History of the Museum:
In 1884 a young Rehoboth minister, George H. Tilton, decided that something should be done to preserve the remnants of the town’s colonial past. Thus inspired, he founded the Rehoboth Antiquarian Society in March of that year. The Society was established for several purposes: to preserve artifacts relating to Rehoboth's history, to maintain a meeting hall, and to run a consolidated school. Construction started on the first Goff Memorial Hall, a large, wooden Victorian-style building, and it was dedicated in March 1886. The antiquarian room was housed on the first floor. In July 1911, the building was struck by lightning and burned to the ground. Fortunately all of the artifacts were saved. A new Goff Memorial Hall was quickly planned and built (this time of brick), and was dedicated in May 1915.
During America's bicentennial year, as community interest in local history was at a peak, a decision was reached to build a separate structure to house the collection of the Rehoboth Antiquarian Society. Backed by the donation of land and money from Elsie and E. Winsor Carpenter, a fund drive was launched to raise funds to build a new museum on Locust Avenue. Despite the doubts of many as to the feasibility of this project, the Carpenter Museum was constructed entirely by donated funds at an eventual cost of $73,000. Hundreds of volunteer hours were devoted to this large endeavor.
Modeled after a local 1760 gambrel-roofed house, the Museum contains exhibit rooms, artifact storage area, and social room with kitchen facilities. Also on the grounds is a reproduction of a 1746 post-and-beam barn. It was constructed in 1993 with a community barn raising, one of the events that celebrated Rehoboth's 350th anniversary.
