WHHM-WHPL Conversation: Local Shipwrights Restoring a 1967 Royal Lowell Clam Boat
2022-07-01 18:15 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | MA
Join us on campus for an Open House at the Museum’s Boat Shop with Chuck Verbeck followed by a conversation with Athena Aicher about boat building at the Woods Hole Public Library.
Athena Aicher and Chuck Verbeck are two professional shipwrights living in Woods Hole. They have spent the past five years working at the Gannon and Benjamin Marine Railway in Vineyard Haven, and the Quissett Harbor Boatyard, respectively.
Aside from rebuilding Herreshoff 12 1/2s at Quissett, Chuck has been volunteering with the Woods Hole Historical Society, revamping the community boat shop with a few other enthusiastic boat-lovers. At work, Athena has had the opportunity to work on a few notable restorations including the 2019-2020 rebuilding of the Alden cutter, LARK, a boat that had been a fixture in Woods Hole for many years.

They have recently decided to take on a personal restoration project— the rebuilding of a Royal Lowell clam and oyster boat built in 1967. The work is being done in the yard at G and B and includes a full re-framing, new centerline timbers, new deck and rebuilt superstructures.
This even is co-sponsored by the Woods Hole Public Library and the Woods Hole Historical Museum.

WHHM-WHPL Conversation: 'An Absolute Beauty'—The Woods Hole Spritsail Boat, with Porter Hoagland
2022-09-29 12:30 - 13:30 UTC | Woods Hole Historical Museum, 579 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, MA, 02543
Forty years ago, nautical draftsman Dave Dillion commented on the features of a Woods Hole Spritsail boat: “…I am prejudiced as the devil; I think this is an absolutely beautiful boat….”
Woods Hole Historical Museum’s Conversation, An ‘Absolute Beauty’- The Woods Hole Spritsail Boat on September 29 with Porter Hoagland, retired WHOI scientist who has just completed a two-year wooden boatbuilding and restoration program at the IYRS School of Technology and Trades in Newport, will highlight the distinctive design features of the Spritsail.
He has been restoring a Woods Hole Spritsail boat, circa 1905, and will focus on the design aspects in a historical context as a means to establish the boat’s provenance. The talk concludes with a “field trip” to E.E. Swift’s “Spy” (1893-94) in WHHM’s boat museum, one of 10 such boats known to be extant.
While at IYRS, Dr. Hoagland worked with his teammates to help restore a 1979 Beetle Cat and a 1931 Herreshoff 12½ . From early on, he’s had an interest in sailing cat-rigged boats.
The conversation on Thursday, September 29, at 12:30 PM will take place in the courtyard in front of the boat museum, weather permitting. If necessary, it will be indoors at the neighboring Woods Hole Public Library reading room. The event is co-hosted by the library.
Woods Hole Historical Museum is at 579 Woods Hole Road.

WHHM Conversation: Penikese Island: A Brief History and its New Mission
2023-01-31 19:00 UTC | MA
Woods Hole Historical Museum Conversation
January 31, 7 PM, Zoom
“Penikese Island: A Brief History and its New Mission.”
With Kimberly Ulmer, director, Penikese School
and Justin Reynolds and Ana Isabel Keilson, co-founders and directors, Gull Island Institute
See video of presentation here.

WHHM Conversation: The Pirate's Wife: The Remarkable True Story of Sarah Kidd
2023-05-04 19:00 - 20:00 UTC | MA
By Dr. Daphne Palmer Geanacopoulos

Watch the recorded Conversation here.
Dr. Daphne Palmer Geanacopoulos is a historian, journalist, and author of The Pirate Next Door: The Untold Story of Eighteenth-Century Pirates’ Wives, Families and Communities. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, the Washington Post, Southern Living, Virginia Business, and other outlets. She lives in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, with her husband, David.

She first became interested in pirates while writing an article in 2002 for The New York Times “Museums” Special Section about the Whydah Pirate Museum in Provincetown, Massachusetts. For the last fifteen years she has conducted extensive original research on pirates and their wives in archives in London, Washington, New York, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. She developed a more complete and nuanced history of piracy, and discovered that the lives of pirates, while indeed colorful, were often quite different from those of their literary and cinematic counterparts.

WHHM Conversation: Reconstructing America’s First Ship
2023-12-12 19:00 UTC | MA
Watch the recorded Conversation here.
The Woods Hole Historical Museum will host a virtual conversation on Tuesday, Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. with Jim Parmentier of Maine’s First Ship, discussing the group’s reconstruction of the 1607 pinnace Virginia of Sagadahoc — the first ocean-going ship built in the New World by English colonists.
Settlers in Maine built the original 51-foot Virginia to support the Popham Colony at the mouth of the Kennebec River. The replica, launched last June, meets all U.S. Coast Guard requirements to serve as a floating classroom.
Parmentier will describe the design and construction of the ship, as well as relating the history of the Popham Colony and the archaeological research that has revealed new information about the site. A current board member of Maine’s First Ship, he is a former East Falmouth resident and sailing instructor at the Woods Hole Yacht Club.
Photo by Paul VanDerWerf Original image

