September program:
“Tales on Developing an Exhibit” and
Honoring Bedford High School’s History Day award winners
Sunday, September 28, 2025
Doors open at 2 PM for a social period and refreshments
2:15 PM – Brief Society announcements followed by the Guest Speaker
Old Town Hall – Great Room (3rd floor)
The 2025-26 season will begin with the Society’s recognition of four Bedford High School students whose exemplary History Day projects qualified them to participate in the National History Day finals at the University of Maryland last June.
Following those honors, the audience will have the opportunity to hear Historical Society members and staff describe how they researched and chose the artifacts, videos, and stories for the Society’s popular new exhibit, “Bedford Answers the Call.” A tour of the exhibit, located on the first floor of Old Town Hall, will be available at the end of the program.
The event is free and open to the public.
Click here to watch on YouTube.
October program:
“A Farm Girl on the Front Lines: Deborah Sampson’s Secret”
Sunday, October 26, 2025
Doors open at 2 PM for a social period and refreshments
2:15 PM – Brief Society announcements followed by the Guest Speaker
Old Town Hall – Great Room (3rd floor)
Meet the woman who hoodwinked George Washington’s army!
Learn about the close calls and mountainous obstacles that Deborah Sampson faced as a poor farm girl, who, without support from family or friends, risked humiliation and imprisonment to help free the colonies from English rule.
Janet Parnes, founder and principal of Historical Portrayals by Lady J, will portray Deborah Sampson and provide a behind-the-scenes look at this dangerous deception and the character of the humble rebel who pulled it off.
This event is free and open to the public
Holiday Party for Bedford Historical Society members only:
Saturday, December 13, 2025
18 Crescent Ave.
3-6 PM
Society Directors Carol Amick and Bill Moonan will open their historic 1900 home for a fun afternoon of socializing, food, and games featuring Bill’s extensive antique tool collection.
Society members will bring appetizers to share; the famous “Naughty and Nice” punches will be served along with soft drinks and coffee.
Not a member? It’s not too late to join! Go to www.bedfordmahistory.org, and find “Membership” under the “Support” heading.
January program:
The Story Behind Paul Revere’s Ride — And More
Sunday, January 25, 2026
2 PM – Social period
2:15 PM – Brief Society announcements followed by the program
Zoom meeting – See registration details below
Paul Revere is an American icon, but how much does the story of the Midnight Ride hold up, and why?
This program will explore Revere and his famous ride, and offer some insights into other aspects of his life. Revere was a silversmith with several side jobs, an active member of the Freemasons, and a father to a large family, as well as a politically active Patriot in the American Revolution.
Tegan Kehoe, Research and Adult Program Director at the Paul Revere House in Boston, will present Revere and his legacy, including the history of the Paul Revere House itself.
This event is free and open to the public.
Space is limited to 100 attendees. One registration per household, please.
Register for the event here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/Wdys173jTsCd9kvAxCICXg
February program:
“A Journey to Find an Ancestor and Honor His Faith in Diversity”
Sunday, February 22, 2026
Doors open at 2 PM for a social period and refreshments
2:15 PM – Brief Society announcements followed by the Guest Speaker
Old Town Hall – Great Room (3rd floor)
While researching her Revolutionary War ancestor, General John Glover, Jane Woolsey Gropp of Lexington learned about the Marbleheaders, a group of fishermen and sailors from the coastal town of Marblehead who played a crucial role in several key military operations during the war. They were a diverse group, including free African Americans and Native Americans, and were the first integrated institution in America.
Gropp’s intention to have a painting depict General Glover, who commanded the Marbleheaders, led instead to a painting honoring both her ancestor, a somewhat forgotten hero, and the Black Patriots, who were mostly unknown heroes of the American Revolution.
In recognition of Black History Month, Gropp will describe her journey that led her to commission the painting called An Appeal to Heaven, the interrelationships among the people in the painting (Washington, one of his enslaved men, others), and the Black Patriots who fought and secured a freedom that was not yet theirs.
