Past Events
LANTERNS & LEGACY: MAHJONG AT THE MUSEUM
Tuesday, May 19, 2026 6:30 – 9:00PM
Enjoy an incredible evening of Mahjong, refreshments, and community in the gorgeous setting of the Forbes House Museum.
Mahjong is coming to the Forbes House Museum – Join us for a fabulous evening! Partnering with 12 Sparrow Mahjong, the Forbes House Museum is hosting a Mahjong Fundraiser. Experienced players will enjoy an evening in the beautiful Forbes House Museum featuring open friendly competition, door prizes, wine, and unlimited light bites. And one lucky guest will go home with a stunning mahjong game set!
All proceeds support the operations of the Forbes House Museum, which provides programs in education, art and culture, and resources for our community.
We invite experienced Mahjong enthusiasts to support our Milton legacy. Games will be provided for each table.
Tickets: $75/per person. Each ticket includes goods and services with an estimated fair market value of $25. Any amount paid above this value, including additional donations, may be tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
Dress Code: Elevated Casual
SWEET BUSINESS: WOMEN AND CRAFT CHOCOLATE – A SPECIAL TASTING
Thursday, May 7, 2026 6:00 – 7:00PM
A delicious chocolate tasting and informational experience
The entrepreneurial spirit runs deep in the Forbes family! Elizabeth Murray Inman and Elizabeth Peck Perkins, Forbes ancestors, both independently oversaw importing enterprises and owned shops in colonial Boston. Elizabeth Murray Inman also insisted on only hiring young women to work in her shop, in order to give them a livelihood. In honor of these two remarkable women, the Museum will be hosting Cocoa Beantown, a woman-owned business, to lead participants through a special tasting of chocolates by women chocolate makers. A special treat right before Mother’s Day and a fun way to celebrate with a mother figure in your life!
Tickets: $40 general admission
THE MINIATURE PAINTER REVEALED: AMALIA KUSSNER’S GILDED AGE PURSUIT OF FAME AND FORTUNE
Tuesday, April 21, 2026 6:00 – 7:00PM
Author talk and book signing about the amazing Gilded Age artist
Throughout the latter half of the Gilded Age and up until WWI, Amalia Kussner was the sought-after artist to render exquisite miniature portraits of many of the Who’s Who of that era. Her impressive list of portraits included, among many others: Edward VII, Mrs. Astor, Czar Nicholas II, Cecil Rhodes, and the Duchess of Marlborough (born Consuelo Vanderbilt). As she became more famous, her popularity was compared with John Singer Sargent, and both their works were presented at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. But paralleling her astonishing career were scandals, such as a sudden and mysterious marriage in 1900, followed by a lawsuit, the contents of which have never been revealed.
Based on her book, The Miniature Painter Revealed: Amalia Kussner’s Pursuit of Fame and Fortune, biographer Kathleen Langone will present the full arc of Amalia’s amazing life; many images of her stunning portraits; and some new research uncovered since the book’s publication.
Author Kathleen Langone has been a historical researcher most of her adult life and has given presentations at historical societies and universities, and has been interviewed for TV and radio. She has written historical articles which covered local New England characters and natural disasters. Currently, Langone has a podcast series, People Hidden in History (iTunes), which highlights fascinating people in the arts and politics which are unknown to the general public.
Tickets: $8 general admission; $5 FHM members
Global Harmony Concert & Conversation: Baklava and Beats
Friday, March 20, 2026 7:00 – 8:30PM
Celebrate cultural connections through music, food, and conversation in the beautiful Forbes House Museum
In keeping with the Forbes family’s global connections, the Forbes House Museum presents a cultural evening where flavor and sound come together. Enjoy freshly served, honey-drizzled baklava while Baladi Beats brings the night to life with the rhythms of traditional Arab instruments. From soulful melodies to lively percussion, this event is a celebration of heritage, community, and the beauty of Arab tradition—meant to be savored, heard, and felt. Following the concert, the musicians will lead a conversation about the instruments and meaning of the music.
$15 general admission; $12 FHM members
This concert was sponsored in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council through the Milton Cultural Council.
Baladi Beats is a musical group based in New England, bringing traditional music and instruments from the levant region. The group was created by two best friends who discovered a passion for music in their high school years. They specialize in Arab music, instruments, and wedding performances such as dabke and zaffe entrances. The mission is to continue the heritage and tradition of their ancestors as first-generation Americans. Teaching people culture and tradition through music is their passion!
MAGICAL FULL MOON FELT PAINTING FOR LUNAR NEW YEAR!
Wednesday, February 18, 6:30 – 8:00PM
Create a gorgeous wool painting of a full moon rising over a wintry wood. In honor of Lunar New Year, let’s celebrate the magic of the moon!
Learn the art of painting with wool! Join fiber artist Rachel Benson of The Fiber Web to learn the art of felting while creating a magical full moon night scene in honor of the Lunar New Year. In this workshop, you will be guided step by step to learn techniques to create a flat scene using colored sheep’s wool. All levels welcome and all materials provided! NO experience necessary.
Appropriate for ages 14 and up.
