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Vermont Furniture from the Alley Collection
May 1, 2024 - 9:30 AM - November 30, 2026 - 4:30 PM
Vermont Furniture from the Alley Collection features an impressive array of 18th and 19th-century Vermont furniture recently donated to Historic Deerfield by collectors William and Patricia Passmore Alley. The exhibition highlights both published and unpublished material from the Alleys’ collection, showing how these objects reveal varied techniques and ornament as well as the characteristics of the environment in which they were made. Many examples in the exhibit retain their vibrant, original surfaces and are organized according to their decoration: solid and highly figured native wood, painted wood, ornamental painting on metal and glass, and veneer and inlay.
Wilson Printing Office
May 4, 2024 - 9:30 AM - November 30, 2024 - 4:00 PMHistoric Deerfield (+ Google Map)
Now open Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. – 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. Visit the newly reopened Wilson Printing Office where printer in residence Martin Antonetti will be on hand to demonstrate the printing process for visitors. This shop was in operation for only a short time, but tells a remarkable story. From […]
Thrilling Threads: Exploring the Art of Embroidery at the History Workshop
July 3, 2024 - 12:00 PM - August 31, 2024 - 4:30 PM
Join us at the History Workshop this July and August Wednesdays-Sundays from 12:00-4:30 p.m. Needlework samplers show off lots of skill in design and can send a message, including in Mary Emiston’s sampler in the Unnamed Figures exhibition at the Flynt Center. What would you want to include if you were making a sampler? Visit […]
Open Hearth Cooking Demonstration: Cooking by the Book
July 6, 2024 - 9:30 AM - August 10, 2024 - 4:00 PM
9:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. on July 6, 13, 20, 27 and August 3, 10
Cookbooks are a window into the changing tastes and trends in historic cookery. They are filled with recipes for dishes like flour pudding, loaf cake, alamode beef, forcemeat, and fricassee. Beverages like shrub and syllabub pique our curiosity.
Family Fun Day! The Cure for the Summertime Blues
August 10, 2024 - 11:00 AM - August 10, 2024 - 3:00 PMHistory Workshop (+ Google Map)
Did you know that one of the things Deerfield is known for is blue embroidery? You can create the color blue straight from a plant! Transform a silk handkerchief from white to blue with ice water and fresh-leaf Japanese indigo gathered from the History Workshop garden. And to make your day truly colorful, you can laugh and sing along with the songs, stories, riddles, and games of performer John Porcino.
Natural History Walking Tour
August 11, 2024 - 10:00 AM - August 11, 2024 - 11:30 AMHistoric Deerfield (+ Google Map)
August 11, September 8, October 13, November 10 at 10 a.m. starting at Hall Tavern.
Join us on a guided Natural History Walk around Old Deerfield. Come every second Sunday through November for a fun morning of looking and discovering. How do the seasons change? How do the plants, animals, and environment respond? Watch summer give way to autumn and then winter with us.
Book Arts Day
August 17, 2024 - 10:00 AM - August 17, 2024 - 4:00 PM
Come join us for a day-long event celebrating historic book arts. Visitors can meet artisans and see demonstrations of wood cut illustration with noted artist Barry Moser, paper making with Elisa Lanzi, bookbinding with Barbara Blumenthal, and letterpress printing with Historic Deerfield’s Printer-in-Residence Martin Antonetti. Historic Deerfield’s museum educators will be there to lead hands-on activities that include a paper marbling craft, folding a paper booklet, and more!
In Pursuit of the Picturesque: The Art of James Wells Champney
August 31, 2024 - 8:00 AM - February 23, 2025 - 5:00 PMFlynt Center of Early New England Life (+ Google Map)
Image: James Wells Champney, Young Woman in Red, ca. 1890, pastel (63.366).
Through an array of paintings, pastels, photographs, and material culture, In Pursuit of the Picturesque takes a fresh perspective on the New England artist, James Wells Champney (1843-1903) and how he shaped late 19th-century perceptions of nostalgia and beauty. This exhibition explores how Deerfield’s resident artist engaged with different facets of the American art world, including sentimental genre scenes, paintings of Colonial Revival motifs, and pastels of idealized women.
Special Living History Event: Ladies’ Association of Revolutionary America
September 7, 2024 - 10:00 AM - September 7, 2024 - 4:00 PMHall Tavern (+ Google Map)
Photo courtesy of the Ladies’ Association of Revolutionary America.
The Ladies’ Association is a researched-based 18th century living history group that encourages, supports, and promotes increased women’s voices and stories at historical sites and events. They will be portraying Deerfield in 1774, on the eve of the American Revolution.
A Rich and Varied Palette: Coloring New England’s Past
September 13, 2024 - 8:00 AM - September 14, 2024 - 5:00 PMHistoric Deerfield (+ Google Map)
REGISTRATION NOW OPEN! Interest in the history of color has been growing in recent decades, but few studies have examined color’s impact on specific cultural regions, such as New England. Despite the pervasive misconception of drabness, New England embraced color as a mode of defining cultural differences and status.
Through lectures, workshops, and tours, participants will experience the latest scholarship and scholars on color and gain a better understanding of the role of color in New England material life.