This event is free and open to the public
March program:
“The Reverend and the Old North Bridge Battle”
Sunday, March 22, 2026
Doors open at 2 PM for a social period and refreshments
2:15 PM – Brief Society announcements followed by the Guest Speaker
Old Town Hall – Great Room (3rd floor)
Reenactor Henry Cooke will portray the life and preaching of a significant Concord resident, the Rev. William Emerson, during the weeks leading up to the battle at the Old North Bridge and his experiences on the day itself.
He will interpret Rev. Emerson’s artillery sermon on Muster Day on March 17, 1775, which presages the outbreak of hostilities a month later, and included this charge: “let every single step we take in this most intricate affair be upon the defensive…. God forbid it be said that we struck the first blow!” Cooke, who owns Historical Costume Services in Randolph, will also recount the feelings of ordinary Concord residents who watched the battle.
The event is free and open to the public.
Click here to watch on YouTube.
April program:
“A Bedford Assortment”
Sunday, April 26, 2026
Doors open at 2 PM for a social period and refreshments
2:15 PM – Brief Society announcements followed by the Guest Speaker
Old Town Hall – Great Room (3rd floor)
Vocabulary.com describes an “assortment” as “a bunch of different things all together, whether they’re the same sort or not.”
“For example,” says Society President and Bedford Town Historian Sharon McDonald, “an assortment of chocolates would be a box of cherry-filled, nut, caramel, coconut, and orange crème candies.
Using her engaging story-telling style, McDonald’s “Bedford Assortment” program will be a bunch of assorted snippets from Bedford’s colonial history that may be funny, sad, surprising, or inspiring. She hopes you will say “Bon, bon!”
This event is free and open to the public.
Click here to watch on YouTube.
May Program:
The Society’s Annual Meeting, the election of Directors, and
“The Truth About Baked Beans: An Edible History of New England”
Sunday, May 31, 2026
Doors open at 2 PM for a social period and refreshments
2:15 PM – Announcements and Annual Meeting, followed by the Guest Speaker
Old Town Hall – Great Room (3rd floor)
Meg Muckenhoupt will bring smiles—and a hunger for popular foods—during her discussion about the history of New England’s food, immigration, tourism, and how ideas about identity have shaped our menus from 1825 to today.
Author of “The Truth about Baked Beans: An Edible History of New England,” Muckenhoupt’s book began with a simple question: When did Bostonians start putting molasses in their baked beans? That question sent her on a lengthy journey through invented histories, selective memories, and changing tastes from colonial New England to the present day.
Her presentation will cap the Society’s Annual Meeting, including elections of Directors and reports from Society officers.
The event is free and open to the public.
This program series is supported in part by a grant from the Bedford Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
September program:
“Abram Brown’s Love Letter to Bedford” and
Honoring Bedford High School’s History Day award winners
Sunday, September 22, 2024
Doors open at 2 PM for a social period and refreshments
2:15 PM – Brief Society announcements followed by the Guest Speaker
Old Town Hall – Great Room (3rd floor)
Bedford resident Alethea “Lee” Yates will talk about the romance between former Bedford resident and author Abram English Brown and his true love, the Town of Bedford, which inspired him to write his 1891 History of the Town of Bedford.
Yates spent several years editing Brown’s book by separating long segments into shorter paragraphs, improving the punctuation, and adding descriptive information for today’s readers. Her new book, The Annotated History of Bedford, was published this past summer and is available through the Bedford Historical Society. Copies will be sold at this event and at the Society’s Bedford Day booth.
On Sept. 22, she will identify interesting backstories from her research for this annotated history that will interest and surprise the audience.
Yates works as the Town of Lexington’s Archivist and serves on Bedford’s Historic Preservation Commission. She has edited several significant books about Bedford history.
In addition, the Society will honor Bedford High School’s History Day award winners.
The event is free and open to the public.
October program:
“Unsolved America: The Northeast”
Sunday, October 27, 2024
Doors open at 2 PM for a social period and refreshments
2:15 PM – Brief Society announcements followed by the Guest Speaker
First Church of Christ, Congregational Fellowship Hall, 25 The Great Road
Christopher Daley returns to Bedford to give a presentation that delves into prominent unsolved mysteries in the Northeastern U.S.
