Things to See & Do

Join us for a program and performance with the Wampanoag Nation Singers and Dancers, a group of musicians and artisans from the tribal communities of Mashpee on Cape Cod and Aquinnah on Martha’s Vineyard on Indigenous Peoples’ Day.  Participate in the performance of eastern social songs and dances.

In his new book, Contested Continent, historian Peter Mancall offers a sweeping history of North America from 1000 to 1680, chronicling crucial developments to the eventual founding of the United States. Part of the Concord Festival of Authors.

Join us at The Walden Woods Project, as part of The Concord Festival of Authors, for a presentation from Matt Patterson! About Matt Patterson.

About the presentation: At a young age, Matt was fascinated with nature and art, and he has traveled all over to research his subjects. An important part of his illustration process is seeing and learning about his subjects in the wild. In his presentation, he will discuss his experiences working in the field, conservation, his art, and researching the three most recent books he worked on with the award-winning author Sy Montgomery.

Join us for this special Halloween event! Take a tour through historic Sleepy Hollow Cemetery with a Concord Museum guide. Learn about the lives and deaths of past Concordians through stories passed down through the generations. This tour includes a 1-mile walk on muddy, uneven terrain; rain or shine.

Nathaniel Philbrick will discuss his new book The Rush, in which he transforms the Gold Rush from a tale of sudden riches into the origin story of America’s modern contradictions: capital consolidated at dizzying speed, democracy in thrall to private power, xenophobia weaponized in the name of liberty—and a stubborn belief in the American experiment that refuses to die.

Join us for this special Halloween event! Take a tour through historic Sleepy Hollow Cemetery with a Concord Museum guide. Learn about the lives and deaths of past Concordians through stories passed down through the generations. This tour includes a 1-mile walk on muddy, uneven terrain; rain or shine.

Join Professor Willsky-Ciollo as she explores how Thoreau was enmeshed in a decades-spanning project of crafting a theology of wildness. The focus of Thoreau’s theology—wildness itself—centers on the divinity extant in every person and in every molecule of creation.  In his writings, Thoreau leaves the door open to his readers, who he hoped would pick up the pen where he left off and write their own theologies of wildness.

Join historian Joanne Freeman for a compelling exploration of the Revolutionary era and the ideas, conflicts, and personalities that shaped the founding of the United States. Drawing on her extensive research into early American politics and public life, Freeman will examine how debates over power, democracy, and citizenship continue to resonate today. This engaging conversation offers new perspectives on the people and choices behind the nation’s beginnings.

Ben Cosgrove is a composer-performer whose music explores themes of landscape, place, and environment. Described as “a sonic plein-air painter… [using] his piano as a paintbrush,” Ben has collaborated with groups ranging from rock bands to research scientists, contributed music to several radio and film projects and held residencies and fellowships with institutions including NASA, Harvard University, and myriad national parks. Quintessentially American, Cosgrove is "an expert at painting sonic portraits of curious, unexpected places." He will perform his latest album, Topograph, inspired by land-shaping processes around the country.

What motivates collecting, and who decides what is worth preserving? Explore multiple, creative perspectives on the work of museum collecting, past and present, with emerging scholars and keynote speaker Mark Dion.