Rededication of the Soldiers' Monument
Monday, November 11, 2013
10:00 AM
Saltonstall Park
149 Main Street
Watertown, MA 02472
The Historical Society of Watertown invites the public and residents of Watertown to attend the rededication of the Soldiers' Monument, located in Saltonstall Plaza. The Society organized a campaign that successfully raised funds to restore and conserve the Soldiers' Monurment, built in 1889. Join us in our remembrance of those who served and those who died during the Civil War.
This program is free and open to the public.
In case of inclement weather, the ceremonies will be held in the Watertown Town Council Chamber.
November Public Program
A talk by Marilynne K. Roach, author of Six Women of Salem: The Untold Story of the Accused and Their Accusers in the Salem Witch Trials
Thursday, November 7, 2013
7:00 PM
Watertown Savings Bank Meeting Room
Watertown Free Public Library
123 Main Street
Watertown, MA 02472
Between February, 1692, and May, 1693, a series of prosecutions, trials and hangings of people accused of witchcraft in the Massachusetts colony traumatized the region and spoke of the dangers of mass hysteria. By the end, beyond the twenty who were executed and the five who perished in prison, about 200 individuals had been accused, at least 70 had been "afflicted," and more than 30 had officially accused their fellow neighbors. A total of 255 ordinary people had been inexorably drawn into the ruinous and murderous vortex, and this doesn't even include the ruling religious, judicial and governmental leaders.
Six Women of Salem is the first work to use the lives of a select number of representative women of varied origins and fates as a microcosm to illuminate the larger crisis: Bridget Bishop, Mary English, Rebecca Nurse, Ann Putnam, Tituba and Mary Warren.
What was it like to be there and, if you were lucky, to live through it? In a compelling combination of narrative and groundbreaking historical research, Salem Witch Trial scholar Marilynne K. Roach vividly brings the terrifying times to life, while skillfully illuminating the lives of the accused, the accusers and the afflicted.
Ms. Roach, a lifelong resident of Watertown, is an independent scholar and works as both a historian and illustrator. She was one of the associate editors of the definitive Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt and is the author of the classic The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege. She also serves as President of the Historical Society of Watertown.
This program is free and open to the public.
For more information, call Joyce at 781-899-7239.