efficiently as European countries, how the 1775 Prohibitory Act of Parliament inspired Capt. John Sears to experiment with solar salt production on the eve of the Revolution, and how, in 1785, the hand pump from the wreck of the Somerset became part of that development.
Bob will explain how salt production shaped the region’s economy for more than 80 years—with help from tariffs enacted by Congress beginning in 1789—and identify the first salt makers whose innovations fueled this vital industry. He will also explore how solar salt production enabled the rapid spread of the Sears and Hattil Killey patents throughout the Cape after 1799, and why the industry began to decline in the mid-1800s.
Bob Kelley of South Yarmouth began his career as a manager of small manufacturing facilities in northern New Jersey for 13 years. He was a former corporate director for the Slim-Fast Foods Company for 20 years, V.P. Operations for Stein World, LLC 8 years, retiring in 2018. Bob is a commissioner with the Yarmouth Historic Commission, current President of the Historical Society of Old Yarmouth, and a tenth-generation Yarmouth Quaker descended from David OKillea of Kelley’s Bay on Bass River. He is a researcher and writer of the local history of South Yarmouth, with a heavy concentration in the subjects of genealogy, saltworks, Quakers, and the Indigenous Peoples of that town.
Bob has tracked the origins of solar salt production and discovered over three hundred saltworks-related deeds in Dennis and Yarmouth. He will produce a reference, picture and history book in early 2027 on Yarmouth Saltworks.
[Image credit: The old salt works, South Yarmouth, Mass. Digital Commonwealth, Historical Society of Old Yarmouth Image Collection. ]

The Road to Revolution: Massachusetts and the Independence Movement
2026-04-16 10:00 - 17:00, 2026-04-15 10:00 - 17:00, 2026-04-14 10:00 - 17:00, 2026-04-13 10:00 - 17:00, 2026-04-12 10:00 - 17:00 | Old State House, 206 Washington St, Boston, MA, 02109, United States
Explore major Massachusetts events in the first year of the American Revolution at the Old State House, where protest turned into action and the momentum for independence accelerated. Created through a partnership between Revolutionary Spaces and the Massachusetts Historical Society, The Road to Revolution: Massachusetts and the Independence Movement invites visitors to step into 1775 and 1776—a moment defined by uncertainty, debate, and decisions that would reshape the world.

1776: Declaring Independence
2026-04-16 09:30 - 16:00, 2026-04-15 09:30 - 16:00, 2026-04-14 09:30 - 16:00, 2026-04-13 09:30 - 16:00 | Massachusetts Historical Society, Boylston Street 1154, Boston, Massachusetts, 02215, United States
Featuring manuscripts, artifacts, and rarely seen treasures, this exhibition captures a monumental moment in American history.
In 1776, people grappled with ideas of liberty, loyalty, and the role of government in society. Private letters, intimate diaries, and newspaper accounts reveal how the Declaration of Independence grew from draft to founding document. 1776: Declaring Independence spotlights handwritten copies of the Declaration by John Adams and Thomas Jefferson as well as multiple early printings, including a rare Dunlap broadside. On and off the page, we explore how it echoed across the commonwealth and around the world, reshaping the colonists’ chances of launching a new nation. How did the Declaration change Americans’ quest for liberty, then and now? We invite visitors to trace the Declaration’s complex legacy as a national beacon for celebration and protest.
Check here for closures and more admission information: https://www.masshist.org/visit/hours-and-admission

Harold Holzer on Abraham Lincoln and American Immigration
2026-04-15 19:00 - 20:00 | Concord Museum, 53 Cambridge Turnpike, Concord, MA, 01742, United States
Presidential historian Harold Holzer explores Abraham Lincoln’s views on immigration in Brought Forth on This Continent. Drawing on Lincoln’s words and actions, this forum examines how debates over newcomers, belonging, and national identity shaped the 19th century and continue to resonate in America today.
Members Free | $10 Non-Members | Free Virtual

The Role of the Press in the American Revolution
2026-04-15 18:30 - 19:30, 2026-04-15 08:00 - 17:00 | Bigelow Library, Walnut Street 54, Clinton, MA, 01510, United States
18th century newspapers and pamphlets were essential to the dissemination of information and were instrumental in fanning the flames of discord on both sides of the revolutionary conflict. However, how did printers get their information? This interactive program, with the added component of 18th century material culture items, focuses on the incredible process of typesetting and the role that printing and propaganda played in the pivotal events leading up to the American Revolution.
Michele Gabrielson is a local history teacher and historic interpreter of the 18th century. When she is not teaching in the classroom, Michele can be found leading tours, lectures, and demonstrations at historic sites in the greater Boston area. She specializes in interpreting the history of colonial women printers, the stories of loyalist refugees, and of 18th century chocolate makers! Most recently, she has taken on building a first-person impression of the revolutionary playwright and poet Mercy Otis Warren. Michele additionally serves as the secretary for the newly formed Mercy Otis Warren Society, dedicated to helping preserve the contributions of Mercy, is a member of the Authenticity Standards Committee for Minuteman National Historic Park, and is the coordinator for the Battle Road Guides for the annual reenactment of the Battle of Lexington and Concord. She was awarded a 2024 Rising Star Award for Public History by the Massachusetts History Alliance for her programming titled, “The Revolutionary Classroom,” and named a finalist for the 2024 Massachusetts History Teacher of the Year. She has been named the Massachusetts Daughters of the American Revolution’s Outstanding History Teacher of the Year for 2025 and the 2025 winner of the Fred Graham Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati.

