Lecture Series

Historic Cold Spring Village... Bringing The Past To You

The staff and dedicated volunteers of Historic Cold Spring Village are proud to offer a variety of educational and entertaining programs for professional associations, government organizations, community and senior centers, social clubs, and church and youth groups. These programs are offered via Zoom webinars or in-person visits.

Programs run between 30 and 60 minutes with time for Q&A and can generally be tailored to fit your group’s needs and interests. If you don’t see a topic that fits your needs, call or email and we’ll see if we can develop a program to match the interests of your organization.

Suggested Programs:

• The First Frontier: Whaler Yeomen in Colonial New Jersey- The story of the first permanent European settlers as well as a discussion of how the Eastern Seaboard was the original American frontier.
• The Story of Old Glory: The origins and early history of the flag of the United States, using a collection of reproduction historic flags from the 17th century through the Civil War.
• Among the Lenape: Learn the story of a young shipwrecked English boy as he learns to adapt to the customs of the Lenape people who rescue and take him in.
• Native American Folkways – Learn about the customs, traditions, and origin stories of the original residents of Cape May County.
• Travel and Transportation – A discussion of the development of tourism and the means of transportation that helped make Cape May America’s first seashore resort.
• Past Versus Present: A comparison of contemporary objects with their Early American equivalents. For example, a flashlight vs a lantern; a digital camera vs a daguerreotype.
• Revisiting the Country Store: An Important Community Resource- A look at the vital role of a general store in the life of rural America as a purveyor of goods, social center, and communications hub.
• A Visit with Mehitable, Cape May’s Last Mitten Knitter: This first-person interpretative program introduces you to Mehitable Vanaman Wade Simpson, a 19th-century resident of Cape May County. Mehitable was one of the last women in the county to raise sheep, shear the wool, spin the yarn, and knit her own mittens, a once-popular trade with Philadelphia merchants.
• Fiber Arts in the Home: Learn about the role of fiber arts in the home. From spinning to weaving and quilting, see how housewives and their daughters made quilts, shawls, socks, and other products to keep their families warm.
• Hearth and Home: An exploration of the role of the domestic arts practiced by an 1800s housewife with an emphasis on food preparation and open-hearth cooking.

An honorarium of $150.00 is requested for each speaker. To request a speaker please contact John Ryan at (609) 898-2300, ext. 18 or jryan@hcsv.org. A minimum of two weeks advance notice is suggested.

The Village Welcome Center can also be rented for a modest facility fee, comfortably accommodating up to 75 guests for your meeting and presentation by the HCSV Speakers Bureau.