Hingham Holds First Ever Museum Day

The following excerpt was written by the Hingham Historical Society.

Hingham will put its proud history on display Saturday, May 25, when it opens the doors for the first of its kind Museum Day.

The event is aimed at raising awareness of the events, traditions, and customs that haveshaped this South Shore community since it was incorporated in 1635, making it one of the oldest in the United States. It is a collaborative effort involving several community organizations.

All activities are free and several are especially tailored to appeal to children
and families.

Museum Day is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. when the Friends of Hingham Harbor will welcome visitors to the waterfront for its Touch A Boat event, where young people who’ve never been sailing will be introduced to boats and how they operate. At the same time, volunteers from the Historical Society will share vintage photographs showing the harbor when it was a busy fishing port and regular destination for steamboats and packets carrying
passengers, freight, and mail.

From noon to 5 p.m., the Historical Society will open both the Old Ordinary at 21 Lincoln Street and The Old Derby Academy at 34 Main Street. Amid the Ordinary’s extensive collection of 18th century furnishings, fabrics, tools and toys, visitors will learn about the lives of tavernkeepers Francis and Hannah Barker, who served food and drink to stagecoach passengers and sometimes provided a night’s lodging. At Old Derby, the the Hands-On History group will offer youngsters the opportunity to try on Revolutionary War-era
military uniforms, handle muskets, and drill as soldiers of the day did. The first 30 children to visit Old Derby on Museum Day will receive a free gift certificated for a ice cream cone at Patti's Place.

While stopping at Old Derby, visitors also may pick up maps and clues to guide them on a Ghost Hunt through the Hingham Cemetery behind the Old Ship Meeting House. The cemetery has been in use since 1672, making it among the oldest in the US. It holds the remains of early settlers, patriots, religious, political, and military leaders, statesmen, including General Benjamin Lincoln, and even the daughter of Paul Revere.

The Church itself, a National Historic Landmark and the only Puritan meeting house built in the US in the 1600s that still stands, will be open for tours between noon and 3 p.m. Families can explore the new discoveries found at the Meeting House during the recent restoration.

In Hingham Center, veterans of military service from the GAR Hall will conduct an encampment on the Common, bounded by Route 228 and School, Common, and Middle streets, where they also will show artifacts used and worn by Hingham soldiers in the nation’s wars. The hall, at Main and Pond streets, has an impressive display of military memorabilia dating to the Revolutionary War and will hold an open house at the same time as the encampment.

The newly reopened and handicapped-accessible Bare Cove Fire Museum will offer tours and give children the opportunity to be photographed aboard some of its lovingly preserved engines. The museum is dedicated to the history of firefighting in New England and its collection is unique in that each piece at one time was in service to Hingham.

All Museum Day activities are open to the public. The venues and times:

• Hingham Harbor (“Touch A Boat”), 10 - 1
• Old Ship Church (tours), 90 Main Street, Noon - 3
• Ordinary (tours), 21 Lincoln Street, Noon - 5
• Old Derby Academy (“Hands-on History”), 36 Main Street, Noon-5
• Hingham Cemetery (Ghost Hunts), Noon - 5
• Bare Cove Fire Museum, 45 Bare Cove Park Drive, Noon – 5
• GAR Hall (open house and Encampment on the Common), Noon - 5

Further information is available from the Historical Society at (781) 749-7721.