Special Public Program

Richard Clark Presents a Solo Performance of Shakespeare's Greatest Hits
The Lunatic, the Lover and the Poet

Monday, May 13, 2013
7:00 PM
The Council Chamber
Watertown Town Hall
149 Main Street
Watertown, MA 02472

Come and share some of the most memorable moments in dramatic literature.  Let your imaginatin sally forth with fabled kings as they "mount barb'd steeds to fright the souls of fearsome adversaries."  Eavesdrop on the intimate murmurings of Romeo, the obsessive passions of Anthony and Cleopatra and the demented musings of King Richard, as he broods over the love he will never have.  Twelve different characters, twenty-five monologues and soliloquies from his most famous plays.  Laugh with the fools, cry with the afflicted, dream with the poets.  Beware the possessed!  Don't miss a chance to experience the essence of the world's greatest wordsmith.

Presented jointly by the Historical Society of Watertown and The Shakespeare Reading Group of Watertown, thanks to a generous grant from the Watertown/Harvard Community Enrichment Fund.

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

Annual Members Meeting with Election of Officers and May Public Program

The Lexington Historical Society's Colonial Singers

Wednesday, May 8, 2013
7:00 PM Annual Members Meeting
7:30 PM May Public Program
Watertown Savings Bank Meeting Room
Watertown Free Public Library
123 Main Street
Watertown, MA 02472

Members of The Colonial Singers, who love history and music in equal measure, will perform.  Formed in January, 2010, the group of 15 people presents the music enjoyed in the American colonies during the late 1700s, particularly the songs created to promote either rebellion or loyalty to Britian.

Dressed in period attire, the group ranges through the wide variety of music of the day, including brisk marches, rowdy drinking songs, solemn hymns, tender love songs, fife-and-drum tunes and the "catches" or rounds that were a popular form of entertainment in centuries past.  During concerts, the group's director, Dian Taraz, explains the background of each song--who created it and why, where it was sung and the event or people it addressed.

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

March Public Program

Illustrations of Watertown:  The Paintings of Samuel Emrys Evans

Thursday, March 21, 2013
7:00 PM
The Apartments at Coolidge School Auditorium
319 Arlington Street
Watertown, MA 02472

In the 1970s, Watertown Savings Bank commissioned muralist Samuel Emrys Evans to create a series of paintings representing Watertown's history for the walls of the bank at 60 Main Street in Watertown Square.  Mr. Evans used the historic photograph archive of the Watertown Free Pubic Library and chose nine subjects.  Watertown Savings Bank recently renovated the bank lobby, displacing the 4' x 8' paintings.  Most of the Evans paintings have been donated to the Town of Watertown.  Two are located at the Coolidge School Apartments and will be available for viewing.  A booklet depicting and describing the nine paintings and their locations in town is being produced by Carole Katz and the Watertown Savings Bank with input from the Historical Society of Watertown.  The booklet will be available for sale at the event.

Join Historical Society Councilor Joyce Kelly, Historical Society President Marilynne Roach and Historical Commission Chairperson David Russo for a slideshow lecture of these magnificent paintings and the historic photographs that inspired them.  Free parking will be available behind the school.

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

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.