Like all areas of our lives, the Rochester Historical Society programs and fundraisers have been put on hold, so we thought a little history each week would provide something old, but new to learn.
The Historical Society recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of its incorporation. It was curiosity about their homes and town that motivated the early members to delve into Rochester’s long history. When Rochester was incorporated on June 4, 1686, it was much larger than it is today, as it encompassed both today’s towns of Marion and Mattapoisett. It remained this way until the 1850s.
The goal of the Historical Society was then and is now to gather information on Rochester history, to preserve donated items that help to tell the story and to share both with the community. In the early days of the society, there were many members born in the late 1800s who often shared memories of the town and events from their pasts. Some of these are saved in the meeting minutes.
For a long time, the society had nowhere to store donated items and were always on the lookout for a building to serve as their museum. In 2003 their search ended when the East Rochester Congregational Church, built in 1857 was sold to them for $1.00 and today’s museum was born. While $1.00 was certainly an affordable purchase price, a 163-year-old church is costly to maintain. Just recently, we’ve had some much-needed repairs done to the steeple and gutters. As you drive by the museum on County Road check out our improvements. Please look for more history in the coming weeks.