There will be an Open House from 10:00 am – 3:00 pm on May 22, rain date May 23, at 355 County Road. See the exhibit, enjoy food, bake sale, raffles, and gift shop.
People may wonder what kinds of facts you can learn and what kind of artifacts you can find at the Rochester Historical Society Museum. In pictures, you can see the boarding house in Rochester Center that was home to out of town students attending the Rochester Academy. You can follow Rochester’s growth in a series of maps beginning in 1704 which are also available for purchase. In memoirs and articles you can learn that Judah Hathaway (retiring in 1868 from a life at sea and becoming owner of the mill at Hathaway Pond) had the first bathtub in Rochester, maybe to stay surrounded by water, or that bog iron was once plentiful in Rochester’s watery areas and of value. Back to those maps, you can trace road changes, such as Rochester Street becoming Hartley Road.
Our exhibit, opening on Saturday, May 22 from 10:00 am– 3:00 pm is made up of some of the interesting items donated to or collected by the Rochester Historical Society for the museum over the last 50 or so years. It is supported by the Rochester Cultural Council, a local agency, supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.
In addition to the exhibit, we will be serving lunch, holding a raffle of some amazing items donated by generous local businesses, selling desserts and baked goods, and our Rochester items. We look forward to seeing you.
By Connie Eshbach