All events are held at the Meeting House Museum and have a suggested donation at the door unless otherwise specified.


May 23, Saturday, 8 am - 4 pm
ANTIQUES & FLEA MARKET
Buy and/or sell, at this fun outdoor event on the Meeting House Museum Grounds.
For sellers information and reservations contact:
Hank Ritchie 508.255.4528
Box 647, So. Orleans 02662
Quality donated items are accepted year-round for the OHS sale tables.

Sunday, May 24, 7 pm  
Andrew Buckley film about Capt. John Kendrick of the “Columbia”
Kendrick was born around 1740 or 1745 in Harwich, Massachusetts; he came from a long family line of seamen. A Boston merchant financed an expedition for the Northwest in 1787. The command of the larger Columbia was given to Captain Kendrick, then 47 years old. Kendrick's expedition set sail from Boston on the night of October 1, 1787. He kept going south instead of through the Strait of Magellan and went around to the Pacific Ocean the long way: by Cape Horn. On April 1, or April Fool's Day, the two ships were separated by a storm, but the men aboard the Lady Washington reveled at having finally gotten rid of Kendrick. The ships were eventually reunited, but not one man on either ship celebrated.

June 13, Saturday, 12 - 4 pm
STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL
Orleans Improvement Association 508.255.8202
and Orleans Historical Society 508.240.1329
Old-fashioned strawberry shortcake and beverages; musical interludes; plant sale and a boutique.    $5 per person
Meeting House Museum grounds

June 26, Friday, 10 am
BONNIE SNOW’S CEMETERY WALK
OHS Historian tells tales of Orleans past citizens on an easy stroll through the Orleans Cemetery. Sunscreen, hat and water recommended. Approx 1 hour.
$3 adults / children free
Meet at the Meeting House Museum

June 26, Friday, 5 - 7 pm
MEMBERS RECEPTION
Summer Exhibit Open “Rock Harbor, History of a Tidal Creek”

June 27, Saturday, 10 am - 4 pm
21st ANNUAL GARDEN TOUR
Sponsored by The Orleans Improvement
Association 508.255.1386
Advance tickets $15 at Snow’s Home & Garden,
Main Street Gourmet, Nory’s, Agway of Orleans
$20 day of event at the Meeting House Museum, 10 am - 4 pm

June 30, Tuesday, 7:30 pm
LECTURE: "Captain's Gam"
Hear a group of local salts swap stories about Rock Harbor in the old days.
Gam. NOUN—A social meeting of Whaleships, generally on a cruising-ground; when, after exchanging hails, they exchange visits by boats’ crews. This expressive word has for many years been in constant use among some fifteen thousand true born Yankees.     ~Melville
Rock Harbor Charter Fleet

July & August
Thu, Fri, Sat 10 am - 1 pm
SUMMER EXHIBIT
“Rock Harbor, History of a Tidal Creek”
Weir fishing, salt works, British invasions, Charter boats, quahogging and more, are explored through photographs, documents, artifacts, Harbor Walks, and our Tuesday Evening Lecture Series.

July 2, Thursday,at 7 pm
Garrison Keillor: The Man On the Radio In the Red Shoes
America's foremost humorist and commentator, Garrison Keillor, takes his skits and jokes, music and monologues across the country in his traveling radio show, spinning his stories into American gold. This free-form 90 minute documentary film takes an intimate look at the private man in the public spotlight and goes behind the scenes of A Prairie Home Companion, and inside the imagination of the man who created it.

Tickets are $10 and benefit WCAI. Purchase at the door with cash or credit card. Call WCAI for more info at 508-548-9600, x100 or 101.
WCAI FM - The Cape & Islands NPR Station

July 7, Tuesday, 7:30 pm
LECTURE: Michael Farber
"Cornerstone Forum with the Lighthouse Charter School"
The Cornerstone Forum is returning to town after 375 years! By the 1630s, the Pilgrim Elders knew that Cape Cod was their New Promised Land. Boxed in by Massachusetts Bay Colony to the north and barren ground to the south and west, they could only head eastward! They came to Bound Brook at Quivet Creek to establish the Cape's first land survey.
The Cornerstone Forum will hold an open discussion to explain this ancient bound system. It will be asserted that this system originated at the headwaters of Bound Brook--the landing point for the first magnetic north line drawn in the New World.
Based on the theories of Morse Payne, Michael Farber and the crew at Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School will present their latest fieldwork.