Topics will include the mysterious death of Dr. William Dean of New Hampshire with theories involving his wife, friend, and German spies; Vermont’s Bennington Triangle where 10 have vanished since 1949, prompting speculations about serial killers, alien abductions, or interdimensional portals; Fall River’s 1832 armor-clad skeleton, among other unsolved mysteries.
Daley has been speaking throughout New England on historical topics for 30 years. He recently retired as a history teacher and served as President of the Pembroke Historical Society and Chair of the Pembroke Historical Commission. He also worked as an historical consultant for programs on the Travel Channel.
The event is free and open to the public.
Please note the change of venue.
This program is supported in part by a grant from the Bedford Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
Holiday Party for Bedford Historical Society members only:
Saturday, December 14, 2024
18 Crescent Ave.
3-6 PM
Socialize with Society members; enjoy a glass of holiday cheer from the “Naughty” or “Nice” punch options; view the hosts’ extensive antique tool collection (including a Conestoga wagon jack and tools from Bedford’s historic Red Feather Farm to change roosters into capons), and guess which story among three written and recited by Bill Moonan is the true story about Bedford from his series, “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me It’s Bedford History.”
Society members will bring appetizers to share. Punch, soft drinks, and coffee will be provided.
January program:
Guided Tour of the Concord Museum
Sunday, January 26, 2025
2 PM – Social period
2:15 PM – Brief Society announcements followed by the program
Zoom meeting – Details to follow
This 28-minute-long video will be shown in collaboration with the Concord Museum and will feature the Museum’s April 19th exhibition gallery with Curator David Wood. This is a great opportunity to get a sense of the Concord Museum’s exhibits for those who have not visited, and a refresher for those who are past visitors.
The event is free and open to the public
Sign up for the Zoom link by emailing the Society office at: info@bedfordmahistory.org
Space is limited to 100 attendees. One email address per household, please.
February program:
“Before Brooklyn: The Unsung Heroes Who Helped Break Baseball’s Color Barrier”
Sunday, February 23, 2025
Doors open at 2 PM for a social period and refreshments
2:15 PM – Brief Society announcements followed by the Guest Speaker
Reed Room, Bedford Town Hall, 10 Mudge Way
Paying homage to Black History Month, Channel 5’s “Chronicle” reporter Ted Reinstein will tell the inspiring story of ordinary, everyday Americans who did extraordinary things to overturn an historic injustice. They were men and women, black and white. They were baseball players, journalists, Pullman porters, and political leaders with a conscience. They paved the way for Jackie Robinson and achieved a landmark victory. But they’ve remained largely unknown. Until now.
Reinstein’s book, Before Brooklyn, is one of five books he has written, frequently using material he researched from his many assignments for Chronicle, where he has worked since 1997. He also has been a contributor to WCVB-TV’s political roundtable show and sits on the station’s Editorial Board.
The event is free and open to the public.
Please note the change in venue.
This program is supported in part by a grant from the Bedford Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
March program:
“Colonial Secrets: Building a Home in the Colonies”
Sunday, March 30, 2025
Doors open at 2 PM for a social period and refreshments
2:15 PM – Brief Society announcements followed by the Guest Speaker
Old Town Hall – Great Room (3rd floor)
Burlington Historical Society member Peter Coppola will showcase the tools and fabrication methods and examples that reveal how Bedford’s ancestors built their homes after settling near the coast and then moving inland.
Coppola has been an active member of the Burlington community, serving on the Burlington Planning Board, the Recreation Commission, and Historical Commission. His hobbies of wood working evolved into antique tool restoration and furniture reproduction, which led to teaching and lecturing.
He will bring a number of antique tools to show during his presentation.
The event is free and open to the public.
