Middleborough Historical Museum

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A black, white, and dark blue striped header image with the text Middleborough Historical Museum

Believe it or not, I had one more weekend left in August 2024 to go on a history adventure. I took a trip to Middleborough, MA to visit Middleborough Historical Museum. This was not your average small town history museum, as the complex combines an indoor exhibit about a celebrity couple plus mechanical musical instruments with a small collection of restored buildings and related artifacts. Once again, the weather was perfect for a summertime adventure.

A one-store red-painted 18th century building with two front doors and four windows A framed photograph of a young couple who are about three feet tall A classic white embroidery with black thread, including three alphabets: uppercase, lowercase, and cursive. A poem describes the maker's life.

Perhaps the most famous former Middleborough residents were Lavinia Warren, born Mercy Lavinia Warren Bump, and her husband Charles Stratton, better known as General and Mrs. Tom Thumb who worked for circus star P.T. Barnum. Besides being multi-talented performers, the Strattons were little people, meaning they had medical conditions inhibited their growth. In the years before the internet and disabilities rights, people paid a fee to look at them and their belongings. After Charles’ death at age forty-five, Warren married Count Primo Magri, another little person, and the couple operated a roadside attraction in Middleborough. The tour guide respectfully described the life of Lavinia and her family while explaining the ideology of the general population during the 19th century.

A late 19th century black dress on a small mannequin A Pair of Portraits Featuring Lavinia Warren and Charles Stratton, Plus A Connecticut Valley Clock A framed newspaper article about P.T. Barnum's Shows, late 19th century outfits for a man and a woman on small mannequins, a matching pair of small chairs, a painted portrait of the Strattons at their wedding, and other pictures from the family collection
A Living Room with a Player Piano A Pump Organ in the Corner of the Living Room Under a Portrait A man sits at a bench and pushes a pair of pedals attached to a piano to make it play

Another building held a collection of working mechanical instruments, including a pump organ, a player piano, an Edison cylinder phonograph, and a Regina music box. While I had been impressed by the collection at Wareham Historical Society just a few weeks earlier, I was even more impressed by the knowledge of these docents who eagerly played songs. The back rooms of this building held a wide range of artifacts, including a freezer chest, manual washing machine, hobbyhorse, a high chair, military uniforms, and a wicker wheelchair. One room had been turned into a small classroom with antique desks and a pair of slightly creepy mannequins as teacher and student.

A small room with vintage desks, a little chalkboard, and a pair of creepy mannequins representing a teach and student A plain wooden door scratched with names of boarding house residents A wooden chair with long legs, small seat, and a tray for food.
A wooden chest with the word Ideal printed in all caps at the bottom A wooden tub on legs with a metal crank attached to a wheel which moved the wooden paddle inside the machine A wooden toy for toddlers to play on

Several interesting portraits were part of the collection. A portrait of twins was commissioned by their mother after one had died. Another featured Union General Ulysses S. Grant using a reverse glass technique usually found on decorative clocks. Equally bizarre was an attempt to recreate the wedding of Revolutionary War soldiers Deborah Sampson and Benjamin Gannett by cobbling together a painting of Deborah, a photograph of her wedding dress now held by Historic New England, and a photograph of a descendent who was said to resemble Benjamin.

An oil painting with identical twins with a sign indicating that it was painted after the death of one twin A middle aged man in a blue military uniform. He has a thick beard. A battalion of older men pose in their old uniforms The groom, wedding dress, and bride's head each come from a different source
Women's WWII Military Uniform and an Antique Wicker Wheelchair A long counter and cash register on the left, wooden barrels in the center and to the right, and shelves of dry goods on the back wall A metal flour dispenser with decorative lettering A metal cash register with a mirror on the back and painted floral designs

The final room in this building recreated a general store with a long counter and cash register, wooden barrels, and shelves of dry goods. Exiting out the back door, visitors could access four more buildings: a carriage house, whistle house, law office, blacksmith shop, and outhouse. The Carriage House was set up with chairs to act as a meeting space and included a restore carriage. My favorite part were the vintage signs rescued or removed from around town. Most were advertisements for a music shop, hotels, and a hardware store formerly located on the second floor of a building. An informational sign from the Massachusetts Bay Colony Tercentennial Commission had previously directed visitors towards the site of an old fort along with condoning the murder of a Native American who was shot by a colonist for making “insulting gestures”. A docent gave additional information about the written record surrounding the event and the wise decision to remove the sign.

