MONSON – On Dec. 11, the Monson Historical Society is hosting its Holiday Open House from 1 to 4 p.m. at the historic Jacob Thompson House Museum at 7 Main St.

The event is free to the public. Attendees get a chance to meet some of the Monson Historical Society members and enjoy touring the museum decked out in decorations this holiday season. Voluntary donations will be gladly accepted. Masks are suggested, but not required.

“The Winter Open House has been going on for 30 years,” said President Dennis Swierad. “It’s been three years and we’re taking this time to reintroduce ourselves to the community and town. Lots of new people are moving into town and we want them to see our museum.”

Swierad went on to say, “Our house was recently placed on the National Register of Historic Places, a process that took almost ten years and we also restored our south parlor to its former glory using period-appropriate wallpaper and window treatments.”

Incorporated in 1959, the Monson Historical Society is an all-volunteer organization preserving historical artifacts, data and articles pertaining to the town of Monson. Swierad told Reminder Publishing the Holiday Open House is their Christmas celebration. They want to take care of the people in town, show them what they’ve got and what they’ve been doing.

“It’s very important that we open up as many times as we can to make it highly visible to the town and the area around,” Swierad said. “We also want to preserve the artifacts. We moved our archives collection from our Green Street property to the Thompson House. It’s a little bit more accessible and more temperature controlled, air conditioned and heated just for the collection.” He continued, “For a small organization, we’ve been doing pretty good post COVID[-19]. We’re keeping our head above water and we’re going to be opening again.”

To learn more information about the Society, visit their website at monsonhistoricalsociety.org.