Programs
The 1730 Conant House is open all year, Monday-Friday, 10 am to 3 pm for self-guided tours to see our exhibit, “Falmouth: Changing with the Times”. Our Cultural Center rotates exhibits throughout the year. Additionally, the Museums on the Green offers a full range of adult and family programs, including our 2019 Lecture Series. Costs to most lectures are $ 5 for members and $ 10 for non-members, and are usually held at our Cultural Center, 35 Katharine Lee Bates Road, Falmouth unless otherwise noted. We also offer historical trolley rides on Wednesdays during the fall (reservations required), and in the Spring and Summer, walking tours of Falmouth on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 10 am (weather permitting).
Events Search and Views Navigation
November 2019
This Land is Their Land, with David Silverman
In March 1621, when Plymouth's survival was hanging in the balance, the Wampanoag sachem (or chief), Ousamequin (Massasoit), and Plymouth's governor, John Carver, declared their people's friendship for each other and a commitment to mutual defense. Later that autumn, the English gathered their first successful harvest and lifted the specter of starvation. Ousamequin and 90 of his men then visited Plymouth for the “First Thanksgiving.” The treaty remained operative until King Philip's War in 1675, when 50 years of uneasy…
Find out more »December 2019
An Olde Country Christmas: Readings from Washington Irving
This special presentation of stories and seasonal songs takes us back to England at Christmas time in the early 19th century Washington Irving is far better known for two other works, “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Those short stories and his Christmas essays, were published as installments in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. The essays, told from the perspective of a fictional English gentleman, are based on the holiday festivities and traditions Irving savored…
Find out more »Christmas Traditions in Boston, with Anthony Sammarco
In 1659, the General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony banned the celebration of Christmas because of its seasonal excess. (Bah humbug!) It wasn't until the mid 19th century when a German immigrant introduced the Christmas tree and Louis Prang brought his colorful Christmas cards to the city, that Bostonians began to show some holiday spirit. This festive book recalls it all: caroling and hand bell ringing on Beacon Hill, the Nativity scene and display on Boston Common, hot fudge sundaes at Baileys and…
Find out more »Capt. Lewis Lawrence of Falmouth and the natural history of Moby Dick, with Richard King
Author and SEA professor Richard J. King talks about his new book, Ahab's Rolling Sea: A Natural History of Moby-Dick and its connections to Falmouth whaling captain Lewis Lawrence. Lawrence sailed the Pacific in the same era as Melville and his unique, data-heavy logbook and chart reveal volumes about how 19th-C whalemen understood their impact on whales and the rest of the global ocean. Ahab's Rolling Sea tells the story of Melville's relationship with the watery world: what he witnessed, read,…
Find out more »“The Lobsters’ Night Before Christmas,” a reading for children & families with Christina Laurie
In this undersea retelling of the holiday classic, Sea Santa makes his annual Christmas journey, pulled in his clamshell sleigh by his eight faithful minnows. Sweet and clever rhyme by Christina Laurie and beautiful watercolor paintings by Elizabeth Moisan illustrate his visit to a family of lobsters on the night before Christmas.
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