Lectures & Workshops

Programs at Felton-Smith Historic Site, Smith Barn, 38 Felton Street, Peabody, MA                                                                                                   Handicap accessible. Information: 978.531.0805

Members free | Non-members $5.00  |  All proceeds go directly to the maintenance of our non-profit owned historic houses and collections.                                                                                          

We are proud to participate in Mass Cultural Council’s Card to Culture program in collaboration with the Department of Transitional Assistance, the Department of Public Health’s WIC Nutrition Program, the Massachusetts Health Connector, and hundreds of organizations by making cultural programming accessible to those for whom cost is a participation barrier. The Museum will provide free admission to our annual lecture program (February, March, April, September, October, and November). Special events are excluded from this discount. See the complete list of participating organizations offering EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare discounts. Cardholders should present their cards when they check-in for lectures in order to receive the Card to Culture discount.

2025 Lecture Series Schedule

Author Andrew Noone presents “Bathsheba Spooner: A Revolutionary Murder Conspiracy”

When: Sunday, February 23, 2025, 2pm

Where:  Smith Barn, 38 Felton Street, Peabody, MA 01960

What possessed a woman from the elite of eighteenth-century New England society to conspire with American and British soldiers to murder her husband at the midpoint of the American Revolution? The story of Bathsheba Spooner has alternately fascinated and baffled residents of Worcester County for centuries. Beyond central Massachusetts, the tale is largely unknown. Many, when first hearing of the scandal, assume it to be the stuff of legend. It was, in fact, the most sensational “true crime” tragedy of the American 1700’s.

Professor Donald Hayes presents “Peabody, Danvers and the Battle of Menotomy.”

When: Sunday, March 23, 2025, 2pm

Where:  Smith Barn, 38 Felton Street, Peabody, MA 01960

Prof. Donald Hayes, a longtime member of the Danvers Alarm List Company, will present his recent research on the role that the Danvers militias played in the fighting at Menotomy during the Battle of Lexington and Concord.

Retired park ranger, Curtis White, presents “The Great Salem Fire of 1774 and the Start of the American Revolution.”

When: Sunday, April 6, 2025, 2pm

Where:  Smith Barn, 38 Felton Street, Peabody, MA 01960

Come listen to the third and final lecture leading up to Patriot’s Day. Curtis White will present on the Great Salem Fire of 1774. The fire destroyed shops, a meeting-house, dwellings, and the Custom House. Was the fire a diversionary tactic to deter the arrest of Massachusetts delegates who met in defiance of the Massachusetts Government Act?

Exhibits

Revolutionary and Civil War History at the Gideon Foster House, 35 Washington Street

World War II History at the Osborn-Salata House, 33 Washington Street