Free event!

The second installment of our 2025 Summer Speaker Series, featuring a talk on historic maritime disasters off the coast of Cohasset by local historians Mike Dick and Debbie Shadd.

In partnership with Cohasset Conservation Trust.

Free Event!

In this first installment of our Summer 2025 Speaker Series, David Robinson, Director & Chief Archeologist of the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archeological Resources (BUAR), will discuss the challenging, yet essential work of the BUAR to discover and protect Massachusetts’ underwater cultural heritage. These historic sites include submerged wharves, aircraft, places of importance to local Native American tribes, and over 3,500 shipwrecks off the coast of Massachusetts, including the 1849 wreck of the Irish immigrant ship the brig St. John in Cohasset.

Event in partnership with the Cohasset Center for Student Coastal Research.

Free entry!

Celebrate the end of the summer with us at our Sea Shanty Shindig street fair! Enjoy live music by sea shanty singer David Coffin and local group the Armstrong Brothers and delicious food and drink by food trucks, Folkn’ Food, Launch, and Untold Brewing. Don’t miss Francis Collins’ fascinating demonstration on how to use a sextant, a low-tech yet essential tool for ship navigation. This free event is perfect for all ages, so bring the whole family for an evening of nautical fun!

📍Elm Street, right in front of the Maritime Museum

📆 Friday, September 6 at 5:00 PM

Celebrate the opening of our newest exhibition, Then and Now: Cohasset Postcards, with us!

Light refreshments will be provided.

Then and Now explores how Cohasset’s beautiful vistas and buildings have changed over time while examining the act of sending postcards, a nearly lost method of communication. Then (the postcards) and Now (the photographs), in their matchup of sites and locations, reveal how much Cohasset has changed and yet remains the same.

***SOLD OUT***

Immerse yourself in our curator-led, small-group tour of Baby It’s Cold Outside: Dressing for Winter in Cohasset and learn all the details that could not be included in the exhibition.

Space is limited!

Tickets must be purchased in advance.

***SOLD OUT***

Immerse yourself in our curator-led, small-group tour of Baby It’s Cold Outside: Dressing for Winter in Cohasset and learn all the details that could not be included in the exhibition.

Space is limited!

Tickets must be purchased in advance.

Immerse yourself in our curator-led, small-group tour of Baby It’s Cold Outside: Dressing for Winter in Cohasset and learn all the details that could not be included in the exhibition.

Space is limited!

Tickets must be purchased in advance.

Local Folk Artist Bill Sarni is well known for his outstanding decoy carvings and knowledge of antique decoys. Join us as Bill Sarni presents a program on the art of decoy making and collecting. Following in the footsteps of local area carvers, like Joe Lincoln, Bill will also demonstrate the art of decoy carving as well. 

Local Folk Artist Bill Sarni is well known for his outstanding decoy carvings and knowledge of antique decoys. Join us as Bill Sarni presents a program on the art of decoy-making and collecting. Following in the footsteps of local area carvers like Joe Lincoln, Bill will also demonstrate the art of decoy carving as well. 

The accompanying exhibit, Ducks in a Row, will also be open for viewing during this event.

Join us for our annual fundraiser! The Cohasset Historical Society Clambake is on Saturday, September 9, on Sandy Beach. Relax on the beach and enjoy the sunset for a traditional New England Clambake with beer, wine, and live music.

Part of the Summer 2023 Maritime Lecture Series!

Historian and author Catherine Shannon will present a talk on the tragic wreck of the Brig St. John, carrying over 100 Irish immigrants, which ran aground on the shores off the coast of Cohasset during a storm in 1849.

Catherine B. Shannon is Professor Emerita of History at Westfield State University, where she taught Irish, British, and European history. She also taught Irish history at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Her publications include studies of the roles of British politicians Arthur J. Balfour and Lord Randolph Churchill in Anglo-Irish affairs between 1878 to 1923. She has documented the role of women in the Northern Irish conflict and peace process in numerous articles and book chapters. Her recent publications focus on the relief that Boston’s Irish and non-Irish citizens provided to Ireland during the Great Irish Famine of the 1840s and subsequent food emergencies in the later nineteenth century.

Professor Shannon has served as president of the Charitable Irish Society of Boston and the Eire Society of Boston. She has been the recipient of various awards and honors, including an honorary doctorate of sacred letters from St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto, the Gold Medal of the Eire Society, and the Trailblazer Award from the South Shore Irish Heritage Trail.

**Due to unforeseen circumstances, this event will be changing. Contact us for further details.**

Part of the Summer 2023 Maritime Lecture Series!

Local historian Arthur Milmore will discuss the loss of the steamer ship Portland, a palatial side-wheel which left Boston in November of 1898 for Portland, Maine, and never arrived. It was caught in 100 MPH winds, and all 192 passengers, along with the crew of 65, perished. The wreck would not be found for 91 years and over 30 miles from where it was thought to have sunk.

Included in the four-lecture series package.

Part of the Summer 2023 Maritime Lecture Series!

