Calling all photographers (from amateur to pro)! The Weston Art & Innovation Center (AIC), Weston Historical Society, and Weston Media Center are celebrating the transformation of our Town Center with a photography exhibit at the AIC on May 21. This will be part of a festive event, now in the planning stages, that will celebrate completion of the Town Center Improvement Project and JST. Check your phones, scrapbooks, albums and shoeboxes for photos of Weston Town Center through the years. More details here.
Use this form to submit digital photos. If you prefer to submit an actual photo, there will be a box at the Weston Art & Innovation Center. The AIC is open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 to 4. Please fill out the paper forms that will be available next to the box or download a PDF here.
Deadline for submission for the exhibit is April 15, 2022. Donations of photos to the Weston Historical Society can still be made after that date. Not all photos can be exhibited, but all will become part of the permanent collection of the Weston Historical Society and will enrich our record of this important time in the town’s history. Questions? Email info@westonhistory.org.
$10 Off for Weston Historical Society Members
Revised and Expanded Edition of Farm Town to Suburb
The Weston Historical Society is sponsoring the second edition of Pam Fox’s book Farm Town to Suburb: The History and Architecture of Weston, Massachusetts, 1830 – 2020. The original 2001 book has been extensively revised. A new 24-page chapter with color photographs covers the period from 1980 to 2020. The 736-page book includes 1075 images, 62 of which are new to this edition.
Copies can be ordered online at Love Lane Press or purchased in person at Florentine Frames. To receive a $10 discount, Weston Historical Society members should download and mail this order form. Questions? Email info@lovelanepress.com.
Coming in Spring 2022
History Under One Roof:
The Evolution of the Josiah Smith Tavern
To celebrate the much-anticipated JST reopening in 2022, Weston Historical Society is working on an exhibit “History Under One Roof: The Evolution of the Josiah Smith Tavern.” It will open in the spring as part of a town-wide celebration marking the completion of the Town Improvement Project and the JST Restoration. Watch this website for further details as they become available.
The Weston Historical Society is leasing four rooms on the first floor of the tavern. The exhibit will take place there and run through the Fall of 2022. At that time, the society will move its collections out of our temporary “headquarters” in the St. Julia Church basement and into this beautiful new, permanent home.
“History Under One Roof” will tell the story of taverns in Weston and display furniture and artifacts from the Jones family, who lived in the former tavern for three generations up to 1950. A timeline and informational panels will remain at the JST on a permanent basis. Topics to be explored include the following:
- Josiah Smith’s Tavern: Three Generations of the Smith Family
- The Jones Family: A Century of Family & Community
- The Tavern after 1950: Community Uses
- Architectural Changes over Time
- Slavery in Weston
WHS volunteers working on the exhibit include Pam Fox, Kitty Smith, Mary Marder, and Molly Varnau. Guiding them is Rebecca Migdal, freelance museum consultant, who is researching furniture, objects, and documents from the Jones family. Three rooms will be devoted to everything from dolls and toys to the varnish containers used by Theodore Jones in his carriage painting business. Chris Reynolds of Reynolds Design and Management is designing the timeline and informational panels. Will Twombly of Spokeshave Design will design and install the exhibit.
Funding will come from donations from members and friends and from the Weston Historical Commission. To donate, visit the Join · Donate · Help page.
Restoration of the Josiah Smith Tavern and Barn is nearing completion. Fieldstone walkways, fencing, and plantings enhance the historic 1757 building complex. The Weston Historical Society will be moving into four rooms on the first floor after our exhibit “History Under One Roof” is taken down. The Women’s Community League and Weston Forest and Trail Association will occupy rooms on the second floor. Also on the second floor is the community room (formerly referred to as the ballroom), which will be available for programs and social events. The Friends of the Josiah Smith Tavern is soliciting proposals from restaurateurs interested in opening a farm-to-table restaurant in the barn and connector. The restaurateur will install the kitchen and fit out the dining room, a process that will take time!
Congratulations to The Friends of the Josiah Smith Tavern for planning and overseeing this many-year process, and to the many other volunteers who worked with the architects and construction crew on this amazing transformation.