If These Walls Could Talk...
This series of lectures, presentations and classes celebrates the unique and colorful history of the Blacksmith House, built in 1808.
All events take place at the Blacksmith House, 56 Brattle Street in the heart of Harvard Square.
You can buy a ticket to all four talks for a discounted price of $30. Click here to sign up.
This series is sponsored by the Cambridge African American Heritage Alliance, the Cambridge Historical Commission, The Cambridge Historical Society, the Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site, the W.E.B. DuBois Institute at Harvard University, and the Cambridge Center for Adult Education.
Click here to read WBUR's recent story about 56 Brattle Street.
February 23: To Free a Family | 7:00 pm | $10 | Click here to sign up.
A new book by Sydney Nathans, To Free A Family, tells the remarkable story of Mary Walker, who in August 1848 fled her owner for refuge in the North and spent the next 17 years trying to recover her children. This story is anchored in two extraordinary collections of letters and diaries, that of her former North Carolina slaveholders and that of the northern family — Susan and Peter Lesley -- who protected and employed her. The Lesleys purchased the Blacksmith House — now an integral part of CCAE -- for Walker, where she, her children and grandchildren, lived from 1870-1912. Author Sydney Nathans talks about Mary Walker's remarkable persistence as well as the sustained collaboration of the black and white abolitionists who assisted her. Introduced by Beverly Morgan-Welch, executive director of the Museum of African American History.
In addition the Cambridge Historical Society is hosting a reception to meet Sydney Nathans on February 23 from 5:00-6:30 pm. Click here to find out more.
Click here to read a recent story in the Durham Herald-Sun.
March 8: Shelter from the Storm | 7:00 pm | $10 | Click here to sign up.
Architect and preservation consultant Wendy Frontiero looks at the Blacksmith House, which — though more than 200 years old — has had only a handful of owners. It has functioned as a private home, bakery, dress and gift shop, and now an educational center.
Our FREE Blacksmithing demonstration on Saturday, 3/31/12 has been postponed due to inclement weather. Please touch base in April to see when we have rescheduled it...
March 31: At the Forge | 12:00 - 4:00 pm | FREE | Click here to sign up.Educators and blacksmiths from the Prospect Hill Forge in Waltham, MA, offer blacksmith demonstrations outside in the courtyard at 56 Brattle St. "See the flaming forge, and hear the bellows roar, and catch the burning sparks that fly like chaff from a threshing floor." — Excerpt from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, The Village Blacksmith.
April 5: The Poet and the Blacksmith | 7:00 pm | $10 | Click here to sign up.
Rob Velella, researcher at Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site, talks about celebrated 19th century poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and his poem "The Village Blacksmith." Velella will share details about the writing of the poem and the inspiration behind it, including Dexter Pratt, the blacksmith who lived in the Blacksmith House at 56 Brattle Street. Part of April Poetry Month.
April 19: The Window Shop: Safe Harbor for Refugees | 7:00 pm | $10 | Click here to sign up.
For fifteen years in the mid-20th century the Blacksmith House was the location of a bakery and consignment store called The Window Shop, a business founded to give employment to European refugees. Ilse Heyman, one of the authors of the book The Window Shop, a former assistant manager at the shop, and a Holocaust survivor, talks about her experiences there. Introduced by the Cambridge Historical Commission's Oral Historian, Sarah Boyer.
April 28: Special Cooking class on Viennese Pastries | 11:00 am - 3:00 pm | $94 | Click here to sign up. The bakers at The Window Shop introduced Viennese pastries to Cambridge in the late 1940s. Learn how to make Linzer tortes and other treats from the original Window Shop recipes, with chef Edgar Ievins. We will use the kitchen at 56 Brattle Strett, and class size is limited to 9.