This winter, Gloucester’s Hammond Castle Museum will be hosting events, ranging from lectures to a princess party to a Dungeons & Dragons event.
“Historically, the winter months were set aside for restoration work,” Executive Director Linda Harveysaid. “We look forward to the new energy these events will bring to Hammond Castle Museum during what was traditionally quieter months at the museum.”
While the museum will not offer a regular tour schedule, the winter programming was designed to appeal to diverse interests.
Up first, visitors can come in from the cold and enjoy coffee and light refreshments before each of the first three events, starting this Thursday, Jan. 16, with the program”Rebuilding the Past: Pulling Back the Curtain on Recent Historic Restorations at Hammond Castle Museum.” Coffee is served starting at 10 a.m., followed by the presentation at 10:30 a.m., in addition to a period for questions after the talk.
The talk will be given by Roger Tremblay, a contractor and mason, and Caleb McMurphy, the museum’s director of education and visitor services. They will talk about the challenges and triumphs of preserving the museum’s unique architectural legacy, including recent restoration work on the French monastery arches and tower sections.
The program on Sunday, Jan. 26, from 1 to 3:30 p.m. features evidential medium Kevin V. Coan in the candlelit Great Hall for a group reading.
“Kevin will share messages of comfort and connection from loved ones who have crossed over. Please bring a printed photograph of a departed loved one to facilitate readings,” according to a program statement.
Copies of Coan’s biography, “Witness to the World Beyond,” will be available.
There will be two sessions for the talk on Friday, Feb. 7, titled “William Howard Taft & John Hays Hammond Sr.: An Examination of the 27th President of the United States and the ‘Man with the Midas Touch’.” The sessions will be from 2 to 3:45 p.m. and 6 to 7:45 p.m.
During this program, Curatorial Director John Leysath explores the relationship between mining magnate John Hays Hammond Sr. and President Taft, exploring their political influence and legacy.
Other events over the winter are:
Sunday, Feb. 9: Frozen Princess Party with two sessions, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and from 1:30 to 3 p.m., when families can spend time with Queen Elsa in the Great Hall where there will be storytelling, singing, a hot cocoa bar, and a royal red-carpet parade.
Sunday, Feb. 23: Dungeons & Dragons presented by Danger Wizard from 1 to 5 p.m.. This event is nearly sold out though spectator tickets are still available.
To register for events and for more information, visit www.hammondcastle.org.
And looking ahead with more details to come, there will be a grand Venetian Carnival, a “magical evening” with masks, music and revelry, on Saturday, March 1.