Events for 2024
Archives Fridays
Friday mornings, 10:00am to 12 noon
Location: Activity Room, Hanover Council on Aging, 
665 Center St, Hanover, MA 02339
Portions of the Hanover Historical Society Archives are stored at the Council on Aging. This provides not only much needed storage space but an opportunity for volunteers to help work with the collections. Join staff and others working with manuscripts, photographs, ephemera, and more.
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Antiques Appraisal Event, Sunday, April 28th, 2024
1:00-4:00 pm, Phoenix Lodge, 133 Broadway, Hanover, MA
Join the appraisers from J. James Auctioneers & Appraisers of Plymouth to learn more about your antique treasures and find out what they are worth. $25/item appraised and proceeds benefit the Norwell and Hanover Historical Societies. Online registration required. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D49A5AB22ABF4C25-48921929-antiques/5838589#/
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Tavern Night at the Stetson House, Saturday, May 4th, 2024, 5:30pm to 8pm.
On Saturday, May 4th the Hanover Historical Society will host its annual tavern at the Historic Drummer Samuel Stetson House in Hanover Center!
Samuel Stetson was a noted man in 1700s Hanover when his home was a “tavern stand and a famous place of resort.”
Enjoy an evening of good food, traditional tavern games, entertainment from The Road Back Home, and beer from Mayflower Brewery to celebrate the history of Hanover’s 18th Century hospitality. Explore the Stetson House and grounds, see the Cobbler’s Shop and Barn, and join your neighbors from the community for our Annual Tavern Night at Stetson House.
Proceeds from this event will benefit the educational programs of the Hanover Historical Society.
Click the link to reserve your spot! https://forms.gle/FDHL53AHFFwPrhqH7
Thank you to our event sponsors: The Jevne Team Real Estate Agents
And
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Historic Trails Workshop, Monday, May 13th, 6:30 p.m. at the John Curtis Free Library.
The Hanover Historical Society has pledged to add six new walks to our portfolio this year. We have designed three, and are looking to the community for help in designing three more. Join us in the John Curtis Free Library lower-level meeting room with your ideas for new trails (what neighborhoods haven't we walked together?), reinterpretation of frequently walked areas (Hanover Center during the Civil War?) or rambles through our many open spaces with an eye to our community's history. Our three planned walks include full interpretation of Sylvester Field at Hanover Four Corners, now that the bog boards complete the circuit; a Revolutionary War tour of the Hanover Center Cemetery; and a walk along the Hanover Branch Railroad Trail at West Hanover. Where should we go next? Let's decide together! The brainstorming session will take place on Monday night, May 13, 6:30 p.m.
This program sponsored by a grant from the Local Cultural Council
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Trail Walk: Hanover Branch Rail Trail, 1415 Hanover Street
Saturday, June 15th, 2024, 1pm
Do you remember seeing trains pass through the West Hanover intersection of Rt.139, Pleasant and Market Streets? Join Hanover Historical Society President John Galluzzo for a guided informative walk along Hanover’s Rail Trail. Hanover has preserved portions of the old train railway beds as walking trails. Learn about the years in the 19th and 20th Centuries when trains connected Hanover to Boston by exploring the trail together. The tour will last about an hour about an hour and will take place unless the weather is extreme. Meet at the Rail Trail parking lot on Hanover Street.
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Revolutionary War Graves in Hanover's Center Cemetery
Saturday, July 6th, 2024, 1pm
Meet at the Center Cemetery entrance near the First Congregational Church
There were more than 180 men from Hanover who served during the American Revolutionary War. Among the graves are those of officers and enlisted men, the commander of the 2nd Massachusetts Regiment for five years, a minister who served as chaplain, a quartermaster, a surgeon, and common soldiers who were White, Native American, and African American. The Hanover Historical Society will lead a tour of the graves of Revolutionary War veterans in Hanover's Center Cemetery. The tour will last one hour and will happen rain or shine.
This tour is sponsored by grant from the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati.
