Historic Northampton

In the final year of the multi-year project to restore, stabilize and open to the public the circa 1805 barn, Historic Northampton completed the restoration of the barn, the construction of two timber-framed additions, and the installation of an exhibition of artifacts in the barn. Community events included multiple workshops on timber-framing, two timber-frame-addition building days, two barn pulls, and an inaugural barn dance.

Historic Northampton offered to the public events, public talks, walking tours and concerts from october 2022 to september 2023. The museum co-sponsored the Northampton event of the statewide program, reading frederick douglass together 2023. Public talks included the following presentations: lydia maria child (lydia molland); live music in america (steve waksman); live music in and around Northampton (panel discussion); slavery in Northampton, 1654 to 1783 (emma winter zeig and shara denson); religion and slavery in colonial new england (ken minkema); from nonotuck to Northampton: recovering indigenous histories (margaret m. bruchac); making history manifest: photography in the archives (wendel white); a history of women's basketball and Northampton's early role in the sport (rita liberti); black bears in Northampton (dave wattles) and crows & Connecticut valley's crow roost (patti steinman). The museum's walking tour series included tours of main street, the loudville lead mines, the bridge street cemetery, the Northampton meadows, and the mineral hills and fitzgerald lake conservation areas. Public concerts featured the fiddle orchestra of western Massachusetts, les boulevardiers, zikina and the pioneer valley symphony orchestra.,

Historic Northampton worked with plays in place of florence, ma to create and present to the public twelve performances of site-specific theatrical plays. Pulling at the roots: three plays about Northampton history moved the audience across three centuries of Northampton history through the lives of three women at turning points in their lives. Mary bliss parsons struggled with accusations of witchcraft. Rose, enslaved by jonathan edwards, self-advocated for her freedom. And lydia maria child's new opportunity as an anti-slavery newspaper editor threatened her marriage.