2023

Cape Cod Passage by Jim Coogan 

talk abot over fifty stories about interesting, and often unknown people and events that are part of the Cape’s history. \

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How Cape Cod Became a Tourist Mecca:  A Talk by Professor Jay Gitlan of Yale on how Cape Cod evolved from a colony to what we know today.  Trace the historical developments of 400 years in "Family Vacationland in the Fifties:  Why People Love Cape Cod."

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2022

2022 historic house tour:  Enjoy a self-guided special tour of 6 Historic places in the Mills— Community Church, 3 historic houses, the 19th century glass hearse, and Cape Cod Airfield.

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Flag planting at Cemetery: In preparation for Memorial Day,  Society members identified  and planted flags at the gravesite of every military veteran buried in the Marstons Mills Cemetery, from the Revolutionary War to Vietnam. Donna Lawson, President of the Village Association, also planted flags at the Memorial Plaque in the Village Center for military veterans.

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2021

Barnstable County Fair memorabilia display at Sturgis Library:  A fine collection of documents related to the Barnstable County Fair recently donated to MMHS by the son of co-presidents of the Fair was displayed at the Sturgis Library.

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A display of artifacts unearthed at three Marstons Mills historic homes at the Marstons Mills Public Library

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Ron Petersen of Orleans provided a talk on the Revolution and Cape Cod, including mention of several Marstons Mills people in their participation in that War. Ron is the Chair of the Orleans Historical Commission, formerly a member of the Orleans Community Preservation Committee, and chair of the 2019 Commemoration of the German U-Boat Attack on Orleans. He writes a regular column in the Cape Codder newspaper on regional history and historic preservation.

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Cape Verdeans of the Mills:  A presentation was made at the Society's May meeting about the Cape Verdeans who immigrated to our region on whaling and packet boats between the 1860’s and the 1920’s, and provided a labor pool for the textile and cranberry industries before going on to establish careers in other fields.

 

The Society's president made a presentation on the arrival of the Mayflower ship, and the importance of Cape Cod within the Plimoth Colony 

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2020

On October 10, 2020, a special commemorative ceremony was held  to honor the graves of 12 people who were associated with, or fought in, the American Revolution.  The ceremony included Color Guards from the Massachusetts SAR and the Yarmouth Militia, a three muskey volley, two historical talks on Cape Cod Revolutionary events, and the marking of each grave with an SAR medallion and an American flag by living descendants of the Patriots.

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A trove of more than 100 wonderful glass negative photographs that provide a window into the Mills of more than a century ago were presented at two Society Zoom meetings where  the people and places in most of the  photographs  were identified by members. Hard copies of the photographs were made for display at the Marstons Mills Public Library upon its reopening.

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2019

History of Marstons Mills Village, with William Teed, Tuesday, March 12, 2019.  ;At the regular monthly meeting of MMHS, William Teed a special guest and graduate student in History at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, provided a summary of his term project on the History of Marstons Mills Village. Marstons Mills Public Library, 2160 Main St. Marstons Mill.

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At the MMHS’s  October 2019 meetig, Fred Clausen, member of the West Barnstable Historical Society shared historical accounts about the common histories of neighbors Marstons Mills and West Barnstable. Fred narrated his talk with photographs, letters and artifacts from West Barnstable, pointing out the surnames that are common to both villages.  He  described how the Cape Cod Airfield shares land in common with both villages.He provided anecdotes about the iconic West Parish in West Barnstable, its early origins, renovation, reconstruction and the historical observations that have occurred.

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2018
Author and Raconteur JACK SHEEDY: BARNSTABLE BACK STORIES, June 12th at 3:00 p.m.
Jack Sheedy shared historical anecdotes drawn from the stories behind Barnstable events of the past, including Marstons Mills, through his numerous books and articles about Cape Cod history. 

 

2017

A Conversation about the Old Days: June 13th at 2:30 p.m. Marstons Mills Public Library. Several members of the Society and a special guest shared their individual and collective recollections about historic Marstons Mills.

Archaeology and Cape Cod: a presentation by Craig Chartier, Archaeologist for Plimoth Plantation, October 9th at 3:15 p.m.

• New archaeological discoveries from 1600’s

• Archaeology and artifacts of Cape Cod

• Methods of finding buried evidence of the past

2016

The MMHS and the Marstons Mills Public Library hosted the first Marstons Mills Tour de Force--a tour of six interesting properties in the Mills. The event concluded with a performance of Sandra Bolton's play, "The Birth of the Marstons Mills Library," at Liberty Hall.

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2015

Book authored by Sandra Bolton EXPLORE CONTEMPORARY MARSTONS MILLS (available for purchase here).

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2014      

The village of Marstons Mills celebrated the 375th Anniversary of the town of Barnstable with a featured seven-page article and cover photo in the 375th Anniversary publication (available for purchase at the Marstons Mills library or our online shop).Pioneer aviator Crocker Snow's biographical logbook with strong ties to Marstons Mills was gifted to MMHS.

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2013  
The Marstons Mills Historical Society celebrated its 30th year full of memorable events for all ages and the publication of the Arcadia Images of America book, "Marstons Mills", authored by local historians Jim Gould and Vivian Cushing (available for purchase  at the Marstons Mills library or our online shop).