July 10, Friday 10 am
BONNIE SNOW’S MAIN STREET WALK
OHS Historian tells tales of Orleans past citizens as you view Main Street's antique homes. Sunscreen, hat and water recommended. Approx 1 hr, easy stroll.
$3 adults / children free
Meet at the Meeting House Museum

July 14, Tuesday, 7:30 pm
LECTURE: Theresa Barbo
Author “Cape Cod Bay”
Orleans resident and author, will sign books after.

July 15, Wednesday 7:30 pm
Rock Harbor Historic Sunset Stroll
Historian Bonnie Snow and Stacia Croteau give a guided tour of the area.
Meet at the RH parking by the jetty

July 21, Tuesday, 7:30 pm
LECTURE: “Rock Harbor Tales”
Sherrill Smith
Meeting House Museum

July 24, Friday, 10 am
BONNIE SNOW’S CEMETERY WALK
OHS Historian tells tales of Orleans past citizens on an easy stroll through the Orleans Cemetery. Sunscreen, hat and water recommended. Approx 1 hour.
$3 adults / children free
Meet at the Meeting House Museum

July 28, Tuesday, 7:30 pm
LECTURE: Noel Beyle, Author & Humorist
Recollections and anecdotes from Cape Cod's premiere historian, writer, humorist.

July 30 & August 6, Thursdays,  9 - 12
Art Class: “Painting a Rock Harbor Sunset”

Join artist Kely Knowles at the Rock Harbor Gallery and create a Rock Harbor Sunset in watercolor.  During the three hour class, using reference photos as inspiration, you will learn value, design and relationships through drawing a thumbnail sketch: transfer your composition to watercolor paper and guided by Kely’s artistic experience you will produce a finished work of art.
$40 members / $45 non-members per class
Bring own supplies or $10 fee for supplies (Watercolor)
Click here for a class reservation form or call 508-240-1329.

August 5, Wednesday 10 am
Rock Harbor Historic Stroll
Historian Bonnie Snow and Stacia Croteau give a guided tour of the area.
Meet at the RH parking by the jetty

August 7, Friday 10 am
BONNIE SNOW’S MAIN STREET WALK
OHS Historian tells tales of Orleans past citizens as you view Main Street's antique homes. Sunscreen, hat and water recommended. Approx 1 hr, easy stroll.
$3 adults / children free
Meet at the Meeting House Museum

August 11, Tuesday, 7:30 pm
LECTURE: “A Short History of Cape Cod“
Robert J. Allison - author, Professor of History & Chair, History Department,
Suffolk University
His books include:The Boston Tea Party (2007); The Boston Massacre (2006); Stephen Decatur: American Naval Hero (2005); A Short History of Boston (2004).

August 14, Friday, 10 – 11:30 am 
Pied Potter Hamelin - Rick Hamelin of americanredware.com
Presentation includes a discussion and pottery throwing. Learn about specific wares concerning pots made prior to the year 1900, and the clay industries historically found in Massachusetts.
All ages.

August 18, Tuesday, 7:30 pm
LECTURE: Peter Budryk
“Game Fish Status for Striped Bass “
Discussion group
Peter Budryk is a former Lecturer in Education at Wesleyan University in CT where he was Director of Upward Bound and Founder and Executive Director of Wesleyan’s Great Hollow Wilderness School. He has written for Cape Cod magazine, Cape Cod Life, On The Water, ESPNoutdoors.com, FlyFisherman.com, and NESN.com. He is the author of the acclaimed book The Innermost Waters: Fishing Cape Cod’s Ponds and Lakes. He lives in Orleans.

August 21, Friday, 10 am
BONNIE SNOW’S CEMETERY WALK
OHS Historian tells tales of Orleans past citizens on an easy stroll through the Orleans Cemetery. Sunscreen, hat and water recommended. Approx 1 hour.
$3 adults / children free
Meet at the Meeting House Museum

September 11, Friday 10 am
BONNIE SNOW’S MAIN STREET WALK
OHS Historian tells tales of Orleans past citizens as you view Main Street's antique homes. Sunscreen, hat and water recommended. Approx 1 hr, easy stroll.
$3 adults / children free
Meet at the Meeting House Museum

Saturday, November 7, 12 - 2
ANNUAL MEMBERS LUNCHEON
Courthouse at the Jailhouse Tavern

Click here for a print version (PDF) of the 2009 calendar.


For more information regarding these and other events call
the OHS 508-240-1329.

Click here for more Town of Orleans information.

Click here for more Cape Cod information.