The Somerset Historical Center

05/27/2026

Join us for a relaxing evening on the lawn at First Friday!

Scheduled for the first Friday of the summer months of June, July, and August, First Fridays are a relaxing evening filled with great music and even better company. Enjoy delicious food from local vendors as you take it all in.

Admission is free with a parking fee. Some seating is provided, but guests may feel free to bring additional seating or blankets.

05/16/2026

Here are some snapshots from the second annual Herb and Garden Fair. Guests enjoyed the beautiful weather while our local vendors displayed a variety of plants, herbal goods, and handcrafted items.

Thank you to the vendors, volunteers, and visitors who helped make it such a wonderful day! We can't wait to see you again next year.

05/04/2026

Celebrate all things herb and garden at the second annual Herb & Garden Fair! Shop local and enjoy hand-crafted pottery, baked goods, herbal soaps, and other holistic goods.

📅 Saturday, May 16th
🕘 9 AM – 3 PM
📍 Somerset Historical Center

Southwestern Pennsylvania's rural heritage museum.

05/01/2026

Last month, we hosted our first historic dance class with dancing master Brett Walker. With a fair number of missteps and even more smiles, guests learned the basics of numerous historic social dances. Students will piece these foundational skills together to perform more complex dances such as quadrilles, square dance, line dance, and contra-dancing.

We encourage you to join us at the next class on Tuesday, May 5th. This is an activity for all ages with new members always welcome. The first lesson is free for all new students!

Interested in joining in on the fun? Register at the link below:
https://guildfellows.org/workshop/coming-soon-historic-dance-somerset-pa/

📅 Tuesday, May 5th
🕘 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
📍 Somerset Historical Center
🎟️ FREE first lesson for new students

04/29/2026

Attention Fiber Friends!

Our next meeting will be held this Saturday, May 2nd. Join us for a discussion of color theory in textiles, as we explore how color harmony can enhance your work. The previously scheduled lucet demonstration will take place at a later date. Please bring any projects you are currently working on. New members are always welcome!

📅 Saturday, May 2, 2026
🕘 9 AM – 12 PM
📍 Somerset Historical Center

04/27/2026

Another year, another annual school of coopering in the books!

Over the course of this three-day workshop, 11 participants learned how to construct a keeler using traditional materials and tools. These practices were preserved by local coopers and are passed down each year with the annual school of coopering. Thank you to our participants and to the instructor, Mark Ware, for another successful coopering class.

04/23/2026

Spring has sprung and the staff at the Somerset Historical Center are officially ready for school tours!

From gathering food and making clothing to mastering skilled trades, over 650 children will come experience life as it once was in the glades. We have practiced our textile demonstrations, prepared the log house and summer kitchen, and dusted off the blacksmith forge in preparation for their arrival. We can't wait to see all the smiling faces next month!

04/21/2026

This weekend, Shanksville Pack 151 returned for their second annual Night at the Museum. Scouts tried their hand at historic ropemaking, made oven-baked pizzas, learned from our master gardeners in the historic garden, and enjoyed some fishing. The evening wrapped up with a screening of Night at the Museum.

Thank you to the troop leaders, staff, and volunteers who helped make this a memorable night for our next generation of historians.

04/17/2026

On this day in 1795, Somerset County, Pennsylvania was created from part of Bedford County. It was named after Somersetshire (Somerset County) England and a small town called Brunerstown was chosen as the county seat and renamed Somerset.

While not a "big" year for Somerset County, 2026 is a year of anniversaries for the United States of America and for the events of September 11, 2001. To help honor these dates, we are announcing a special 25 / 250 edition of the Somerset County Passport to History!

Passport booklets will be available starting May 15th at the Somerset Historical Center. Inside the booklet you will find clues to 25 historical sites around Somerset County. Solve the clues and visit each location to collect a crayon or pencil rubbing in your passport booklet. Collect 16 rubbings and receive a commemorative keepsake. Collect all 25 to be entered into a Grand Prize Drawing!

Stay tuned for more information about the Summer Passport to History in the next few weeks.

04/07/2026

We would like to extend a warm thank you to last night’s guest speaker, Dr. Paul Douglas Newman, for his fascinating lecture on Native Americans in Pennsylvania before and during the American Revolution.

We are also grateful to everyone who attended our annual meeting as we discussed past and upcoming programming at the Somerset Historical Center. Your support makes these events possible. Here’s to many more successful programs this year!