Royalston Historical Society Meeting
New members welcome!
Royalston Historical Society Benefit Dinner and Talk: The Importance of the Straw and Palm-leaf Hat Industry in New England
April 1st 2017
6 pm dinner, 7 pm talk in the town hall
Did you know that the manufacture of palm leaf and straw hats employed more people, primarily women and girls, than the textile industry in Massachusetts in the 19th C? Come learn about the importance of palm leaf and straw hat manufacturing in New England and Royalston with Kathy Morris. Beyond hats, Kathy will talk about the craft of weaving of straw, including straw threads (Rapunzel), marquetry, embroidery, and inlaid furniture and fashions. There will be examples of different plaits (braids), straw tools, wheat varieties, and the various techniques. 
Kathy is a board member of the National Association of Wheat Weavers and a member of the Guild of Straw Craftsmen in the United Kingdom and has been weaving straw for over 15 years. She is also the Library Director of the Phinehas Newton Library in Royalston, a building originally funded by a local hat braid entrepreneur. The talk is funded by a grant from the Royalston Cultural Council.
Eat: Before the talk, come enjoy a dinner of homemade, cozy, comfort foods and desserts. Beer and wine on sale. Tickets ($12/ adult) may be purchased on-line through the Historical Society web-site, from members, at the post office, and town library. You do not need to attend the dinner to attend the talk.
Win: There will be a chance to win one of several straw weavings in a raffle to benefit the Historical Society’s effort to replace the roof on Old School House #1.
Save the date: April 30: Jazz in the Ballroom: more delicious food and drink and all that Jazz- Plan for brunch at the Maples.
Royalston Historical Society Meeting + Pot Luck Supper
Royalston Historical Society Meeting at the Museum on Royalston Common
Local Food Supper to Benefit restoration at Old School House #1.
Eat colorful, flavorful food from the garden, build community and learn about the connection between Royalston and actual royalty at the 2017 Local Foods Supper.
The aspects of the supper you have always enjoyed are the same: friends, food and fun. The menu is still evolving but includes several courses of tasty foods containing the bounty of our own lands and hands. Beer and wine will be available.
Trying something new this year, the dinner will be outside on the common (weather and bug permitting ) and a little earlier to accommodate for daylight. If the weather is uncooperative, we will move indoors to the town hall. Also, there will be plenty of paper plates, but in the spirit of creating less waste in our town, feel free to bring your own “real” plate and cutlery to the event. Then, after you’ve enjoyed the meal, take it back home with you.
Click here to buy dinner tickets.
Following the supper, inside the town hall, Alan Bowers will give a talk and slide show on Empress Zita, the last empress of the Austria- Hungarian empire, who spent many summers in Royalston after she was deposed at the beginning of WWI.
Royalston Historical Society Meeting + Pot Luck Supper
Royalston Historical Society Meeting + Pot Luck Supper
This time it will be in the Town Hall as we are having guest speakers who will give us a talk on Camp Caravan and there will be photos to see of the activities that have taken place over the years. People passing the grounds will see the construction that is taking place as the Village School will occupy the building in August of this year.
Royalston Historical Society Meeting
New members welcome.
Not a “haunted cemetery”… Instead, visitors will encounter the lives behind
the headstones. Meet at the historical society to walk to the graveyard.
Dress for the weather.
Hot drinks and refreshments served.
Free, but donations to repair the Old School House #1 appreciated.
The sale will benefit the ongoing renovation projects at the Society Building. Antiques and Treasures from all 4 Corners of Royalston and Beyond!
Fine Art Raffle – Pears in Repose
beautiful gilt frame and mounted on wood easel. Painting by Sonja Vaccari.
