Online lecture – Saturday, May 29, 11 a.m. “The Williamstown Meetinghouse from Yesterday to Today,” presented by Pat Leach

Online lecture

The Williamstown Meetinghouse from Yesterday to Today
Presented by Pat Leach
Saturday, May 29, 11 a.m.

Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://zoom.us/j/93596468310
Or One tap mobile : +13017158592,,93596468310#
Or Telephone: 1 (301) 715-8592
Webinar ID: 935 9646 8310

The second meetinghouse, 19th century, located in what is now Williamstown’s Field Park

You are invited to join the Williamstown Historical Museum on Saturday, May 29, at 11 a.m. via Zoom webinar for a lecture on the several Williamstown meetinghouses, presented by Pat Leach. In this webinar, viewers will learn more about the history and architecture of the Williamstown meetinghouse from its original one room structure in what is now Field Park to its white clad building (the First Congregational Church) on Main Street. Viewers will learn about how the meetinghouse has served as a gathering place for important town and college activities since the 1700s and about the building’s dramatic architectural changes. This lecture about a striking and significant Williamstown building is not to be missed. Please join us!

Sketch of Williamstown’s first meetinghouse

The meetinghouse in its current location on Main Street, brick clad with two steeples

Current white clad meetinghouse (First Congregational Church)

Special Exhibit: Baseball in Williamstown

1918 WHS Baseball Team

You are invited to visit the museum throughout the summer
to view the new exhibit about Baseball in Williamstown!

Sliding Baseball Across Williamstown

Spring is in the air, and that means it’s time for baseball! Williamstown is a small New England town, but a number of talented athletes grew up here and have made their way to the professional sphere of baseball. “Sliding Baseball Across Williamstown,” an offshoot of the “Baseball in the Berkshires” exhibit, will surprise visitors with the wealth of information about the town’s many baseball players.

Frank Grant, one of the first black players in professional baseball,
was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.

This exhibit details the rich history of baseball in the Berkshires and focuses on Williamstown’s contribution to this story. The exhibit looks at the many professional baseball players who grew up in town as well as college and amateur teams in town. The exhibit will also feature the players and coaches, the Little League teams, and the American Legion and Town Teams from Williamstown. Williamstown High School and Mount Greylock Regional High School will also be featured. Sports enthusiasts and fans of local history will enjoy this remarkable exhibit!

The History of Oblong Road

The Williamstown Historical Museum invites you to attend an online lecture
“The History of Oblong Road”
presented by Dustin Griffin
via Zoom webinar
Saturday, April 17, 11 a.m.

Oblong Road was one of the earliest parts of Williamstown to be settled. For all of the 19th century the neighborhood was almost completely devoted to farming, and was dominated by three large farming families, the Youngs, the Torreys, and the Phelpses. Two of them continue into the 21st century. A number of the oldest farmhouses survive, but much has changed over time – there used to be three one-room schools along Oblong Rd. Although it remains a quiet unpaved country lane, Oblong Road remains subject to modernizing change.

Please join us for Dusty Griffin’s illustrated lecture detailing the history of Oblong Road and its evolution on Saturday, April 17, at 11 a.m. via Zoom webinar. Login information can be found below and on the Williamstown Historical Museum website.

Dusty Griffin is the author of Williamstown and Williams College: Explorations in Local History (2018). For a number of years he has presented talks on local history to Williamstown audiences, most recently a lecture on “Thirteen Galusha Farms” in February 2020 and “The Chadwells of Williamstown” in November 2020. His new book, Williamstown and Williams College: Further Explorations in Local History, was published this month, and is available at the college bookstore on Spring St.

The History of Oblong Road – Zoom Webinar Login information:
https://zoom.us/j/94260437419

Or One tap mobile : +19292056099,,94260437419#

Or Telephone: (929) 205-6099
Webinar ID: 942 6043 7419