MARBLEHEAD — The Marblehead Museum is offering two new virtual programs in January.
On Thursday, Jan. 21 at 3 p.m., the museum’s Associate Director of Programs and Operations, Amy Durbin, will team with Lacey Villiva, education manager at George Mason’s Gunston Hall in Lorton, Va., to present “Town and Country: A Tale of Two Patriots.”
The program focuses on the lives and homes of Revolutionary War veterans Jeremiah Lee, of Marblehead, and George Mason, of Virginia.
The Zoom platform is open to Marblehead Museum members only. Members of the public may take in the event virtually on the museum’s Facebook page.
The Jeremiah Lee mansion, which dates back 253 years, is located at 161 Washington St. Durbin said Lee was a wealthy merchant and “a part of the committee of supplies.” In April 1775, he learned his name was on a list of soldiers wanted by the British and was forced to hide out in a field one night to avoid being captured.
“Unfortunately, that led to his demise as he caught a cold or virus, and died shortly after that night,” said Durbin.
Mason is best known for drafting the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which Durbin said James Madison later used to draft the United States Constitution.
The interactive discussion will analyze the features and other factors of both homes to find out why the two homes, which share the same architectural style, ended up being markedly different.
The museum’s “Tuesday Evening Book Series” is back for another season. The program, which debuted in the fall of 2019, will offer six books on different themes, all of them connected to historical events in Marblehead. January’s theme is electricity and technology. The featured book is “The Last Days of Night” by Graham Moore.
“Every other month we switch up the themes, but this is the only fictional book,” said Durbin.
Based on real events, the book recounts the technological turning point of electrical current and the rivalry between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse. Among the topics expected to be discussed are the safety of AC and DC currents; who will win the race for a patent, and how the industry shaped America and the world.
Future themes include Prohibition and Women’s Rights (March), the Civil War (May) and the American Revolution (July).
To register to participate on Zoom for either program, go to the museum’s website, www.marbleheadmuseum.org. For questions, contact Durbin at (781) 631-1768, or [email protected]. Both events are free.