This program is supported in part by a grant from the Bedford Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
April program:
“Job Lane’s Neighborhood”
Sunday, April 27, 2025
Doors open at 2 PM for a social period and refreshments
2:15 PM – Brief Society announcements followed by the Guest Speaker
Old Town Hall – Great Room (3rd floor)
Bedford Town Historian and Society President Sharon McDonald will present another in her series of lectures about historical Bedford characters, bringing them to life through her storytelling.
This presentation begins in 1664 when Job Lane bartered for hundreds of acres of land between the Concord and Shawsheen Rivers and moved his family here. McDonald will reveal engaging stories about the 17th-century Lane family and their neighbors that her research has unearthed. Appointed Town Historian in December 2015, McDonald has been active in this position ever since, giving talks to Bedford school children and to local and area organizations. She is President and a Director of the Bedford Historical Society and volunteers hundreds of hours researching and cataloging artifacts in the Society’s collections.
The event is free and open to the public.
May Program:
The Society’s Annual Meeting, the election of Directors, and
“Colonial Dance Tunes and Love Songs.”
Sunday, May 18, 2025
Doors open at 2 PM for a social period and refreshments
2:15 PM – Announcements and Annual Meeting, followed by the Guest Speaker
Old Town Hall – Great Room (3rd floor)
Dressed in the clothes of 18th-century itinerant musicians, Deirdre Sweeney and Al Petty will perform an extensive repertoire of historical dance music, as well as marches and laments, including 18th-century tunes such as “Mr. Isaac’s Maggot” and “Jack’s Health.” Their instruments include the flute, penny whistle, recorder, and fife. The music was gathered from manuscripts printed between the 17th and 19th centuries and arranged in counterpoint.
The two musicians, who sometimes appear with a third musician as the Colonial Minstrels, have long been active in related musical cultures, including American fife and drum and traditional Irish music. They are popular performers at the Paul Revere House Museum in Boston.
The event is free and open to the public.
This program is supported in part by a grant from the Bedford Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
This program is offered in partnership with Freedom’s Way National Heritage Area during the Hidden Treasures Festival of Nature, Culture & History. Learn more at freedomsway.org.
Program: The Society’s Annual Meeting, the election of Directors, and “A Cast of 18th and 19th Century Bedford Characters, Part 4″
Sunday, May 19, 2023
Doors open at 2 PM for a social period and refreshments
2:15 PM – Announcements and Annual Meeting, followed by the Guest Speaker
Old Town Hall – Great Room (3rd floor)
Society President and Town Historian Sharon McDonald will be the Society’s Annual Meeting guest speaker, talking once again about another set of ancient and interesting Bedford residents, as she had done in past lecture seasons, in her Cast of 18th and 19th-century Bedford Characters, Part 4.
This talk will follow the Society’s Annual Meeting and election of Directors.
This program is offered in partnership with Freedom’s Way National Heritage Area during the Hidden Treasures Festival of Nature, Culture & History. Learn more at freedomsway.org.
April Lecture: Growing Up in Bedford During the Baby Boom
Sunday, April 28, 2024
Doors open at 2 PM for a social period and refreshments
2:15 PM – Brief Society announcements followed by the Guest Speakers
Old Town Hall – Great Room (3rd floor)
Former Bedford Historical Society Executive Director Alethea “Lee” Yates will lead a Panel of Baby Boomers: “Growing Up in Bedford During the Baby Boom.” In addition to Yates, this panel will be comprised of baby boomers who actively contribute to a Facebook group called “You Know You’re From Bedford, MA if,” managed by Yates.
The Baby Boomer period encompassed almost two decades after World War II (1945-1965); U.S. boomers today range in age from 58 to 78 and total almost 72 million Americans.
Panelists will tell a bit about their memories, and then we’ll open the session for your own stories.