The Siege of Boston: A New Discovery, Fireside Chat with Andrew J. O’Shaughnessy
2026-04-15 18:00 - 19:00 | Virtual Program, North Washington Square 19 1/2, Salem, MA, 01970, United States
Date: Wednesday, April 15, 2026
Time: 6:00–7:00 p.m.
Location: Zoom Webinar
Cost: Free and open to the public; advance registration required
Join us for a virtual fireside chat with University of Virginia History Professor Andrew J. O’Shaughnessy, former Director of the Robert H. Smith International Center for Thomas Jefferson Studies at Monticello, who will discuss his new archival discovery and reconsider the significance of the Siege of Boston as the first major British defeat of the war—an event that forced Britain to undertake the monumental task of attempting to reconquer America.
Registration (required for virtual attendance):
https://1776.history.fas.harvard.edu/

American Revolutionaries: Tea, Sociability, and Revolution
2026-04-15 12:00 - 13:00 | Clark Art Institute, 225 South Street, Williamstown, MA, 01267, United States
American Revolutionaries is a series of gallery talks given by members of the curatorial team in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States. Each talk highlights artworks from the Burrows Gallery of American Decorative Arts, including silver from the Henry Morris and Elizabeth H. Burrows collection, which came to the Clark from an anonymous loan to celebrate the Bicentennial of the United States in 1976.
The series concludes with an exploration of works of silver and furniture. Alexis Goodin, curator of decorative arts, discusses the importance of tea in the daily life of colonial Americans. Goodin focuses on the women who helped organize a boycott of the hot beverage after the British government imposed the Tea Act of 1773.
Image: John Brevoort, Teapot, c. 1740, silver and wood. The Clark, bequest of Henry Morris and Elizabeth H Burrows, 2003.4.265

The American Revolution and the Fate of the World
2026-04-14 19:00 - 20:00 | American Antiquarian Society, 185 Salisbury Street, Worcester, 01609, United States
Historian and author Richard Bell traces the far-flung reverberations of American Revolution through the lives of the people it displaced, empowered, or destroyed. Participants will encounter a Native matriarch struggling to preserve a transatlantic military alliance, a Prussian officer reinventing himself in a foreign army, and a Boston schoolteacher shipwrecked thousands of miles from home. Along the way, Bell explores how the Revolution stirred a transoceanic refugee crisis, ignited antislavery activism, and inspired uprisings from Ireland to India. The program offers a bold new framework for understanding the Revolutionary War not as a tidy founding moment but as a sprawling, high-stakes struggle fought on land and sea, shaped by commerce, diplomacy, propaganda, and contingency. This is the American Revolution as you’ve never seen it before: complex, global, and astonishingly relevant to the modern world.

250th Anniversary Search of the Barrett Farm (Reenactment)
2026-04-13 00:00 | Minute Man National Historical Park, 74 Liberty Street, Concord, MA, 01742, United States
After months of preparations, General Thomas Gage, commanding the British garrison in Boston initiated a plan to deprive the rebellious provincials of their means to wage war. On the night of April 18, 1775, Gage dispatched over 800 British Regulars to Concord, Massachusetts in an attempt to seize and destroy large stockpiles of military goods being collected there.??

God of Our Fathers: Mighty Miracles of the American Revolution
2026-04-12 15:30 - 16:30 | Arts Empowering Life Performing Arts Center, Southern Eagle Cartway 95, Brewster, Massachusetts, 02631, United States
Performing Arts Center, Brewster
Free
America 250 Series
In Person & Livestreamed
Battle of Lexington and Concord & the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere
Presented by Dr. Jerry Newcombe
Join us for a year-long a series of monthly lectures celebrating God’s miraculous acts during our nation’s fight for Independence. Each lecture highlights key moments of divine intervention that took place during the Revolutionary War.

Hingham in the Revolution
2026-04-12 15:00 - 16:30 | Hingham Heritage Museum, Main Street 34, Hingham, MA, 02043, United States
Discover the diverse and fascinating roles Hingham and its people played in the national struggle for independence, from Major General Benjamin Lincoln’s collaborative friendship with Commander in Chief George Washington, to Hingham’s wartime production of tens of thousands of wooden canteens, to its “fighting minister” at Lexington and Concord, its artillerymen devastated at Brandywine, its field surgeon at Yorktown under Alexander Hamilton’s command, and a young British girl interned in Hingham as an enemy alien who later became a celebrated novelist.
James B. Conroy is an award-winning author of narrative history, an honorary fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society, a member of the Hingham Historical Society’s Board of Directors, and a former chairman of Hingham’s Advisory Committee. A graduate of the University of Connecticut, Jim was a Senate speech writer and a congressman’s chief of staff in his youth and served for six years in the Naval Air Reserve. After graduating magna cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center, he practiced commercial litigation law in Boston for 38 years, during which time he started a second career as a historian and writer. His highly anticipated fourth book featuring Hingham in the American Revolution will be published by the Hingham Historical Society in 2026 to coincide with America’s 250th. Jim and his wife Lynn have lived in Hingham since 1981.