The Hanover Historical Society Presents an author’s talk
Lee McColgan, A House Restored: The Tragedies and Triumphs of Saving a New England Colonial
Wednesday, July 24th, 6:30pm, The John Curtis Free Library, 534 Hanover Street, Hanover Center, MA 02339
Old houses share their secrets only if they survive. Trading the corporate ladder for a stepladder, Lee McColgan commits to preserving the ramshackle Loring House, built in 1702, using period materials and methods and on a holiday deadline. But his enchantment withers as he discovers the massive repairs it needs. A small kitchen fix reveals that the structure’s rotten frame could collapse at any moment. In a bathroom, mold appears and spreads. He fights deteriorating bricks, frozen pipes, shattered windows, a punctured foundation, and even an airborne chimney cap while learning from a diverse cast of preservationists, including a master mason named Irons, a stone whisperer, and the Window Witch. But can he meet his deadline before family and friends arrive, or will it all come crashing down? McColgan’s journey expertly examines our relationship to history through the homes we inhabit, beautifully articulating the philosophy of preserving the past to find purpose for the future.
Lee McColgan has worked on Boston’s Old North Church, Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House, and other buildings. His work has appeared in Architectural Digest, Boston Globe, and Wall Street Journal. He lives with his wife in the Loring House in Pembroke, Massachusetts. He can be found on Instagram at helvehistorictrades.
Hanover Historical Society
Researching Your Historic Hanover House: A Workshop
Wednesday, August 28th, 6:30pm, 2024
The John Curtis Free Library, 534 Hanover Street, Hanover Center, MA 02339
The Hanover Historical Society presents a workshop on how to research your historic home or structure in Hanover.
This program will introduce people to how to research their house or building in Hanover. The program will start with an introduction to the various architectural styles found in town, Colonial, Federal, Antebellum, Victorian, 20th century. Visual detail of different styles will be shown. Then the program will cover the various resources available for researching a structure in Hanover. This will include printed town histories, J.S. Barry Historical Sketch of the Town of Hanover (1853) and Jedidiah Dwelley and John F. Simmons History of the Town of Hanover (1910). Both are can be found online here: A historical sketch of the town of Hanover, Mass., with family genealogies : Barry, John Stetson, 1819-1872 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive and History of the town of Hanover, Massachusetts, with family genealogies : Dwelley, Jedediah, 1834- : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive; period maps including the Whiting 1849, Walling Map 1857, Plymouth County Atlas 1874 and 1903, and Sanborn Insurance maps; and online resources including the Plymouth County Registry of Deeds, MACRIS database, and Historic New England’s stewardship program The program will conclude with the role of the Hanover Historical Commission.
History & Nature Walk Through Sylvester Field
Saturday, September14, 2024, 1pm, 129 Washington Street, Hanover
Join Hanover Historical Society President John Galluzzo for a walking tour of Sylvester Field, one of the oldest historic landscapes in town. Sylvester Field was in use for centuries from the 17th into the 20th for farming and haying. This ten acre parcel located on Washington Street and stretching down to the Third Herring Brook has never been developed, and looks much like it has for the past few hundred years. It was purchased by the Wildlands Trust with help from Hanover’s Community Preservation Act funds and many individual donors in 2021. The tour will explore the history and wildlife of this preserved piece of Hanover’s agricultural past and its importance for today.
Parking is limited, so it is suggested to park at Four Corners and walk down to the Field.
The tour will take place rain or shine, unless the weather is extreme. Parts of Sylvester Field may be wet, marshy, or muddy, please dress accordingly.
Hanover Historical Society local fall market!
Date and time to be announced for September 2024
Shop local vendors and get one of- a-kind goods such as pottery, candles, local honey, and so much more. Our historic house museum, the Stetson House, will also be open for tours as well as our historic barn and cobbler shop. Bring the family, get ahead of some holiday shopping and support local artisans while immersed in our historic landscape!
Hanover Historical Society Annual Meeting
Save the date for the Hanover Historical Society’s Annual Meeting in October, 2024.
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