Past Events

ReWritten is an immersive performance that explores the often-silenced intimate relationship between authors Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville. Moving between their lives, work, and remaining letters, ReWritten reimagines an intergenerational queer love story that helped shape American literature. Through dance, live music, visual art, projection, and text this performance questions what happens when we say no to dreams when we want to say yes. Co-created and performed by Tom Truss and Matthew Cumbie. $10 for BCHS members, $15 for non-members,…

Celebrate the day (August 4, 1850) Melville met Nathaniel Hawthorne on a hike up Monument Mountain by joining BCHS for a similar hike and reading of local poet William Cullen Bryant’s Monument Mountain. The guided hike takes approximately 2 ½ hours and is appropriate for families. Hikers should meet at the Monument Mountain Reservation Parking lot on Route 7 and should be prepared with their own water, proper footwear, hiking gear and bug repellent. FREE This event is sponsored by…

ReWritten is an immersive performance that explores the often-silenced intimate relationship between authors Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville. Moving between their lives, work, and remaining letters, ReWritten reimagines an intergenerational queer love story that helped shape American literature. Through dance, live music, visual art, projection, and text this performance questions what happens when we say no to dreams when we want to say yes. Co-created and performed by Tom Truss and Matthew Cumbie. $10 for BCHS members, $15 for non-members,…

Moving quickly past general background, process, and materials, this illustrated art talk highlights how Loomings addresses our world’s instability through the metaphors at work in Moby-Dick, Herman Melville’s apocalyptic vision of the American quest. Volpe finds in Melville’s account of the doomed commercial whaling voyage of the Pequod a dark, foundational myth of American materialism (and an even darker apocalyptic prophecy of what's to come). He also finds a “terrible beauty” - and the hope that pairing tragedy and human shortcoming with beauty can redeem our faith in…

Join long-time tour guide John Dickson and Executive Director Lesley Herzberg for a walk around Arrowhead’s grounds.  John will provide an overview of the architectural features of the building and discuss its evolution from the 1780s to the present. This talk is followed by Lesley Herzberg’s walk through the north field where the Melville family cultivated the farm and gardens in the 19th century. Her talk will focus on Arrowhead’s cultural landscape. (Rain date: Sunday, Sept 18, 11am). This free…

Local historian and author Bernard A. Drew will present a history of Franklin D. Roosevelt's Forest Army of the 1930s, a national program to provide employment, security, and training to young men during the height of the Great Depression. Drew will concentrate on Civilian Conservation Corps facilities in Great Barrington’s Beartown State Forest in and at York Lake in Sandisfield State Forest. Drew will present a visual history of recruit work and leisure utilizing 100 projected images most never shown…

Join us for a day of free activities and fun celebrating local history! Architectural tours of Arrowhead’s historic buildings will be offered throughout the day and the grounds will be open for hiking. In addition, a small presentation in the barn explores the sixty-year history of BCHS including highlights from past events, exhibits, and more. The presentation will feature highlights from the BCHS collection that are not normally on view.  BCHS will also welcome representatives from the Bidwell House who…

 Join author and historian Aaron Sachs for a free book signing and discussion of his latest book Up from the Depths: Herman Melville, Lewis Mumford, and Rediscovery in Dark Times (Princeton University Press) on Wednesday, September 28 at 5:30 pm. Sachs will be joined in discussion at Arrowhead by author and former University of Albany professor of literature Richard Matturro.  Aaron Sachs is professor of history and American studies at Cornell University. He is the author of The Humboldt Current: Nineteenth-Century…