Join us for a talk by local historian Joe Lebherz on the short life of the First Minot’s Ledge Lighthouse and how on a harrowing night in April 1851, the new lighthouse was struck by a major storm that caused severe damage throughout the Boston area. The following morning, Cohasset residents rose to discover that all that remained of the lighthouse (and its keepers) was a few bent pilings on the rock. 

Included in the four-lecture series package.

Part of the Summer 2023 Maritime Lecture Series!

During the 19th century, over forty sea captains' wives from the small community of Duxbury, Massachusetts, traveled aboard ships with their husbands, often with their children in tow. Join Historian Carolyn Ravenscroft as she shares her research and some of the fascinating, and sometimes harrowing, stories of these adventurous women.

Carolyn Ravenscroft received her BA in History from Northeastern University and both her Masters in History and in Library Science from Simmons University. She has been the Historian and Archivist at the Duxbury Rural & Historical Society for fourteen years. During that time, she has researched the town's vibrant history, from its colonial days to the present. 

Included in the four-lecture series package.

Sold out

Immerse yourself in our curator-led, small-group tour of Furbelows, Flounces, and Fripperies: The Gilded Age in Cohasset and learn all the details that could not be included in the exhibition. Go behind the scenes and get a rare look at our Historic Costume and Textile Collection storage and glimpse several beautiful garments that could not be used in the exhibition due to their delicate nature.

New Dates Added!

Immerse yourself in our curator-led, small-group tour of Furbelows, Flounces, and Fripperies: The Gilded Age in Cohasset and learn all the details that could not be included in the exhibition. Go behind the scenes and get a rare look at our Historic Costume and Textile Collection storage and glimpse several beautiful garments that could not be used in the exhibition due to their delicate nature.

Join us at the Beechwood Meetinghouse and Museum on Saturday, March 11th at 3:00 PM for a talk on "Lincoln's New England Connections" by local historian, Tom Turner. Dr. Turner will discuss the deep and lasting connections Abraham Lincoln had to New England, including local ties to Hingham and Cohasset. 

Thomas R. Turner received his BA, MA, and Ph.D. from Boston University. He taught for 39 years in the History Department at Bridgewater State University, retiring in 2010, and continued teaching part-time until the spring of 2019. He is the author of 5 books and numerous articles about Lincoln, focusing particularly on Lincoln’s assassination. His book, Beware the People Weeping: Public Opinion and the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, was the first book about the assassination written by an academic historian.

ONLY A FEW TICKETS LEFT!

Immerse yourself in our curator-led, small-group tour of Furbelows, Flounces, and Fripperies: The Gilded Age in Cohasset and learn all the details that could not be included in the exhibition. Go behind the scenes and get a rare look at our Historic Costume and Textile Collection storage and glimpse several beautiful garments that could not be used in the exhibition due to their delicate nature.

Sold Out

Immerse yourself in our curator-led, small-group tour of Furbelows, Flounces, and Fripperies: The Gilded Age in Cohasset and learn all the details that could not be included in the exhibition. Go behind the scenes and get a rare look at our Historic Costume and Textile Collection storage and glimpse several beautiful garments that could not be used in the exhibition due to their delicate nature.

Back by popular demand!

Step into the world of the Gilded Age high society! Taste a selection of whiskeys and other spirits in a fully-transformed Pratt Building in the style of a 19th-century New York City mansion.

Seating is limited.

Sold Out

Immerse yourself in our curator-led, small-group tour of Furbelows, Flounces, and Fripperies: The Gilded Age in Cohasset and learn all the details that could not be included in the exhibition. Go behind the scenes and get a rare look at our Historic Costume and Textile Collection storage and glimpse several beautiful garments that could not be used in the exhibition due to their delicate nature.

Sold out

By popular demand: new dates added!

Immerse yourself in our curator-led, small-group tour of Furbelows, Flounces, and Fripperies: The Gilded Age in Cohasset and learn all the details that could not be included in the exhibition. Go behind the scenes and get a rare look at our Historic Costume and Textile Collection storage and glimpse several beautiful garments that could not be used in the exhibition due to their delicate nature.

Space is limited!

Sold Out

Enjoy an afternoon tea with your friends and take a viewing of our new exhibition, Furbelows, Flounces, and Fripperies: The Gilded Age in Cohasset. The menu will include a selection of teas, finger sandwiches, and sweet treats! During the event, a short demonstration of Gilded Age afternoon tea etiquette and 19th-century courting rituals by Society staff will be held.

By popular demand: new dates added!

Immerse yourself in our curator-led, small-group tour of Furbelows, Flounces, and Fripperies: The Gilded Age in Cohasset and learn all the details that could not be included in the exhibition. Go behind the scenes and get a rare look at our Historic Costume and Textile Collection storage and glimpse several beautiful garments that could not be used in the exhibition due to their delicate nature.

Space is limited!

Sold Out

Immerse yourself in our curator-led, small-group tour of Furbelows, Flounces, and Fripperies: The Gilded Age in Cohasset and learn all the details that could not be included in the exhibition. Go behind the scenes and get a rare look at our Historic Costume and Textile Collection storage and glimpse several beautiful garments that could not be used in the exhibition due to their delicate nature.