New Jerusalem Historical Society - 537 S Garrison St
The Historical Society is a privately supported group devoted to preserving, protecting, and promoting an appreciation of New Jerusalem’s past. This large Georgian mansion, set well back from the street, serves as the group’s headquarters. The building is open to the public 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, with no charge for admission.
The downstairs contains several large rooms that serve as a museum of New Jerusalem’s history. Lavishly decorated in Colonial and Federalist styles, numerous New Jerusalem artifacts, such as the community’s first pump handle, are on display. Paintings of famous past Jerusalemites line the walls and include Bishops, Colwens, Noyeses, Peabodys, Wantages, Wheatleys, and others. One room is devoted to the pillars of New Jerusalem’s sea trade, with all manner of nautical artifacts prominent.
The upstairs of the house contains the John Halden Library, which holds over 1500 titles pertaining to New Jerusalem and the Missituk Valley, as well as thousands of archived manuscripts, journals, family histories, survey maps, township plots, and other documents, many available nowhere else. The society charges seventy five cents to visit the library, but bona fide historians, scholars, and Society members use the library for free. Lester Ropes, age 37, runs the library. Titles notable to investigators include Thaumaturgical Prodigies in the New-English Canaan (the Reverend Phillips' own annotated copy) and Strange Legends of New England.
Stored in the basement in musty boxes are the missing issues of the New Jerusalem Bulletin (1823–1826) and the Missituk Valley Gleaner (1830–1831). The society acquires new materials as they can be purchased or as granted in bequests by New Jerusalem natives.
Mr. E. Lapham Peabody, 61, has been the Society’s curator for over 30 years. He is an expert in local genealogy. He has also a working knowledge of most of the church and town records, library holdings, historical societies, and graveyards found in the Missituk Valley region. While perhaps not knowing the cosmic proportions of some of the horrors that haunt this part of the world, he is certainly aware of Sethwich and Athol and the strange folk who reside there. Peabody is a valuable ally in research, one quite likely to be willing to help solve a complicated genealogical puzzle.
One can join the New Jerusalem Historical Society for $31 a year, entitling him or her to access to Society buildings, records, and libraries. Belonging to the Society is considered a good thing in New Jerusalem, though most men will think twice about donating a week's wages or more to do it. Members can rub elbows with most of the important Jerusalemites at the annual Society meeting, usually held in April.
Type
Museum
Parent Location
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