An unpainted clapboard-sided two-story building with three large red double doors in front and a regular sized red door on the side An unpainted clapboard sided single-story building with a red painted front door A red, yellow, and black sign advertising radios, records, electronic appliances, musical instruments, and accessories
The inscription on the metal sign directed visitors towards the site of an old fort along with condoning the murder of a Native American who was shot by a colonist for making “insulting gestures”. Text included Aragon Hotel and Nemasket House An orange-red sign with white text in three different fonts reading Yes, there is a hardware store upstairs Faietti Hardware

Next up was West Side Whistle House, a fire station that sounded a whistle alarm during an emergency. Today, the buildings is used to store a pair of fire engines and related artifacts. Next to the whistle house is a fire alarm call box with a lever that pedestrians could pull to report a fire. This box was a unique design, as it came with a pair of round, red streetlights. As for the fire engines, the older was the modified, horse drawn 1854 Young Mechanic No. 6 built by Agnew & Co. of Philadelphia, PA and received by Middleborough in 1873. The younger was a 1934 Maxim Fire Engine built by the Maxim Motor Company that was headquartered in Middleborough from 1914 to 1989.

A small building with a tall cupola and red double doors in front. To the right of the building is a fire alarm call box with two red round streetlights Fire alarm call box with two red round streetlights A wooden horse drawn fire engine
A bright red vintage fire truck Call Box Indicator and Alarm Bell Faded painting of a mother and two babies on the back of the wooden fire engine

The tiny whitewashed building was not a shed but the Law Office of Judge Wilkes Wood, a local lawyer and later a probate court judge who served in Plymouth County and lived between 1770 and 1843. His books are still stored in the building. The neighboring Blacksmith Shop held all the iron tools one would expect along with machines for cleaning cranberries since Ocean Spray World Headquarters is located in the town. The docent in this building tried to stump my group with history questions, but we knew too much thanks to our frequent museum visits.

A neoclassical style tiny whitewashed building with a green front door and a long window Sign for Law Office of Judge Wilkes Wood 1770-1843 Red double doors underneath a sign reading blacksmith shop
A black-painted sleigh with two rows of seats inside a wooden room filled with farm tools and signs A red brick oven with a small opening next to an anvil A wooden, blue-painted machine with an opening at the top to put cranberries in and a wheel on the side to spin them

The final building on the tour was the Sproat Tavern Necessary (Outhouse) built around 1775. While some buildings can claim that George Washington slept there, historians believe Benjamin Franklin sat here. As an added bonus, the privy was a five seater, allowing the entire friend group to go at the same time. The last pair of stops was a large cast iron cauldron for rendering whale oil on a whaling ship and a commemorative plaque set up by Lavinia Warren in recognition of her Mayflower passenger ancestor Richard Warren, her ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War, and her husbands.

I don't know what this plant is. It is tall like a corn stalk, but it is not corn. Many iron pliers and saws hung on a wooden wall A stack of four wooden crates

The tour of Middleborough Historical Museum was a perfect balance of tour guide led, self-guided, and docent aided with plenty of opportunity to ask questions. Signage varied in design quality but was generally plentiful. Lighting throughout the space was decent for the day of my visit but would have been dim on a cloudy day. Several but not all the buildings are accessible for those using a wheelchair, as is typically for historic house museums. All volunteers on the campus were knowledgeable and appeared happy to be there.

A white and light blue painted outhouse with two glass windows and a blue front door Sign also reads Circa 1775. Restored by Bob Reimels 2015 Three seats along the back wall and two seats on the left
Large cast iron cauldron for rendering whale oil on a whaling ship Metal plaque on a stone remembering Richard Warren, the ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War, and the husbands of seventy-four year old Lavinia Warren The outhouse stands on the opposite side of a grassy lawn

My only issue with this organization was their struggle to communicated. I generally email small museums several weeks in advance of my pending visit to make sure they will be open at that time. I ended up having to reschedule my visit to this museum, as it closed abruptly on the first time I had coordinated my visit, and I learned of this event not through the email chain where I had been promised an open day but through a Facebook post. Overall, this is a hidden gem, and I encourage people of all ages and interests to visit; just make sure the museum is actually open before you go.


Abby Epplett’s Rating System

Experience: 7/10

Accessibility: 7/10



Location: 18 Jackson St, Middleborough, MA 02346, USA

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