A Special Family Dinner
September 14, 2024 - 9:30 AM - September 14, 2024 - 4:00 PMHall Tavern (+ Google Map)
September 14, 21, 28 9:30 a.m.-4:00 p.m. in the Hall Tavern Kitchen The Sheldon House has a food exhibit featuring dishes described in a 1797 letter. Our open-hearth cooks will be preparing several of the dishes on display. Come and read the letter and find out why Mr. Field was so angry when his sister […]
Family Program: Creating with Colors
September 21, 2024 - 12:00 PM - November 17, 2024 - 4:30 PMHistory Workshop (+ Google Map)
Create and take home your own vibrant Deerfield landscape using pastels just like Deerfield artist James Wells Champney, who produced scenic views of Deerfield at the end of the 19th century. Learn about art, art materials, landscapes, and more!
Building a Collection: Recent Acquisitions at Historic Deerfield
September 28, 2024 - 9:30 AM - February 23, 2025 - 4:30 PM
Featuring special acquisition highlights from the past five years in the areas of furniture, ceramics, metalwork, paintings, prints, textiles, and rare books, the exhibit includes four sections that explain why and how the museum’s staff added these items to the collection.
Plein Air Painting Workshop
September 28, 2024 - 10:00 AM - September 28, 2024 - 1:00 PMFlynt Center of Early New England Life (+ Google Map)
Join Lea Stephenson for a special curator-led tour of the exhibition and after practice the art of painting en plein air inspired by the works in the exhibit, in some of the same locations!
Open Hearth Cooking Demonstrations: Indigenous Foods, The Three Sisters, and the Fall Harvest
October 4, 2024 - 9:30 AM - October 26, 2024 - 4:00 PMHall Tavern (+ Google Map)
Come visit our open-hearth cooks as they prepare “traditional” New England dishes made with Indigenous ingredients such as corn, beans, and squash.
Deerfield After Dark Ghost Walks: Ghost Stories of Old Deerfield
October 11, 2024 - 7:00 PM - October 26, 2024 - 7:00 PMHall Tavern (+ Google Map)
Join us for a spooky walk through the village to hear ghost stories from Deerfield!
Storyteller: A Peddler’s Pack of Eerie Tales with Dennis Picard
October 12, 2024 - 2:00 PM - October 12, 2024 - 3:00 PMHall Tavern (+ Google Map)
Tales of witches, vampires and weird occurrences are mixed in with otherwise mundane daily records discovered by Dennis Picard.
Special Walking Tours: Guided Tours of the Old Burying Ground
October 12, 2024 - 3:00 PM - October 12, 2024 - 4:00 PM
October 12, 19, 26 at 3:00 p.m. starting at Hall Tavern Meet your guide at the Visitor Center at Hall Tavern and enjoy a walking tour past the Town Common and the Old Burying Ground on Albany Road. Included with Museum Admission.
Open Hearth Cooking Demonstration: Wampanoag Cookery with Angela Marcellino
October 19, 2024 - 9:00 AM - October 19, 2024 - 4:00 PMHall Tavern (+ Google Map)
Special Guest Cook, Angela Marcellino, will prepare several of the dishes from her cookbook exploring food, identity, and place in New England.
Guided afternoon tours of the Gravestone Art of Solomon Ashley
October 26, 2024 - 1:00 PM - October 26, 2024 - 3:00 PMHall Tavern (+ Google Map)
Enjoy a walking tour past the Town Common and the Old Burying Ground on Albany Road.
Open Hearth Cooking Demonstrations: Time for Pie
November 2, 2024 - 9:30 AM - November 16, 2024 - 4:00 PMHall Tavern (+ Google Map)
Pie was a common staple in the early New England kitchen. Come visit with our open hearth cook and see what pies are on the menu!
Textile Identification Day with Rabbit Goody
November 3, 2024 - 9:00 AM - November 3, 2024 - 4:00 PM
Come learn about historic textiles (and bring your own!) to be identified by renowned weaver/textile historian Rabbit Goody of Thistle Hill Weavers in New York!
Family Program: Make a Simple Gift
November 23, 2024 - 9:30 AM - December 1, 2024 - 4:30 PMHistory Workshop (+ Google Map)
Come and make a simple, perfect holiday gift by hand! This year’s simple gift is a pierced tin medallion, inspired by historic pierced tin lanterns.
Hands-On Hearth Cooking Workshop: Let’s Bake!
November 23, 2024 - 1:00 PM - November 23, 2024 - 5:00 PMHall Tavern (+ Google Map)
Using a bake kettle and the beehive oven, participants will make a savory pie, a sweet cake, and a special biscuit in each session.
Open-Hearth Cooking Demonstrations: Winter Soups and Stews
November 29, 2024 - 9:30 AM - December 1, 2024 - 4:00 PMHall Tavern (+ Google Map)
Come to the kitchen and see what’s on the menu for a cold winter’s day!
Winter Pastimes and the Society of the 17th Century
November 30, 2024 - 10:00 AM - November 30, 2024 - 4:00 PMHall Tavern (+ Google Map)
The Society of the 17th Century, a group of re-enactors, will bring Hall Tavern to life with an incredible array of period arts, crafts, and trades!