Our Annual Meeting will take place this Sunday, October 26, from 4:30 to 6:00 at the WHS building, with a double-feature presentation wrapping up our Marquis de Lafayette 200th Anniversary Celebration.
The meeting is free and open to all at the WHS building, 6 Williamsburg Road (across from Corners Grocery and the post office), with wine and light refreshments.
At this time of year, we also ask for your financial support with a WHS membership. WHS is run entirely by volunteers and receives no town funds. Our building requires maintenance and insurance, and your memberships and contributions – all tax-deductible – make our work possible. Memberships are $20 for individuals and $35 for families, but any amount is most welcome and appreciated. To pay by check, please make it out to “Worthington Historical Society” and mail to Worthington Historical Society, P. O. Box 12, Worthington, MA, 01098. To pay with PayPal or credit card, click this link to be directed to our “Membership and Donations” page. We are deeply thankful for your support.
For us at the Worthington Historical Society, 2025 has been the year of Lafayette, “Hero of Two Worlds,” who spent the night at Worthington Corners 200 years ago. During this year’s Marquis de Lafayette 200th Anniversary Celebration, WHS and the Lafayette Committee presented everything from talks and book discussions to a Songs for Lafayette concert, historic dance workshops, and a Grand Ball, plus a Revolutionary War Veterans Cemetery Tour assisted by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), and collaborations with R. H. Conwell students on a play, slide show, and headstone hunt. Beyond all our Lafayette programs, we’ve added website content, conducted oral histories, and scanned hundreds of documents for our public digital archive.
Lafayette remains the theme at our Annual Meeting this Sunday from 4:30 to 6:00. In his talk, “Boston Pulls Out the Stops for Lafayette’s 1824 & 1825 Visits,” Clark Pearce, a specialist in American furniture and decorative arts, will discuss pieces designed for Lafayette’s tour. His recent book Rather Elegant Than Showy: The Classical Furniture of Isaac Vose, includes extensive research on Lafayette’s Boston visits. Next, WHS board member Jim Downey and architect Kevin O’Connor will explore Pearce Tavern, where Lafayette spent the night and addressed the town the following morning.
The building will open at 3:30 on Sunday if you’d like to come early and see a terrific exhibit charting the history of the Worthington Health Center. The exhibit was mounted earlier this month for the health center’s 75th anniversary celebration at the WHS building.
We look forward to seeing you on Sunday.
~The Worthington Historical Society
