November Public Program

Cemetery Mapping:  Identification of Hidden Burials
a Presentation of the Technique and Successes by Robert Perry, Certified Ground Penetrating Radar Specialist, TOPOGRAPHIX® LLC

Thursday, November 15, 2012
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
Watertown Savings Bank Meeting Room
Watertown Free Public Library
123 Main Street
Watertown, MA 02472

Mr. Perry is a certified ground penetrating radar specialist.  His presentation will explain how the system works and give examples of his discoveries.  For example, using ground penetrating radar, Mr. Perry was able to identify burials in Sudbury's oldest cemetery that have been forgotten for centuries.  He located 967 grave sites, including 70 buried headstones.

This program is free and open to the public.
For more information, call Joyce at 781-899-7239.

September Public Program

A Viewing of a documentary film by Roger Hagopian:  The Canal That Bisected Boston

Wednesday, September 26, 2012
7:00 PM
Watertown Savings Bank Meeting Room
Watertown Free Public Library
123 Main Street
Watertown, MA 02472

Early in its operation the Middlesex Canal terminated at the Charlestown Mill Pond near the Sullivan Square T Station. An ingenious method of pulling the boats across the Charles River was devised using a chain marked by floats at the top and tethered by weights at the bottom. This was necessary because the boats had no keel and were 70 feet long and unwieldy. Hand over hand the scows and barges of the Middlesex Canal were pulled across the Charles River to Barton’s Point.

Sometime later, a canal was dug across the causeway sand bar and boats were taken across the Boston Mill Pond to meet up with the Mill Creek coming from the ocean.  Thus, Boston was bisected by the Canal.

In 1808 Charles Bulfinch devised a plan to fill in the Mill Pond, and designed the Bulfinch Triangle. At the top of the triangle is Causeway Street, the old sandbar, and through the center of the triangle ran the Canal, which is today’s Canal Street.

Mr. Hagopian is a board member of the Middlesex Canal Association. A history lover since his youth, Roger is a 1972 graduate of the University of Massachusetts Boston, where he received his degree in music.  His films include:  Journey Along the Middlesex Canal (1996), Journey of an Armenian Family (1999), Memories of Marash: The Legacy of a Lost Armenian Community (2002), Victory at Van (2006), Our Boys, Armenian-American World War II Veterans (2006), Memory Fragments of the Armenian Genocide (2007), Destination Watertown: The Armenians of Hood Rubber (2009). Hagopian has had film presentations at high schools, universities, libraries, community centers and private homes. "For me, video is a way of telling history that is educational, multidimensional, and compelling."

This program is free and open to the public.
For more information, call Joyce at 781-899-7239.

The Reading of the Declaration of Independence and Celebration of the Treaty of Watertown

Wednesday, July 18, 2012
6:30 PM
Edmund Fowle House
28 Marshall Street
Watertown, MA 02472

This annual event marks the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence to the citizens of Watertown on July 18, 1776.  The signing of the first treaty negotiated by the new nation with a foreign power, namely the St. John's (aka Maliseet) and Mi'kmaq Tribes of Nova Scotia, at the Fowle House on July 19, 1776, will also be celebrated.  Colonial and native reenactors will be on hand and the sacred drum will be playing to mark the occasion.

This program is free and open to the public.
For more information, call Robert Childs at 617-331-2072.

Special Public Program

Unveiling of the new Benjamin Robbins Curtis Plaque and a Walking Tour of the Charles River

Saturday, June 16, 2012
1:00 PM
[Rain Date: Saturday, June 23, 2012]
near the Watertown Square dock
Watertown, MA 02472

In 2010, several bronze plaques commemorating historic sites in Watertown were stolen, including the plaque dedicated to United States Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Robbins Curtis of Watertown.  The Historical Society of Watertown has replaced the missing plaque with one made of etched black granite.  Funding was provided through grants from the Watertown/Harvard and Watertown/O'Neill Properties Community Enrichment Fund and the Watertown Community Foundation Riverfront Mini-Grants Program.

After the plaque is unveiled, join Historical Society of Watertown President Marilynne Roach, Watertown Historical Commission Chair David Russo and Historical Society Councilor Joyce Kelly for a 1.5 hour walking tour focusing on the history of the Charles River in the Watertown Square area.

This program is free and open to the public.
For more information, call Joyce at 781-899-7239.