Stoneham Historical Society and Museum presents "General Washington's First Spy".

Please join us on Thursday, May 14, 2026, as the Stoneham Historical Society & Museum along with the Stoneham Historical Commission celebrate National Historic Preservation Month. 

Our featured speaker will be historian and author J. L. Bell. He will be sure to entertain and enthrall you with the little-known story of one of George Washington's first spies and his connection with Stoneham. Twelve days after arriving in Massachusetts as the new commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, George Washington paid a man to go into Boston and secretly report on British “movements & designs.” For two centuries that person’s name remained hidden. Recent research reveals that he was John Carnes, a grocer with an unusual past: he had started his career in the 1750s as Stoneham’s minister. This talk uncovers Carnes’s background, his role in the first Continental spy network, and what happened to him when the British commander had his own spy among the Massachusetts Patriots.

Doors open at 6:45 PM. A brief business meeting will start at 7:15 PM followed by our evening's program. As always, admission is free. We hope to see your there and bring a friend.