About Us

We are a group of over 250 members who share an interest in American history in general and New England history in particular. Meetings are held at the Kent Memorial Library on the third Wednesday of the month, September to November and March to June, for lectures, historical entertainments, and other programs. The public is invited.

The Society owns and operates the King House Museum, which is open free of charge on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 1:00 - 4:00 p.m. May through September. Built in 1764 by Dr. Alexander King, an influential figure in Suffield history, the museum's period rooms house an excellent collection of local furnishings. The gallery rooms contain a fine exhibit of local tobacco growing and cigar manufacturing history, as well as significant special collections of early flasks and bottles, embroidery samplers, Bennington pottery, Suffield postcards, and other local memorabilia.

A barn at the museum houses a number of early carriages and sleighs and an expanding collection of the larger pieces used locally in growing and processing tobacco.

The Society sponsors an annual spring bus trip to nearby places of historical interest and opens the King House Museum for a special holiday exhibit on the first weekend of December. The museum's Curator, Town Historian Lester Smith, assembles a monthly column in The Suffield Observer excerpting news items from "100 Years Ago in Suffield." (He can sometimes answer inquiries about local history, but genealogical questions are best addressed to the Kent Memorial Library, which offers an excellent historical and genealogical collection.)

We welcome new members and offer, besides the programs and trips mentioned above, opportunities to volunteer in numerous other ways, such as a museum docent or as an occasional helper during special events, in work parties at the museum or as a writer or editor of our quarterly newsletter.

Most importantly, we offer the opportunity to learn and socialize with like-minded friends and neighbors.

Officers And Trustees