Category: Exploring Falmouth

Postcards from Falmouth: Falmouth Heights

Posted on by Clint Johnson

Before it hosted iconic hotels and streams of summer visitors, Falmouth Heights was the remote edge of town. Join Valerie Harding to learn about its deliberate transformation into a summer resort at the hands of the Falmouth Heights Land and Wharf Company – and of her own memories of off season life in the Heights, which might not have been picture-perfect, but provided its own kind of fun.


“In the winter when those hotels were closed up, as kids you’d run across the veranda and it looked very ghostly inside,” she said in conversation with interviewer Troy Clarkson. “With the table still set up, you know, with salt and pepper still on the table […] there was not a light on in any house down there.”

Watch the oral history recording here.

Explore the postcard collection here.

Postcards from Falmouth is a local history project of Falmouth Public Library, funded by a LSTA grant and administered by the MBLC.

YT link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2pv64p5EnA

Falmouth Osprey Project

Posted on by Phoebe Acheson

Join the Falmouth Osprey Project’s Kevin Friel and Barbara Schneider on Tuesday February 20 at 11am in the Hermann Room for a presentation about the project’s work.

The Falmouth Osprey Project formed in response to the 2021 nesting season, which saw 9 fires and power outages directly linked to the fact that ospreys love to nest on utility poles. Since then volunteer teams have helped build replacement nesting platform sites on nearby non-utility poles so that the birds can nest safely, without the risk of electrocution. The Osprey Project has also worked with Eversource to help identify utility poles that need nest deterrants installed, since ospreys like to return to their nests year after year. The project has been successful enough in Falmouth that other Cape towns with many ospreys have looked to it as a model! Kevin and Barbara will share interesting facts about ospreys and their habits as well as many excellent photos, like the one illustrating this blog post.

This presentation is appropriate for all ages, although small children should be accompanied by an adult. Space is limited, so we encourage you to register.

 

Local History Resources at the Falmouth Public Library

Posted on by Phoebe Acheson

The Falmouth Public Library Reference staff kept a “pamphlet file” for many years with clippings of articles from newspapers and magazines, and pamphlets and other paper ephemera, about both Falmouth and Cape Cod. The majority of the items included in the files date from about 1980-2010, although there are both earlier and later items. The public has always been able to come in and consult the files in person if researching a Falmouth or Cape history topic, but we’re happy to announce that we now have a digital index for these clippings.

It is in two sections, one covering Falmouth, and the other covering Cape Cod. Folder titles range from Affordable Housing and Artists to Wampanoag and Water Quality and the indexes are arranged as spreadsheets reflecting the alphabetical structure of the filing system. If you browse the index and find something you’d like to see, just ask and we can probably scan and email it to you!

Falmouth Pamphlet File Index

Cape Cod Pamphlet File Index

As many know, we also have access to the digitized Falmouth Enterprise and the Cape Cod Times on microfilm, as well as an extensive collection of books about Falmouth and Cape Cod history. We are also able to help refer you to other local institutions who may have more relevant information depending on your particular question. Stop by the desk and ask a librarian to help you get started on your Falmouth History project!

 

Looking for America: Sculptor Hiram Powers’ Falmouth Legacy

Posted on by Phoebe Acheson

In the Katharine Lee Bates entryway of the Main Library sits an elegant sculpture hidden in plain sight. Executed by world-renowned American-born Hiram Powers (1805-1873), the piece delights the viewer who happens to look up and notice. 

On Tuesday September 26th, at 4pm in the Hermann Meeting Room. Falmouth Museums on the Green’s Executive Director Rachel Lovett shares her research on Powers, his notable works, and how this historic piece came into the collection of the Falmouth Public Library.

This program is free to the public courtesy of a member of the Falmouth Historical Society Board of Trustees. All are welcome. Please register as space is limited.