The Kingman Tavern Museum Complex is open 2-5pm Saturdays July 12 through August 23.
​Tours are free and ongoing during this time.
​Donations welcome but not required.

Events 2025

Watershed: The Westfield In Cummington

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The East Branch of the Westfield River is an essential element in the history of Cummington. It has had a major effect on the lives of the residents and the residents have had a major effect on the river. Follow the Westfield through time at this year's exhibit at the Old Parsonage at the Kingman Tavern Museum complex.

With a little help from our friends...

Wild & Scenic Westfield River

Cummington Cultural District
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Hilltown History Trail
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August 2, 2025 10:00AM to 4:00PM

Buckland Historical Society
Wilder Homestead - Buckland
The Kemp-McCarthy Museum -  Rowe
Browning Bench Tool Factory - Rowe
Kingman Tavern - Cummington
Shelburne Historical Society Museum
The Old Town House - Heath
The Center Schoolhouse - Heath
Hawley Old Town Common
East Hawley Meeting House

Free to all. Please consider a cash donation to the museums you visit.

Past Events

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Summer 2024 At the Old Parsonage: "Cummington was a hot bed for the abolition of slavery. While "come-outers" were threatened, harassed, and became victims of violence throughout the North, Cummington became a refuge of safety and like-mindedness. Though not everyone in town agreed, Cummington was an important place for lectures, conventions and picnics to support the cause of ending slavery.

A crossroads of two Underground Railroad lines, Cummington supported the freedom of slaves physically, politically and socially.
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Learn more about the people, places and actions of Cummington that helped end slavery.

Curator Carrie Streeter Cranston's speaking series October, 2024

1st - The "manifesto" of Anti-Slavery Anti Sectarian Religious Association of Cummington and surrounding towns
2nd - The role of churches and ministers in town
​3rd - The Underground Railroad in Cummington
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Summer 2024 At the Old Parsonage: "Cummington was a hot bed for the abolition of slavery. While "come-outers" were threatened, harassed, and became victims of violence throughout the North, Cummington became a refuge of safety and like-mindedness. Though not everyone in town agreed, Cummington was an important place for lectures, conventions and picnics to support the cause of ending slavery.

Saturday, May 25, 2024 -  2PM to 4PM
Judith Cowell Meredith will be reading from her book A Hilltown Girl's Storybook.....Growing up in Cummington, Massachusetts
at the Cummington Community House, 33 Main Street.


Screening of The Cummington Story, 20 min., with short lecture and discussion.

 In 1940, Cummington minister Reverend Carl Sangree organized a temporary haven in a home in Cummington for recently emigrated European refugees.  Between 1940 and 1944, a total of 44 refugees, many of whom were artists and intellectuals,  used their time at the hostel to refine and retool their skills to find permanent jobs and homes in the United States. In 1944, the United States Office of War Information filmed a fictional documentary of the refugee hostel in Cummington as part of a series of propaganda movies to be shown in recently liberated territories abroad in order to counteract enemy propaganda. Acclaimed American composer Aaron Copeland wrote the score for the film. Released In 1945, the film was translated into 20 languages and shown around the world. 

The film was narrated by Rev. Carl Sangree, the main character, Joseph, was played by a refugee, and many Cummington townspeople and some of the other refugees appeared in the film.  If you missed the screening, the film can be found on YouTube, or click here.


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