March Lecture: Minuteman Railroad: Boston and Maine’s Lexington Branch
Sunday, March 10, 2024
Doors open at 2 PM for a social period and refreshments
2:15 PM – Brief Society announcements followed by the Guest Speaker
Old Town Hall – Great Room (3rd floor)
Acting Friends of Depot Park President William Deen will enlighten all who attend this program, using details from his recently published book, Minuteman Railroad: Boston and Maine’s Lexington Branch. His book contains 212 pages, 191 photographs, and 27 maps. It tells the colorful history of the Boston and Maine’s (B&M’s) Lexington Branch, which operated from 1846 to 1981. Passenger service was extremely popular and vital to the growth of these towns. In 1900, the B&M line ran 28 steam trains daily in Bedford, 44 in Lexington, and 60 in Arlington.
Lecture: On Being the Town of Bedford’s Archivist.
Sunday, February 25, 2024
Doors open at 2 PM for a social period and refreshments
2:15 PM – Brief Society announcements followed by the Guest Speaker
Old Town Hall – Great Room (3rd floor)
Bedford Town Archivist Ashley Large will describe her job, including managing extensive archival record groups, implementing digital preservation protocols, researching reference requests, chairing the Town’s Archives and Records Management Advisory Committee, and coordinating records management for all Town offices.
Lecture: Boston Made: From Revolution to Robotics, Innovations that Changed the World
and Honoring Bedford High School History Day award winners
Sunday, October 29, 2023
Doors open at 2 PM for a social period and refreshments
2:15 PM – Brief Society announcements followed by the Guest Speaker
Old Town Hall – Great Room (3rd floor)
Two exciting topics will be presented at the Bedford Historical Society’s Oct. 29th meeting in The Great Hall of Old Town Hall, 16 South Road, Bedford.
Alan Earls, co-author of Boston Made: From Revolution to Robotics, Innovations that Changed the World, will discuss some of the 50 world-changing inventions described in his book that reveal how Boston became and remains a global center for innovation.
In addition, the Society will honor the five Bedford High School students who received awards at the
2023 Massachusetts History Day competition last spring.
This program is supported in part by a grant from the Bedford Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
Program: The Society’s Annual Meeting, the election of Directors, and “Cast of (Nineteenth Century Historical) Characters”
Sunday, May 21, 2023
Doors open at 2 PM for a social period and refreshments
2:15 PM – Announcements and Annual Meeting, followed by the Guest Speaker
Old Town Hall – Great Room (3rd floor)
Popular Bedford resident and charming Town Historian Sharon McDonald will be the Society’s Annual Meeting guest speaker, talking once again about another set of ancient and interesting Bedford residents, as she had done in past lecture seasons. This time, her Cast of (Nineteenth Century Historical) Characters will include abolitionist and suffragist Lucinda Hosmer, anti-vaccination doctor Emmanuel Pfeiffer, and notorious Benjamin Simonds, who left Bedford with the law on his heels. This talk will follow the Society’s Annual Meeting and election of Directors.
Lecture: Molasses: From the Slave Trade to the Great Molasses Flood
Sunday, April 30, 2023
Doors open at 2 PM for a social period and refreshments
2:15 PM – Announcements followed by the Guest Speaker
Old Town Hall – Great Room (3rd floor)
Noted historian and author Anthony Sammarco will trace the influence of molasses in the “Triangle Trade,” the 18th-century world economy involving rum, slaves, and sugar cane, and its important connection to Massachusetts. Sammarco, who has written 70 books, will be remembered for his crowd-pleasing presentation a couple of years ago: “The Baker Chocolate Company.”
Lecture: Timekeeping and Timekeepers in Early New England
Sunday, March 19, 2023
Doors open at 2 PM for a social period and refreshments
2:15 PM – Review of the proposed bylaws and a vote by members on the bylaws, followed by the Guest Speaker
Old Town Hall – Great Room (3rd floor)
Horology, the science of timekeeping, is the fascination of Robert Frishman, who will conduct an Antiques Roadshow-style informal appraisal of attendees’ clocks and watches at the end of his lecture Timekeeping and Timekeepers in Early New England. He will weave into his talk information about the grandfather clock on loan to the Society (in a corner of The Great Room), and other antique timepieces in the Society’s collections.
Click here to watch this program on Bedford TV’s YouTube channel.
