Rehoboth Antiquarian Society
This past Saturday — July 6, 2024 — I visited three stops in the Passport to History developed by Old Colony History Museum, along with one bonus stop. The third stop for the passport book, along with the fourth and final stop for the day, was the Carpenter Museum at Rehoboth Antiquarian Society, which included a pair of quick history stops in the area. The museum received its name not from an occupation but a family, as the Carpenters donated towards the construction of the main museum building, which looks like an 18th century farmhouse.
After entering through the front door into a small atrium, visitors turn right into the reproduction kitchen complete with a safely built chimney. Objects in this room were a combination of artifact and reproduction, allowing children in the school groups that visit the house to touch parts of the exhibit. Artisans at Old Sturbridge Village made the earthenware plates and mugs. A few of the historical objects have mysterious origins. A cup is rumored to have been made by wood from the torn down house of John Hancock, while a wooden machine with a metal spigot is thought to have been used to make sausages.
The room behind the kitchen held the temporary exhibit “Play Ball! The Rehoboth Milkmaids: Pioneers of Women’s Softball”, which displayed uniforms, newspaper articles, and other baseball and softball memorabilia from the 1940s and early 1950s, as women’s sports teams were highly popular during World War II, only to be forcibly shut down by the mid-1950s. Both signage and tour guide gave the obligatory mention of A League of Their Own, the fictional movie and new streaming series about the women who played during this time. A smaller room behind this exhibit served as part of the library and archive space, a collection of about 6,000 objects that began in 1884.
Another pair of small exhibits were located down a somewhat steep flight of stairs equipped a modern handrail. This room can also be accessed by another door, so those with limited mobility or using a wheelchair can see the artifacts. In the short hallway at the bottom of the stairs, a giant map from the post office created in 1853 showed the names of every head of household in town, allowing carriers to easily deliver mail and packages before standardized street addresses and ZIP codes. A mid-sized meeting room contained a poster exhibit along the wall that showcased a series of ten artifacts held in the museum collection, one for each era that Rehoboth was a town.
If a reproduction historic home was not enough, the museum also contains a reproduction historic barn based on a 1750s building that blew down during the Hurricane of 1938, the same event that destroyed many trees at Cathedral of the Pines in Rindge, NH; the saltwater pool at Rocky Point in Warwick, RI; and Whale Rock Lighthouse near Beavertail Lighthouse in Jamestown, RI; and helped prompt the Army Corps of Engineers to build New Bedford Hurricane Protection Barrier. I might have to do an entire post about that hurricane, as it keeps appearing on my blog!
Fortunately for historians, architects from the Works Progress Administration (WPA), part of the New Deal Programs during the Great Depression, had drawn blueprints for the house being stored at the Boston Public Library. The WPA is another touchpoint reappearing on the blog, as a talk hosted by Jane Oneail of Culturally Curious explained how artists like Jackson Pollock got their start in this program, while Historic New England’s Rocky Hill Meeting House benefitted from its blueprints being drawn. Looks like a post on the WPA might also be in order.
Inside the barn, I watched a VHS tape on a tiny TV of the barn being built in 1993. The two stories of gallery space held a wide variety of artifacts about life in Rehoboth, including farming tools, dioramas, signs, woodworking tools, and looms. I appreciated that the barn included an ADA compliant ramp, allowing visitors of all abilities access to the first floor. Also in this part of the property was a faux chimney intended as a nesting site for chimney swifts and an herb garden planted by the community.
Nearby were two quick history stops. Located next door to the museum is Rehoboth Congregational Church, a classic whitewashed church building. According to its fun church website, having a church was crucial to the founding of the church community. Under Reverend Samuel Newman, congregants built Newman Congregational Church in 1643 on the Ten Mile River, now with its own watershed council and the same little body of water that flows past my former clients, East Providence Historical Society. A series of meeting houses followed over the next several decades until 1839 when the current church was built.
Down the road was Blanding Public Library and Goff Memorial Hall, another part of Rehoboth Antiquarian Society. The red brick building was constructed in 1915 after the original made of wood burned down in 1911. The Gothic Revival style construction reminded me of Northbridge Middle School, last appearing on the Historic Trolley Tour of Whitinsville.
Carpenter Museum is open on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and the first Saturday of the month from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults, $0 for children, Rehoboth Antiquarian Society members, Rehoboth residents, and Passport to History holders. Parking is available behind the farmhouse or next door at the church. Blanding Public Library is open Monday through Thursday from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and on Friday and Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The library is always free to the public. Parking is available to the right of the building.
Abby Epplett’s Rating System
Experience: 7/10
Accessibility: 8/10