The Carpenter Museum in Rehoboth, Massachusetts is the town's museum of local history, originating during the American Bicentennial year as a facility to house the collection of the Rehoboth Antiquarian Society which was incorporated in 1884.Rehoboth Antiquarian Society: Carpenter Museum, Rehoboth's museum of local history, http://www.carpentermuseum.org/, accessed 15 Jan 2014.
Foundation The Carpenter Museum utilized a seed donation of land and money from town residents Elsie and E. Winsor Carpenter. A fund drive raised additional funds to build the new museum facility which opened in 1978 after two years of preparation and construction. The structure, modeled after a local 1760 gambrel-roofed house, contains exhibit rooms, an artifact storage area, and a social room with kitchen facilities. The museum contains over 4,000 artifacts related to the history and families who lived and worked in Rehoboth.Museum Land: Carpenter Museum, http://www.museumland.net/musei_en.php?idmuseo=10663, accessed 16 Jan 2014.
Activities The museum hosts special and local interest events in its community room. It has a gift shop specializing on Rehoboth history and its people.Rehoboth Now: Stories from the Rehoboth Antiquarian Society Carpenter Museum, http://www.rehobothnow.com/2012_Carpenter_Museum_Stories.html, accessed 16 Jan 2014. For an example,Tea with Emily was an event held in 2011 that introduced about fifty women and girls to Emily Dickinson poetry, 19th century hats and tea.The Herald News, TO A TEA: Emily Dickinson honored at Carpenter Museum, http://www.heraldnews.com/x1146473694/TO-A-TEA-Emily-Dickinson-honored-at-Carpenter-Museum, by Marc Larocque, dated 24 Apr 2011, accessed 16 Jan 2014. Monthly meetings include the Astronomical Society of Southern New England which meets monthly at the museum.Astronomical Society of Southern New England, http://www.assne.org/, accessed 16 Jan 2014. It also host annual events. These include: Arts in the Village Concerts, in conjunction with the Rehoboth Antiquarian Society Fall Flower Show, in conjunction with the Rehoboth Garden Club Folk Arts & Artesian Show Horror Stories Grounded in Rehoboth Ice Harvesting & Ice Cream Remembering Rehoboth School Days Summer Clam Bake
The Carpenter Museum has a number of holdings of national interest, including its collection of early needlework samplers made in the United States.RehobothNow.com: Stories from the Museum, Curator’s Note - September/October 2012, http://www.rehobothnow.com/2012_Carpenter_Museum_Stories.html, accessed 15 Jan 2014.
Expansion
On the museum grounds is a reproduction of a 1746 post-and-beam barn constructed in 1993 with a community barn raising in celebration of Rehoboth's 350th anniversary. The wood used in the construction was "red and white oaks and white pines from the land of E. Otis Dyer" collected in the fall of 1992. E. Otis Dyer is a long-term supporter of the Rehoboth Antiquarian Society and the barn was named in his honor. The official name of the barn is the E. Otis Dyer Barn.
Recognition In 2013, the museum won the Gold Star Award of the Massachusetts Cultural Council, an annual award presented to artists and organizations who demonstrate “success in integrating the arts into the community", for the museum's “Remembering Rehoboth School Days” project.Christopher Nichols: "Carpenter Museum in Rehoboth to receive state Gold Star Award for cultural program", The Taunton Gazette, http://www.tauntongazette.com/news/x206926973/Carpenter-Museum-in-Rehoboth-to-receive-state-Gold-Star-Award-for-cultural-program#ixzz2q2rhp1Fv, Posted Feb 13, 2013."Carpenter Museum Wins Gold Star Award," Reporter Today, http://www.reportertoday.com/rehoboth/rehoboth/stories/Carpenter-Museum-Wins-Gold-Star-Award,4133?content_source=&category_id=70&search_filter=&event_mode=&event_ts_from=&list_type=&order_by=&order_sort=&content_class=&sub_type=stories,photos,videos&town_id=, 2/4/13.
The museum and staff are noted in the following book and pamphlet. Rehoboth, Swansea And Dighton, MA (IMG) (Images of America) by Charles Turek Robinson and Frank DeMattos (Jan 6, 1998). Rehoboth Through the Ages By Frank DeMattos, private publishing, Rehoboth, MA.
References
External links Carpenter Museum Images on Google Photo of the Rehoboth Carpenter Museum Carpenter Museum samplers in the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America database Carpenter Museum on Facebook Rehoboth Antiquarian Society