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February 2024
Black History Month Celebration
Join the Mathews County NAACP for a Black History Month Celebration! Guest speakers, including S.A. Cosby, Allison Thomas, Maria Montgomery Giddens, and Elise Williams, will discuss the history of the Black community of Gwynn's Island, the Black Exodus from Gwynn's Island, and "The Mathews I Call Home," with music provided by the Emmaus Male Chorus.
Find out more »March 2024
Movie Night at the Museum: “State Fair”
Movie Night at the Museum, Friday, March 8, will open with a brief historical slide presentation of the nearly 40 years of County Fairs that were held in Mathews beginning in 1901, and lasting up to the early 1940s. That presentation will be followed by the movie, “State Fair,” an American musical film which tells the story of a brother and sister who go to a state fair in Dallas and find good clean fun and romance. The film sets…
Find out more »April 2024
Tompkins Cottage Open
Open April 6th – October 26th! The cottage, which is headquarters for the Mathews County Historical Society, is named for Christopher Tompkins, a local sea captain, planter, local merchant, and member of the state legislature. He bought the cottage property in 1837 and is the first known owner. Exhibits include a room dedicated to the history of Mathews County which serves as a gift shop, two rooms representing a home from the 1840s to the 1900s, and a room dedicated…
Find out more »May 2024
Flights to Freedom Historic Highway Marker Unveiling & Dedication
Join the Mathews County Historical Society, the Mathews NAACP, and the First Baptist Church, for the Unveiling and Dedication of the Flights to Freedom Historic Highway Marker. This event is free and open to the public. Throughout the antebellum period, Mathews County’s lengthy shoreline and access to deep-water shipping provided numerous enslaved men, women and children the opportunity to escape from bondage. The historical marker commemorates recurrent flights to freedom during the Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and Civil War. The dedication…
Find out more »June 2024
Summer Lecture Series
The Mathews Museum will host a discussion of the use of silver in the colonial period. The presentation will be in the Museum’s newly renovated and updated media room. It is open to the public and there is no charge for this event. The presentation will provide an overview of the history of the use of Virginia silver in the 1700s and 1800s. The guest speaker will be the Museum’s Vice Chair, Tom Karow, who is a silver historian and…
Find out more »Presentation: General James Henry Lane: Soldier & Educator
Dr. John A. Coulter II will give a public presentation entitled, “General James Henry Lane: Soldier and Educator” on Thursday, June 13, 2024. He will speak at 7 p.m. at Mathews Memorial Library, 251 Main Street, Mathews. General James Henry Lane, a Mathews County native, was the youngest general in the Army of Northern Virginia. After graduating from VMI, he received a Master’s degree from UVA and worked at six military schools before and after the Civil War. He was…
Find out more »Public Opening of the Thomas Hunley General Store & Post Office
General stores and post offices were both a mainstay and a way of life in Mathews County years ago. They were the gathering spots and the epicenters of each of the respective communities throughout the county. On Saturday, June 22, 10:00 am until 2:00 pm, Mathews “newest general store” will open its doors to the public. The Tommy Hunley General Store/post office will receive its first official customers at Saturday’s open reception at the Mathews Museum, 200 Main Street, where…
Find out more »July 2024
248th Anniversary of the Battle of Cricket Hill
Join the SAR to celebrate the 248th Anniversary of the Battle of Cricket Hill!
Find out more »Movie Night at the Museum: Happy Homes & Fertile Farms
Join the Mathews Historical Museum for a free Movie Night at the Museum! This month, enjoy a 25th anniversary showing of a 1999 film “Mathews County: Happy Homes and Fertile Farms on Smiling Waters” by the late Eugene C. Hudgins of Mathews. Mr. Hudgins created this 111-minute historical overview of Mathews County, and in his words, “As we travel on the road of life, many times the sweetest part of the trail is the part that leads back home. Our…
Find out more »August 2024
What Is It?
Bring your ceramics, arrowheads, pottery, and other artifacts, to the Mathews Historical Museum to have them identified. This annual event is co-hosted by the Mathews Historical Museum and the Fairfield Foundation. There is no charge for this event. On site will be a special guest, antiquities authority William (Bill) Pitman, formerly Curator of Archaeological Collections at Colonial Williamsburg, now retired and affiliated with the Fairfield Foundation. The Museum has enjoyed hosting this event in past years and is pleased to…
Find out more »Afternoon Tea & Fashion Show
Join the Mathews Historical Museum for an afternoon of tea and fashion! In conjunction with the VA250 American Revolution activities in Mathews, the Mathews Museum will host Martha Washington and Abigail Adams as they “spill the tea.” Enjoy unlimited amounts of hot tea served with cream and sweeteners, accompanied by numerous types of savories and sweets. Fashions are by “Ladies Victorian,” who will present “Our Founding Mothers and What They Wore,” period clothing that both Martha Washington and Abigail Adams…
Find out more »CANCELED: Lighthouse Keepers of Mathews County: Presentation by Benn Trask
*THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELED* Benn Trask, noted historian, educator, Marine Corps veteran, librarian and museum curator, is the author of numerous books, including academic works on the Virginia Civil War regimental histories series. Most recently, he has written “Lighthouses of Hampton Roads: A History,” on the eleven light stations of Southeastern Virginia. Free and Open to the Public. Refreshments will be served.
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