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Plymouth, MA – Pilgrim Hall Museum, America’s oldest continuously operating public museum, will host a diverse and fascinating series of lectures during its bicentennial year. Notable authors and historians will spotlight the region’s multi-layered history in a series of lectures and programs beginning May 30th to November 6th. Generously sponsored by Tiny & Sons Auto Glass, events will range from the official launch of author Richard Stone’s new book about Mayflower II to a special Juneteenth lecture by Rev. Dr. Robert Gomes on African American histories on the South Shore and Parting Ways Cemetery, and more. Each program will be held at the Museum on 75 Court Street in downtown Plymouth. Doors open at 6 pm for social hour and light refreshments followed by lecture from 7-8 pm. Seating is limited; reservations recommended. To reserve a ticket, visit www.pilgrimhall.org. Tickets are $10 per lecture; $5 members; free for students with valid ID.
Full schedule:
Thursday, May 30th
BOOK LAUNCH & LECTURE
Project Mayflower - Building and Sailing a 17th-Century Replica
Richard Stone
Pilgrim Hall Museum is pleased to launch Richard Stone’s new book, Project Mayflower – Building and Sailing a 17th-Century Replica (Globe Pequot/Lyons Press, 2024). Featuring a forward by noted Plymouth historian James W. Baker, the book recounts the improbable story of Mayflower II’s creation and maiden voyage in fascinating detail.
Thursday, June 6th (previously scheduled for June 5th)
LECTURE - 1824: The Year That Changed the Face of Plymouth
Bill Fornaciari
Architect and local historian Bill Fornaciari reflects on a transformative year for Plymouth as it evolved from a backwater farming and maritime community to a robust manufacturing center and early tourism destination.
Wednesday, June 19th
JUNETEENTH LECTURE - Monument in the Making: Parting Ways & Its Legacy
Rev. Dr. Robert Gomes
Active in the 1970s effort to preserve the Parting Ways site, Dr. Gomes shares personal experiences of a community’s rediscovery of this historic African-American site established in the wake of the American Revolution, and considers the legacy it continues to inspire.
Thursday, July 11th
PRESENTATION – Celebrate Mercy Otis Warren
With Nancy Rubin Stuart
Author of The Muse of the Revolution: The Secret Pen of Mercy Otis Warren and the Founding of a Nation, Rubin Stuart provides commentary for a lively debate between Mrs. Warren (portrayed by Michele Gabrielson) and John Adams (played by Michael LePage). Presentation includes an introduction by Susan Ste. Marie of Celebrate Mercy Otis Warren, a new organization devoted to promoting Plymouth’s famous Revolutionary woman.
Wednesday, July 24th
LECTURE – Plymouth in the Civil War Era
Patrick Browne, Plymouth Antiquarian Society
Dr. Patrick Browne brings Plymouth's involvement in the Civil War to life in an illuminating look at the Plymouth men and women whose lives were altered by the most consequential conflict of their time.
Thursday, August 1st
LECTURE - In Pursuit of Freedom: The Free Black Community of Parting Ways, Plymouth, MA
Karen Hutchins-Keim
Archeologist Karen Hutchins-Keim reviews evidence from the ground up about the free African Americans in Plymouth County who formed an independent community known as Parting Ways in the years following the Revolutionary War.
Wednesday, September 18th
LECTURE – Creating a Historical Painting: The First Thanksgiving
Karen Rinaldo
Falmouth artist Karen Rinaldo describes the creative process behind the 1994 commission of The First Thanksgiving, one of the first images to accurately recognize the Wampanoag presence at the 1621 event.
Thursday, October 17th
LECTURE - Hannah Hovey, Briton Hammon & the Earliest Black and Native Participants in Plymouth's First Church
Keith Green, Rutgers University
A spiritual ground zero for the Mayflower Pilgrims, First Church of Christ of Plymouth also offered spiritual sustenance and connection for people of color. Professor Green shares new research on an overlooked past, unfolding the story of Hannah Hovey, a black bondswoman living in Plymouth, and Briton Hammon, an enslaved sailor at the center of the first African American slave narrative, who married in First Church in 1762.
Wednesday, November 6th
LECTURE - Squanto: A Native Odyssey
Andrew Lipman, Barnard College, Columbia University
Prize-winning historian Andrew Lipman offers a fresh look at the epic life of Squanto of Patuxet, the real-life historical figure famously associated with Plymouth Colony’s early survival.
More information on these and other events can be found here.
Since 1824, Pilgrim Hall Museum has welcomed visitors at 75 Court Street, Plymouth, MA 02360. Regular museum hours: Wednesdays through Sundays, 9:30 am to 5 pm (last admission at 4:30 pm), March 1st to December 1st. For more information, visit www.pilgrimhall.org.
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