What's New at DCHS

With April well underway, we wanted to provide our members and viewers with some simple updates as to what's new here at DCHS and what's coming soon.

First, we've been collecting for yard sale donations since April 1st and are still accepting items that people wish to bring us until the time of the sale, which will be held May 1st through May 3rd. May 1st will be our Members Only Night from 4:00 - 6:00 p.m., but the sale will be open to the public on May 2nd and 3rd from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. We highly encourage you to spread the word!

We've been occasionally adding new books to our Book Room to sell, and we hope to continue to add more in the weeks ahead. As always, if you have any history books you are getting rid of (particularly related to anything local/Eastern Shore), we accept book donations anytime.

Next, if you look below, you'll see a photo of members of the Neild family standing beside a tree that has just been planted on the property in memory of Ann Neild, daughter-in-law of Mr. John S. Neild, Sr. who helped give the Neild Museum here at DCHS its name. This tree is a black gum tree and will grow slowly but surely along Greenway Drive. We ask anyone parking on our lawn to be mindful of the tree while we await the caging materials that will protect it while it grows.

Photo provided by the South Dorchester Folk Museum.

Speaking of trees and our property, we're making preparations for our upcoming Volunteer Day on April 19th (rain date Apr. 26)! We have just received our delivery of mulch to be used in the flowerbeds alongside the museum, and we have planted a new flowering dogwood tree in the garden. We would love to have you volunteer with us as we work on cleaning up the property this month. It's a great way to celebrate Earth Day, too!

Thanks to kind members and donors, we are making progress in crossing off items and projects on our wish list. We've received a dishwasher for the Meredith House that we hope to replace our old one with soon. We've received funding to purchase new solar lights to place around the property and new signage to help educate visitors about the beautiful trees and plants that dot our grounds. The museum and walkways have been pressure washed, and we received some new cleaning supplies. We are extremely grateful for all of your support.

We also have some kind volunteers assisting us with additional filing and research projects in our library, including researching Silent City Cemetery burial records and sorting large collections of materials related to Sewell Matthews Real Estate and the Dorchester General Hospital. We could certainly use more help in sorting collections like these and preparing them to be more accessible in our library. If you have some time to spare and would like to sit down for an hour or two every now and then to help, please reach out to us anytime.

We've been holding quite a few private events at our facility as of late, and this is a good time for us to remind you/mention that you can always reach us to inquire about renting our facility spaces, holding tea parties, or booking group tours! Our phone number is 410-228-7953, and our email address is dchs@verizon.net.

On a separate note, please keep an eye out for additional notices on our website, Facebook page, and other outlets between now and May. We anticipate we will soon be sharing other updates regarding our schedule of open hours, the yard sale, and other upcoming events.

As a special heads up, this summer, on July 10th at 7:00 p.m., author Dr. Eric Cheezum will be coming to present here at DCHS on his book Chessie. This event, which will highlight eyewitness accounts of sightings of Chessie the bay monster, will be something you won't want to miss! We expect there to be some other exciting happenings that evening, and we'd love to see you there!

In the meantime, we are following up on many little projects around the society to ensure there will be plenty of fun to come throughout the rest of 2025. For additional notices, please subscribe to our website at the bottom of this page.

Thanks for reading, and if you have a question, let us know!

~ DCHS