$35 general admission (includes materials and snacks)
Instructor Rachel Benson is a fiber artist working primarily with needle felting and other media to create whimsical images of nature, both realistic and abstract. Rachel studied Fine Arts and Technical Theater in college and is currently a freelance artist and art teacher. She shares her love of art through teaching, commissions, and selling her work at craft fairs and galleries. She is a juried member of the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen, a member of the Princeton Arts Society and the Nashoba Valley Artists Guild. She has been teaching art classes for the last 10 years in her own private business, The Fiber Web along with the following venues: Fivesparks, Hollis Artspace, Periwinkle Glassworks, as well as workshops at many public libraries and community centers. She is passionate about creating and encouraging students to experiment, play, invent, and focus on the journey of art making rather than the final outcome.
DOUGLASS DAY 2026 Commemoration and Transcription Project
Friday, February 13, 2026, 12:00 – 3:00PM
In conjunction with national Douglass Day, the Forbes House Museum will host a transcribe-a-thon while livestreaming commemorative events.
Join the Forbes House Museum in honoring Frederick Douglass by joining in the transcribe-a-thon in our beautiful interiors. Transcribers should bring their own computer; wifi, tables, chairs, and snacks provided! FREE, BUT PLEASE RSVP.
The transcribe-a-thon will bring together thousands of participants at more than one hundred events taking place around the world. Students, teachers, and community members will help to transcribe an unprecedented collection of records from the historic Colored Conventions Movement. These materials have been digitized and made available through collaborations with the non-profit Zooniverse platform.
From 1830 until well after the Civil War, African Americans gathered across the United States and Canada to participate in political meetings held at the state and national levels. A cornerstone of Black organizing in the nineteenth century, these “Colored Conventions” brought Black men and women together in a decades-long campaign for civil and human rights. The Colored Conventions anticipated the rise of the NAAACP and the Civil Rights Movement.
Participants preserved the legacy of the Colored Conventions movement through the records that they kept. Delegates produced “minutes,” or transcriptions of the meetings, which include role calls and reports from various committees, including committees on civil rights, the Black press, and education, to name just a few of the topics that arose at conventions. We also know about Colored Conventions through newspaper articles that reported on them. Minutes and newspaper articles are some of the historical documents that you will get to transcribe.
12:00 to 12:30pm | Opening Presentations
- “Lift Every Voice and Sing”
- Douglass Day program overview
- Featured Speakers
- Transcription tutorial
12:30 to 1:00pm | Transcription Activity
- Time for transcribing, readings, discussions, etc.
- We’ll leave the live stream running, but will go silent.
1:00 to 1:30pm | Singing & Reading
- Sing “Happy birthday”
- A dramatic reading of “Why Hold a Colored Convention?” by Hassan El-Amin & introductions
1:30 to 2:00pm | Transcription Activity
- Time for transcribing, readings, discussions, etc.
2:00 to 2:20pm | Community Discussion
2:20 to 2:45pm | Transcription Activity
- Time for transcribing, readings, discussions, etc.
2:45 to 3:00pm | Closing Announcements
FLOWERS AT THE FORBES
Friday, January 23, 2026 – Sunday, January 25, 2026
11:00am – 4:00 pm Friday and Saturday; 11:00am – 3:00pm Sunday
Beautiful floral designs complementing the Museum’s collection
Throughout the two floors of the Museum, intricate floral pieces designed by members of the Milton Garden Club will be displayed next to the collection item which inspired the designer! A gorgeous, colorful way to spend a wintry day, and a new way to see the Museum.
$20 general admission/ $10 FHM members. Tickets available online and at the door. Ticket holders may enter anytime during the event on the day of ticket admission.
MISTLETOE AND MUSIC 
Saturday, December 13, 2025
7:00pm – 9:00 pm
A special holiday concert with a Broadway star!
The Museum is pleased to present Bart Shatto in an intimate holiday concert sure to warm your heart and bring the holiday cheer. Singing holiday classics plus a few fun twists, Bart’s one-man show will be the perfect evening to truly start the holiday season. A dessert reception will follow, and attendees will have the opportunity to meet and chat with Bart to hear all about his experiences on the stages of Broadway!
$75 general admission/$65 members
Hailed as “a star performer,” Bart Shatto has made his mark on Broadway, televison, movies, and beyond. A member of the original Broadway casts of the Tony-nominated shows Hands on a Hardbody and The Civil War, he has also appeared on Broadway in War Paint, originated the role of Quincey Morris in Dracula, and, most significantly, starred in the iconic role of Jean Valjean in Les Miserables.
Television credits include guest appearances on “Murphy Brown,” NBC’s “Chicago Med,” Fox Family’s “Ghost Stories,” and “Guiding Light”. He co-stars in the feature film “Freedom” opposite Cuba Gooding Jr.
As a singer, he is a veteran member of the Gold/Platinum-selling symphonic progressive rock band Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and is on the cast albums of Stephen Schwartz’s Children of Eden and Tara Tremendous.
HOLIDAY HURRAH!
Saturday, December 13, 2025
11:00am – 1:00 pm
A festive Open House to usher in the holiday season
The Museum will be dressed in its finest for the holidays! Carolers from Milton High School will be singing festive tunes, and 19th-century reenactors will provide an historic flair. Visitors can indulge in a hot chocolate bar, and youngsters (or the young at heart) can make and take home a holiday craft. Come celebrate with us!
Free to attend; please RSVP (but walk-ins are always welcome.)
Thank you to 
for sponsoring the hot chocolate bar!