Lecture: The History of New England’s Stone Walls
Sunday, February 26, 2023
2 PM – Announcements and Guest Speaker
Old Town Hall – Great Room (3rd floor)
University of Connecticut geologist and author Robert Thorson will join the Society and its co-sponsor, the Bedford Garden Club, and the public in the video streaming presentation on The History of New England’s Stone Walls. He will examine several images of these special Northeast treasures and show what local “wall-watchers” might see that “bird-watchers” might not.
Lecture: The Haunted History of New England
Sunday, October 23, 2022
2 PM – Announcements and Guest Speaker
Old Town Hall – Great Room (3rd floor)
History teacher, author, and lecturer Christopher Daley, a frequent guest speaker at the Bedford Historical Society, returns with his talk, The Haunted History of New England. In this presentation, Daley melds historical fact together with legend and myth to produce an interesting, fascinating, and sometimes shocking new look at events that really happened and the stories of haunting that followed them.
The topics addressed in the lecture will be Mercy Brown, “The Vampire” of Exeter, Rhode Island, the cursed Freetown State Forest in Massachusetts, the horrors of the Lizzie Borden House in Fall River Massachusetts, a haunted forest in the wilds of Connecticut, the ghostly happenings at Mount Washington Hotel in New Hampshire, and evidence of ghosts at the John Alden House in Duxbury Massachusetts.
Program: “Tales of Old Billerica Road” lecture and Bedford High School history students honored
Sunday, September 25, 2022
2 PM – Announcements and program
Old Town Hall – Great Room
Past Society President Don Corey will describe the interesting people and sites on an ancient Native American trail in his talk, Tales of Old Billerica Road. He will describe the changes that led the Llewsac Lodge to become Carelton-Willard Village. In addition, the Society will honor four Bedford High School seniors who won first place at the 2022 National History Day Massachusetts State Competition last April.
Read the text of this lecture as it was presented at the 40th-anniversary celebration of Carleton-Willard Village, which was published in two parts in the Bedford Citizen.
Click here to read Part One.
Click here to read Part Two.
Annual Meeting and Lecture
Sunday, May 22, 2022
Old Town Hall – Great Room
The Society will hold its Annual Meeting and election of Officers and Directors followed by the video presentation The Society’s Collections Years Ago in the Former Museum narrated by Mary Hafer.
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Lecture: The Dramatic Growth of Bedford
Sunday, April 24, 2022
2 PM
Old Town Hall – Great Room
Society President Tom Kinzer and well-known local author Ashley Rooney will recall some of Bedford’s history with its dramatic growth during the building of Routes 128 and 3.
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Lecture: New England General Stores
Sunday, March 27, 2022
2 PM
Old Town Hall – Great Room
Ted Reinstein will return with his program New England General Stores, a steadfast institution of New England towns – even in tough times.
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Outdoor Lecture and Tour
Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021
Old Burying Ground, Springs Road
Just in time for Halloween, the Bedford Historical Society is excited to welcome Lee Yates as she presents an informative Discussion and Tour of the Old Burying Ground on Springs Road.
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Virtual Lecture: Wicked Pissed: New England’s Most Famous Feuds
Sunday, April 25, 2021
2 PM
Virtual lecture over Zoom
Ted Reinstein, the popular journalist and reporter for Chronicle, Boston’s celebrated TV news magazine, has found the offbeat, the unique, the moving, and the memorable in his reporting travels.
He will recount some of those stories from his book of the same title, Wicked Pissed: New England’s Most Famous Feuds.
From sports to politics, food to finance, to bitter disputes over simple boundaries themselves, New England’s feuds have peppered the region’s life for centuries. They’ve been raw and rowdy, sometimes high-minded and humorous, and in a place renowned for its deep sense of history, often long
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Virtual Lecture: Onslaught: The Wessagusset Incident
Sunday, March 21, 2021
2 PM
Virtual lecture over Zoom
History teacher, author, and lecturer Christopher Daley presents The Wessagusset Incident – the murder in 1623 of Massachusetts tribal leaders by Pilgrims.