Concord 250 Homecoming
2026-04-12 08:00 | Massachusetts
April 12 Concord250 Homecoming; Details to come.

National DAR Plaque Dedication
2026-04-12 00:00 | Massachusetts
The program has been established to honor the memory of the men and women with whom we have sacred compact to ennsure that these United States of America continue as a goverment of the people, by the people, for the people.

Naughty Newton at Night: Hamilton's World
2026-04-11 19:00 - 22:00 | Durant-Kenrick House and Grounds, 286 Waverley Avenue, Newton, 02458, United States
Join Historic Newton for the historic cocktail party of the year! This year Naughty Newton at Night will celebrate all things Alexander Hamilton and Hamilton the musical.
Enjoy drinks and hors d’oeuvres while exploring the more scandalous sides of the 18th century. What was the favorite alcoholic drink of New England in the 1700s? Did Martha Washington really have a pet tomcat named after Alexander Hamilton? Did George Washington prefer boxers or briefs? Just how many children did Ben Franklin have (and what was contraception like?)?
Get the scoop on all the 18th-century gossip! This interactive event is 21+. Wear your favorite cocktail party outfit or historic costumes for a chance to win the “Best Dressed” prize!
Thank you to our corporate sponsor, Garden Remedies.
All proceeds support the work of Historic Newton and our mission to connect our community with its history.
Tickets can be purchased at https://bit.ly/NNatN26

Concord Band Presents Jazz Vocalist Amanda Carr and a New Composition at Spring Pops
2026-04-11 19:00 - 21:00 | 51 Walden Performing Arts Center, Walden Street 51, Concord, MA, 01742, United States
Jazz singer Amanda Carr, an audience favorite, returns for the Concord Band’s annual Spring Pops concert on Saturday, April 11, 7:00 PM at the 51 Walden Performing Arts Center in Concord. The program features Ms. Carr and her fresh interpretations from the Great American Songbook and New York themed songs. The Band also will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence with composer Clare Grundman’s classic work, Spirit of ’76. Another special highlight is Lilly’s Story, the premiere of a unique composition inspired by a 12-year-old from Brockton, named Lilly, and her family.
Ms. Carr will perform Cheek to Cheek by Irving Berlin, as well as Cole Porter’s Night and Day and Anything Goes. Amanda also performs vocals on Billy Joel’s New York State of Mind, and a song that Amanda wrote called Maybe. With five jazz vocal recordings, Ms. Carr continues to perform as a solo artist and guest host. A true collaborator, Amanda Carr is a coach for vocal students while still writing and composing music.
The Concord Band collaborated with Sing Me A Story, an organization that commissioned Boston Conservatory student composer, Luciano Lopez-Parnetti, to present Lilly’s Story, a new composition that celebrates Lilly’s love of family, food and music. In her story, Lilly imagines a world where differences are not questioned, but embraced. Lilly’s personal narrative is reflected in Lopez-Parnetti’s intriguing composition through a harmonically rich wall of sound, punctuated rhythms and overlapping patterns. A remarkable photo montage, created by Lilly herself, will be on display at the concert. The montage explores what it feels like when others make assumptions about her mixed identity, and the challenges of not always feeling fully seen or understood. Both Lilly’s family and composer Lopez-Parnetti will attend the premiere performance.
Continuing with the New York theme, the Concord Band will evoke the vibrant and frenetic energy of New York City with Warren Barker’s New York: 1927, together with selections from Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story.
The Concord Band’s Spring Pops concert, conducted by Music Director James O’Dell, will be open seating at the 51 Walden Performing Arts Center in Concord, 7:00 PM, Saturday, April 11th. The audience is invited to enjoy complimentary refreshments in the lobby at intermission and after the concert. Tickets are $25 for adults, $10 for kids 12 and under, and can be reserved at www.ticketstage.com/concordband

An Intimate Evening with Martha and George Washington
2026-04-11 16:00 - 19:00 | Lafayette-Durfee House, Cherry Street 94, Fall River, Massachusetts, 02722, United States
Step into the warmth and elegance of the 18th century as we host a special gathering inspired by the hospitality of Martha and George Washington.
Enjoy an evening of conversation, refinement, and colonial charm in a cozy, historic setting.
Guests will be treated to a selection of hors d’oeuvres, along with coffee, tea, and fine chocolates—all served in the spirit of early American graciousness.
🎟 A purchased ticket of $30 is required for admission.
This exclusive event offers limited space to preserve its intimate atmosphere.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/an-intimate-evening-with-martha-george-washington-tickets-1982625301648?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl
Join us for a memorable night that blends history, flavor, and fellowship.
This program is supported in part by the Fall River Cultural Council a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council a state agency.
