The Heath Historical Society
Along with its ongoing work in care of both the artifacts in our collection and the historic buildings that serve as the Society's museums, the Society also undertakes a variety of special projects.
Completion of Old Town House
Window Restoration
Initial support from the Dickinson Family Fund allowed three windows in the Old Town House to be restored.
Subsequently, the Society applied for and received a matching grant for $8,000 from the Massachusetts Historic Commission to restore the remaining seven windows, and with generous donors providing the $8,000 in matching funds, all ten windows have been restored.
Climate Controlled Storage Building
Since none of our museum buildings are heated, we are currently renting space in Sawyer Hall in order to house and preserve our extensive collection of documents and textiles in a climate controlled space.
Fence Post Repair at Fort Shirley
In October 2023, with a generous grant from the Dickinson Family Fund, materials were purchased to repair sections of the split fence that surrounds the perimeter of Fort Shirley.
Fort Shirley is one of a "Line of Forts" built in Massachusetts before the Revolutionary War as a defense against the French and their Native American allies.
Thanks to Ned Wolf, Bill Fontes and Dana Davidson for supplying the required labor!
Historic Marker Signs
The new historic marker sign for Maple Grove (the North Cemetery) has been installed. The Hitchcock Mill signage is completed and awaits installation once road/bridge work in the area has been completed. We thank the Dickinson Family Fund, and the Society's donors and members, whose financial support made this project possible.
Other Special Projects
We are working to better catalogue the collection's documents and photos in our Sawyer Hall space, physically and digitally. Once that is accomplished, we will be working on developing indexing and finding aids to move us toward our goal of providing a space where people can visit to browse with a docent present and where researchers can access materials in the collection.
Continuing work...
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Maintaining Ft. Shirley
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Building maintenance and repair
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Maintaining collections database
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Receiving and cataloguing new items
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Conducting periodic inventories
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Public outreach, including creating new displays and holding open houses for our museums, hosting the Solomon Temple Barn during the Annual Heath Fair, and holding "Dining With History" events throughout the year
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Seeking grant support and other fundraising activities
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Restoring artifacts (e.g., our new buggy)
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Maintaining/updating the HHS website
Roots to Heath
A 2022 Dining with History event exploring the many and varied ways current Heath residents came to make a home in Heath.
Open Houses
The Heath Historical Society is very proud of the three main buildings under our direction. We have the Old Schoolhouse and the Old Town House in the center of Town, and we have the historic Solomon Temple Barn situated on the Heath Fairgrounds. These buildings, each filled with Heath memorabilia, are open periodically throughout the year, as well as by appointment with the Society.
The Solomon Temple Barn barn is open to the public during the Fair, and a Historical Society member is on hand at that time to assist people who have questions.