This presentation chronicles the arrival of the pilgrims at Plymouth and the beginnings of their colony as well as the little-known arrival of “Weston’s Men” a group that began a colony in what is now the town of Weymouth, then known as Wessagusset. The talk will examine the interaction with the natives by the two English groups and look at the factors that led to the bloodletting of 1623 and then a blow-by-blow description of the attack at Wessagusset, followed by a discussion on the far-reaching aftereffects.
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Virtual Lecture:
Sunday, Feb. 28, 2021
2 PM
Virtual lecture over Zoom
Town Historian and author Sharon McDonald has been researching a number of 18th and 19th Century historical Bedford residents for her virtual talk A Cast of (Historic) Characters. Ms. McDonald’s presentations are popular among Society members and the public at large, who have filled the venues to overflowing in past years. Curator of the Job Lane Farm Museum, she is always entertaining and precise with her facts.
Click here to view A Cast of (Historic) Characters on the Bedford Historical Society’s YouTube channel.
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Virtual Lecture: Votes for Women: MA Leaders in the Women’s Suffrage Movement
Sunday, October 25, 2020
2 PM
Virtual presentation
Author Barbara Berenson will present a virtual power point program, Votes for Women: MA
Leaders in the Women’s Suffrage Movement. She will tell the story of the national suffrage movement
and the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution from the perspective of early
Massachusetts suffragettes. This program is co-sponsored by the Bedford League of Women Voters.
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Virtual Program: National History Day award-winning High School Student Projects
& The 1918 Flu Epidemic
Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020
7:15 PM
Virtual program over Zoom
The first half of this virtual Historical Society program will feature presentations by four Bedford High School students who produced three award-winning National History Day projects. The students will all receive awards from the Society.
The second half of the Sept. 23 program will feature a YouTube video about the 1918 Flu Pandemic, with a follow-up discussion with a representative from the Bedford Board of Health. They will discuss similarities and differences between the 1918 pandemic and the current coronavirus pandemic.
Click here to view the program on the Bedford Historical Society’s YouTube channel.
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Lecture: The Baker Chocolate Company: A Sweet History
Sunday, Feb. 23, 2020
2 PM
First Church of Christ, Congregational, Upper Fellowship Hall
Local historian Anthony Sammarco details the delicious saga of Massachusetts’ Baker Chocolate Company in his presentation, The Baker Chocolate Company: A Sweet History From John Hannon’s mysterious disappearance and the famed La Belle Chocolatiere advertising campaign to cacao bean smuggling sparked by Revolutionary War blockades, this tale, both bitter and sweet, is sure to tickle your taste buds.
Click here to view The Baker Chocolate Company: A Sweet History on the Bedford Historical Society’s YouTube channel.
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Lecture: Muskets to Tomahawks: The Battles for Saratoga
Sunday, November 10, 2019
2 PM – Announcements & Program
Learn about some of the elements that lead to the American victories at Saratoga and turned the tide of the American Revolution. US Navy Captain Robert Lewis, (Ret) is our speaker. He brings experience from a long career in the military and extensive investigation of the Gettysburg battles.
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Video: Bedford Windshield: A Quick and Easy Guide to Architecture in a New England Village
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
7:15 PM – Refreshments; 7:45 – Announcements & Program
Congregational Church, 25 Great Road, Bedford
The Historical Society will be hosting a showing of Bedford Windshield: A Quick and Easy Guide to Architecture in a New England Village, a 1993 documentary produced in by the Bedford Historical Society.
Click here to view Bedford Windshield: A Quick and Easy Guide to Architecture in a New England Village on the Bedford Historical Society’s YouTube channel.
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2018-2019 Program Series
National History Day Students Awards & “What’s in Bedford’s Attic”
Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2018
7:15 pm – Refreshments, 7:45 pm – Announcements & Program
First Church of Christ, Congregational – Upper Fellowship Hall
The first meeting of the Bedford Historical Society’s 2018-2019 Program Series will feature two topics. Bedford High School students who competed in National History Day will describe their projects and be given awards.
