Sponsored by Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and Turners Falls RiverCulture. All events are free.
Saturday, September, 5
Patch Walk
Great Falls Discovery Center, 10:30 am—12 pm
Turners Falls History month begins with a tour of the Patch neighborhood, led by a DCR Park Interpreter. A small patch of land sits in the middle of the Connecticut River – sandwiched between the power canal on one side and the largest river in New England on the other. Meet at the corner of Avenue A and Eleventh Street in Turners Falls, at the canal side rail trail.
Every Sunday! September 6, 13, 20, 27
River Rambles: Canal side Rail Trail History Walks
Great Falls Discovery Center, 10:30 am—12 pm
Meet outside our main entrance at 10 am and join a DCR Park Interpreter as we leisurely explore level, paved bike trails and village sidewalks to explore stories of industrialization, cultural and natural history, and resilience.
Sunday, September 13
Lake Pleasant and The Spiritualist Community
Great Falls Discovery Center, 1 pm
Lake Pleasant, one of five villages in the Town of Montague, was founded in 1870 as a campmeeting grounds and lays claim to being the oldest continuously-existing Spiritualist center in the United States.
Join David James to learn about Lake Pleasant, the historical “mecca” for believers in continuity of life, and communication between the souls of the material world and the souls of the spirit world. Memories and images will be shared from the book Spirit and Spa: A Portrait of the Body, Mind and Soul of a 133-Year-Old Spiritualist Community written by Louise Shattuck and David James. Louise, who died in October of 2005, was a third generation Spiritualist.
Thursday, September 17
Third Thursday in Turners Falls: Latino History Day
Shea Theater and venues downtown, 4-10 pm, free!
RiverCulture celebrates Latino History Day with traditional music by Lorena Garay & Eugenio Huanca, Mexican mask making for kids, Central American food, and a screening of episode IVI of the PBS documentary Latino Americans. (7pm, The Shea) Facilitating the documentary will be Professor Mari Castañeda of UMASS Amherst, an expert in Latina/ethnic media studies and global communications.
Latino History Day is a Herencia Latina event. This unique collaboration between regional organizations, museums and colleges was organized by the Pioneer Valley History Network. Herencia Latina is supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Library Association.
Saturday, September 19
Battlefield Grant Update
What Really Happened at the Falls?
Mapping the 1676 Battle of Great Falls/ Wissatinnewag-Peskeompskut
Turners Falls High School, 222 Turnpike Road, 1-4pm
The purpose of this collaborative research project is to identify the likely locations of the King Phillip’s War (1675-76), Peskeompskut Battlefield (Turners Falls), and associated sites including the Peskeomskut-Wissatinnewag community. Documentary records, archeological collections, Tribal and Yankee oral histories, and military terrain analysis are being examined. The project is intended to engage local officials, landowners and the public in effort to locate protect the battlefield.
SCHEDULE:
1- 2pm: Update on the study from the Mashantucket-Pequot Museum Research Team
2- 2:15pm: Break
2:15- 4pm: Panel discussion featuring colonial historians, tribal historians, and academics
Hosted by the Battlefield Grant Advisory Board: A consortium of 5 Towns and 4 Tribes
Sponsored by the Montague Planning Department and the National Park Service Battlefield Protection Program
Dam – Ed Gregory Image
Sunday, September, 20
The Upper Fall River Dam
Great Falls Discovery Center, 1pm
Meet in the Great Hall for a slideshow presentation and take a virtual forest hike with Ed Gregory as he visits an obscure and beautiful section of Gill, MA, the site of the 1886 dam that was built by the Montague Paper Company. The dam was constructed to provide a clean source of water for their use in pulp and paper making. The dam and spillway will be shown before and after the spillway removal in December of 2014.
Thursday, September 24
Latino Migrants and Agriculture in Franklin County
CANCELLED EVENT – SORRY FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE
Saturday, September 26
Source to Sea Clean-up
Great Falls Discovery Center, 9 am—12 pm
Get involved in the 19th year of the Source to Sea Cleanup. Individuals or groups work as teams from to make the watershed a cleaner place on sites that run the gamut from fishing trash to illegal dumping. School groups can schedule cleanups in the week preceding the 26th. For ages 7 and older. Meet in the Great Hall. Pre-register: 800-859-2960. Free.
Grand Trunk – Ed Gregory Archive
Sunday, September 27
The Grand Trunk Hotel
Great Falls Discovery Center, 1pm
What was so grand about the Grand Trunk Hotel in Turners Falls? Right next to where the center is today, the hotel was built in 1872 and taken down in 1968. We’ll use our imaginations, old photographs, and testimonials to piece together the story of grand old days in Turners Falls.
The Great Falls Discovery Center is open to the public 7 days a week from 10 am to 4 pm.
All programs are free to the public unless otherwise noted.
Facilities are handicap accessible.