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December 2024
Tompkins Cottage Museum Christmas Open House
Tompkins Cottage Museum Christmas Open House will be held from 10:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. as part of the Mathews Christmas Farmers Market. Traditional holiday decorations will be featured throughout. The 2024 Mathews County Historical Society ornament the Linda Carol will be featured. Other society ornaments, Sally Tompkins dolls and publications will also be available for purchase. Martha McCartney, historical researcher and author, will be on hand to autograph her comprehensive history, Mathews County, Virginia: Lost Landscapes, Untold Stories.
Find out more »February 2025
Freedom’s Fortress Movie
"Freedom’s Fortress,” a movie which depicts the story of Fort Monroe, will be shown at the Mathews Museum's Movie Night. Empowered by a legal loophole, thousands of enslaved Africans escaped and found refuge at a Union-held fort during the Civil War. Doors open at 6:30, movie begins at 7:00. Movie runs approximately 1⁄2 hour.
Find out more »Recognizing and Sharing Family Treasures
Recognizing and Sharing Family Treasures – using them to tell family stories and to animate family history – is the topic of a presentation by Bessida Cauthorne White of Middlesex County. Ms. White is a well-known multifaceted retired attorney and genealogist, who will impart to her audience ways to enrich their lives through collective experiences. Bessida Cauthorne White is the President of the Middle Peninsula African American Genealogical and Historical Society. This presentation is sponsored by the Mathews County Historical…
Find out more »March 2025
MUSEUM TO FEATURE LOCAL BUSINESSES FOR WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH
The Mathews Museum will recognize Mathews County’s local business women as the nation celebrates Women’s History Month in March, with an informational speakers panel at the Museum, March 21 at 7 pm Janice Jones, founder/owner of Roane’s Antiques at The Cottage on Main Street, began her career in the 1980s with redoing old furniture and discarded items and bring them back to life. In mid-2020, following COVID, she redesigned her business to include estate sales and online sales and then…
Find out more »April 2025
Grand Re-Opening of Thomas James Store
The Mathews County Historical Society announces the re-opening of ca. 1820 Thomas James Store, one of the best-preserved country stores in southeast. The store was the recipient of Emergency Supplemental Historic Preservation Funds by the U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service, administered by Virginia Department of Historic Resources. The store has been lifted, shifted, repositioned on a sturdy foundation and updated with new interpretive signage. Thomas James Store is open to the public for self-guided tours every Saturday…
Find out more »Founding Frenemies: Hamilton and the Virginians
“Founding Frenemies:Hamilton and the Virginians” is a traveling exhibit on loan from the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, will be at the Mathews Museum for 6 weeks, from April 14 through May 26.The exhibit complements Lin-Manuel Miranda’s award-winning Broadway production of “HAMILTON,” which tells the story of Alexander Hamilton’s relationships with George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. These Virginians were among his most influential allies as well as his worst enemies. Visit the Museum in April to see…
Find out more »Give Me Liberty Traveling Exhibition
Give Me Liberty Traveling Exhibition, on loan from the Virginia Museum of History & Culture Give Me Liberty: Virginia & The Forging of a Nation will explore the unique and essential Virginia people, events, and sites that helped bring liberty and democracy to a nation. Commemorating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, this exhibit will highlight the complex, diverse, and inspiring Virginia history which is, in fact, America’s story. Give Me Liberty will provide context for the coming…
Find out more »May 2025
May Faire 2025- A Rural Life: Country Stores, Post Offices & Wharfs
Friday, Saturday, May 2 & 3, May Faire 2025 “A Rural Life: Country Stores, Post Offices and Wharfs” This year, a two-day county fair-type of event, with crafters, food trucks, and entertainment, a children’s corner, Pound Cake contest, photography contest and our traditional May Pole dance. May Faire is sponsored by the Mathews Museum, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2025. Visit www.mathewsvamuseum.org for information.
Find out more »May Faire, A Rural Life: Country Stores, Post Offices & Wharfs
Kick off the Spring season with May Faire, in Mathews County, Virginia, the first weekend of May every year; join us for a community heritage festival. The 2025 May Faire theme will be A Rural Life: Country Stores, Post Offices & Wharfs. The county’s 7th annual spring heritage festival will feature a “county fair” atmosphere and will examine our very rural way of life—the people, their histories, their agricultural heritage, and their stories both past and present—focusing on farming, fishing…
Find out more »Mathews Museum to Host Presentation on Historic Williams Wharf
As part of May Faire, join the Mathews Museum to hear Pam Muffelman speak about the history of Williams Wharf Landing from the 1600s to present day! This event is free and open to the public, and refreshments will be provided. Local historian and longtime Mathews resident Pam Muffelman will lead the presentation, guiding attendees through a rich timeline of Williams Wharf and its surrounding area—from its earliest days in the 1600s to the present. Muffelman, known for her engaging…
Find out more »Hope for the Chesapeake: Another 100 Hours Beneath the Bay
Hope for the Chesapeake: Another 100 Hours Beneath the Bay... Meet the Team! This May, a team of marine scientists, filmmakers, and divers will spend another 100 hours underwater off Gwynn’s Island to revisit and update the landmark 1954 National Geographic Chesapeake Bay expedition performed by Mathews’ own Gilbert Klingel. Join the MLC & the Explorers Club for an unique opportunity to meet the expedition team & hear about their work to update the baseline study of waters and marine…
Find out more »VA250 All America Concert
The Mathews VA250 Committee is pleased to co-sponsor, along with the Mathews Museum and the Mathews County Historical Society, a concert at Mathews High School, featuring The Courthouse Community Orchestra, under the direction of Staff Sergeant Jarrett Kocan of the U.S. Air Force Heritage of America Band. Join us as we memorialize the 249th anniversary of the May 15 creation of Virginia’s Declaration of Independence. The concert will begin at 3 pm, doors open at 2:30 pm. There is no…
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