Following the awards, the second part of the program is a timely reminder of the Society’s ongoing efforts to re-establish a town museum for the display of historic resources from the Society’s collections. The program, “What’s in Bedford’s Attic”, will feature a display of various artifacts from the society’s museum collections ranging from the end of the Ice Age up to the 20th Century by Society President Don Corey.
A Tour of the Job Lane House and Gardens
Sunday, October 14, 2018
2 pm – 4 pm
Job Lane House – 295 North Road, Bedford
Come and tour one of Bedford’s oldest historical homes, the Job Lane House at 295 North Road in Bedford. Enjoy refreshments supplied by the Bedford Historical Society while members of the Friends of the Job Lane House, dressed in colonial attire, will be situated in each room of the beautifully restored house to bring Job and his house alive.
Lecture: My Deployment to Afghanistan with a Provincial Reconstruction Team
Sunday, Nov. 11, 2018 – Veterans Day
3:30 pm – Refreshments, 4 pm – Announcements & Guest Speaker
Old Town Hall – Great Room
The Society is honored to host, at a special Veterans Day program, Gina Rada, District Director of Veterans Services for Lexington and Bedford. She will describe the year she spent in Afghanistan as a member of a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT).
Lecture: Slavery in Bedford: Did the Underground Railroad Stop Here?
Sunday, Feb. 24, 2019
2 pm – Refreshments, 2:30 pm – Announcements & Guest Speaker
Old Town Hall – Great Room
Town Historian Sharon McDonald has been researching the history of slavery in Bedford. It stunned her to find that there were enslaved men, women, and children of color living here in Bedford’s early days! Join us for this illuminating lecture.
Click here to view “Slavery in Bedford” on Bedford TV’s YouTube channel.
Lecture: Survival: Boston 1630
Sunday, March 24, 2019
2 pm – Refreshments, 2:30 pm – Announcements & Guest Speaker
First Church of Christ, Congregational – Upper Fellowship Hall
John Morrison, Trustee of the Partnership of Historic Bostons (PHB), will present an illustrated talk about the first dangerous years when nearly one-half of the original Puritans died or fled back to England. How did they survive in the place that became the City of Boston?
Click here to view “Survival: Boston 1630” on Bedford TV’s YouTube channel.
Lecture: Irish Need Not Apply: The History of the Irish in Boston
Sunday, April 28, 2019
2 pm – Refreshments, 2:30 pm – Announcements & Guest Speaker
Old Town Hall – Great Room
The Bedford Historical Society welcomes back history teacher, author and lecturer Chris Daley with his latest presentation, Irish Need Not Apply: The History of the Irish in Boston. This lecture examines many facets of the early Irish experience in Boston from the 17th century to the 19th century.
Click here to view “Irish Need Not Apply” on Bedford TV’s Youtube channel.
Lecture, Potluck Dinner, and Annual Meeting
Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride: The Myth and the Man
Sunday, May 19, 2019
6 pm – Appetizers and Potluck Dinner, 7:30 pm – Annual Meeting, 7:45 pm – President’s Year-End Report and Guest Speaker
First Church of Christ, Congregational – Upper Fellowship Hall
How did Boston silversmith Paul Revere end up riding to alert the countryside that “the British are coming” in April 1775? To find out, join us for this lecture by Frank Rigg, retired John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum Curator, who talks about the impact and legacy of Paul Revere’s historic ride.
Mr. Rigg’s presentation will conclude the Bedford Historical Society’s final event of the season: the May potluck dinner and the Society’s Annual Meeting to elect officers and directors. Every family is asked to bring a main dish, side dish, salad, or dessert to feed eight. The Society will provide beverages.
Click here to view “Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride” on Bedford TV’s YouTube channel.
Memorial Day
Monday, May 27, 2019
8:30 am – 12:00 pm
Various town locations
The Bedford Historical Society will participate in various Memorial Day activities planned by Bedford’s Patriot Holiday Committee. To view the full schedule of events, click here. The Society will be at the events highlighted in yellow.