WHHM Conversation: Capturing Stronger Photos for Tomorrow’s History
2025-02-12 15:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | Woods Hole Public Library, 581 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, MA, 02543
Whether shooting with a smartphone or a camera, attendees will receive tips from award-winning photographer Dorene Sykes on how to capture photographs more artistically. Attendees will enjoy viewing contemporary and historic images from the museum’s archives that illustrate concepts.
Included will be composition guidelines, finding the best light for landscapes and people, and varying perspective and distance for more powerful images. Key phone and camera settings will also be suggested, as well as where to learn more — locally and online.
The talk is free and open to the public and will be held in the lower level meeting room of the Woods Hole Public Library, adjacent to the Museum at 581 Woods Hole Road. There is metered on-street parking as well as small lots at the Museum and Library. For more information, email whhmdirector@gmail.com.
Speaker Bio: Dorene Sykes has been part of the Woods Hole community since settling in nearby 20 years ago. Taking her lifelong love of photography to the next step, she transitioned from a career in marketing management to photography by first freelancing as a photographer for the Falmouth Enterprise. She then launched and ran a portraiture business for a decade while also teaching photography at Cape Conservatory. During this time, Dorene earned recognition as a Certified Professional Photographer by the Professional Photographers of America and as a Master Photographer by the Cape Cod Art Center. Today, she continues to create photographic art, cover events for performing arts groups, and judge camera club competitions statewide.
Photo Caption: “The Children’s Table” by Gerard Swope, 1938

Woods Hole Cooks Something Up - Memories and Stories
2025-07-23 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Woods Hole Public Library, 581 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, MA, 02543
Charlotte Emans Moore, editor of Woods Hole Cooks Something Up for the 21st Century, will present a lively conversation about the museum’s award-winning cookbooks, with stories from the archives about beloved community members and favorite recipes.
Location: Woods Hole Public Library Community Room

WHHM Holiday Conversation: “The Wondrous Mrs. Claus”
2025-11-28 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Woods Hole Public Library, 581 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, MA, 02543
Get into the holiday spirit with a Woods Hole Historical Museum Conversation by author Pamela McColl about her new book, “Wondrous Mrs. Claus.”
The wife of Santa made her literary debut in 1849. Sleuthing through books, journal articles and poems, McColl discovered Mrs. Claus played a role in larger discussions about women’s roles in 19th century—even used by advocates for and against women’s suffrage. McColl’s talk will include a poem by Falmouth’s own Katharine Lee Bates, featured in the book.
Holiday refreshments will be served.

WHHM Conversation: Joseph Story Fay, Thomas Simms, and a Nation on the Brink
2026-02-12 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Woods Hole Public Library, 581 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, MA, 02543
Join the Woods Hole Historical Museum for a conversation with scholar Brandon McGrath-Neely entitled “Joseph Story Fay, Thomas Simms, and a Nation on the Brink” on Thursday, February 12 at noon at the Woods Hole Public Library.
In his work, McGrath-Neely examines the “inverted lives” of Joseph Story Fay, a prominent landowner and “the first summer resident” of Woods Hole, and Thomas Simms, a man who escaped slavery, both of whom utilized geographic mobility to enhance their circumstances. Fay relocated from Boston to Savannah to capitalize on opportunities in the cotton trade and improve his financial standing. Conversely, Sims escaped enslavement in Savannah and stowed away on a Boston-bound vessel.
Both men’s endeavors collided with the crisis between North and South epitomized by the Compromise of 1850, particularly the Fugitive Slave Act. This compelled Simms’s return to slavery and complicated Fay’s business relationships in Savannah due to escalating distrust in a nation increasingly divided by region.
Their intersecting narratives reveal how individual ambition was constrained by the machinations of the slave economy within a nation teetering on the brink of civil war.

WHHM Conversation: Discovering Woods Hole: Exploring the Museum’s Collection Online
2026-03-12 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Woods Hole Public Library, 581 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, MA, 02543
Join our Archivist Colleen Hurter and our Executive Director Mark Long as they demonstrate how to search for materials in our archive, using the Pacific Guano Company as an example.
We will ask for audience questions about search topics, so bring your own Woods Hole history questions to the session!

WHHM Conversation: Unruly Stories of a Boy and His Trains on the Woods Hole Branch
2026-05-14 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Woods Hole Public Library, 581 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, MA, 02543
Join us for a talk with Stephen Ellis as he shares stories of riding the trains to Woods Hole as a child.
The conversation is free to attend and will be held downstairs at the Woods Hole Public Library. Entry is through the downstairs side entrance.

History Lives Here: A Conversation on our Golden Jubilee
2026-07-09 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Woods Hole Community Hall
Join us on July 9th at noon in Community Hall for a Conversation in recognition of the Museum’s Golden Jubilee. Former Executive Directors Jennifer Gaines and Debbie Scanlon and longtime Community Boat Shop volunteer Bob Leary will have a conversation moderated by Executive Director Mark Long about the founding and evolution of the Woods Hole Historical Museum — from the Archive that is its backbone to fifty years of exhibits, publications, and the Community Boat Shop.
This is not a lecture. We are aiming for a genuine conversation with you, our members and patrons. Bring your memories of the museum’s early days and anything you have tucked away that might spark a story: old photos, letters, newspaper clippings, records. Think of it as a community Show and Tell. Some of the best history in Woods Hole is still in your attics — we want to hear it.
