John Hays Hammond Jr. always intended his castle home to be a museum. He wrote of his intentions to his father as early as 1924, two years before he broke ground on its eventual site, and the organization was officially incorporated in 1930. Hammond wanted the Museum to serve as his lasting legacy, as he grimly predicted that his scientific career would soon be forgotten after his passing. Recognizing that the opportunities made possible by his privileged upbringing were not available to most people, his goal was to create an authentic, historical European atmosphere inside the walls of the building so that visitors could get a taste of the Old World without leaving the United States.
Following Hammond’s death in 1965, the stewardship of the Museum passed into the hands of the Catholic Church, under the watch of Cardinal Richard Cushing, the famous Archbishop of Boston. While not Catholic himself, the inventor and the prelate had become friends, and as Hammond possessed a large collection of medieval religious artifacts, it seemed an appropriate choice. However, due to the high operating and maintenance costs involved with the property, the Church divested itself of the Museum in the 1970s, and it became a private nonprofit entity. Thereafter, its tours and exhibits focused largely on the medieval aspects of the building and its collection.
We have a two-pronged approach to our educational programming, bringing the Museum back to its roots and Hammond’s original intentions as well as refocusing on our founder himself and his scientific achievements. As such, we are now a STEAM organization (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) as well as a historic house museum and lapidarium, with works of stone and marble given prominence over the paintings more commonly emphasized in other museums. We believe that this unconventional blend makes our Museum a unique New England treasure.
In addition to educating our visitors about the pioneering and historically significant work of Hammond in fields as diverse as radio control, television, robotics, kitchen appliances, toys, and games, we also use his career as an example to inspire young minds.
Our exhibits have increasingly focused on STEAM topics in recent years, and we intend to continue such programming well into the future with new types of tours, events, and activities designed to foster intellectual curiosity about science, technology, and engineering, and how these fields interact with and contribute to art and media.
In addition to educating our visitors about the pioneering and historically significant work of Hammond in fields as diverse as radio control, television, robotics, kitchen appliances, toys, and games, we also use his career as an example to inspire young minds.
Our exhibits have increasingly focused on STEAM topics in recent years, and we intend to continue such programming well into the future with new types of tours, events, and activities designed to foster intellectual curiosity about science, technology, and engineering, and how these fields interact with and contribute to art and media.
At the same time, our investment into archival digitization and research has revealed fascinating insights into Hammond, his associates, and collection that in some cases has dramatically changed our previous assumptions and interpretations.
With new and rediscovered information, we have been able to revise our tours and create new programs that offer a much more accurate picture of our founder and his collection than ever before. This enables us to get closer to what Hammond intended for the Museum.
By concentrating on our unique combination of history, art, and science, Hammond Castle Museum is an ever-evolving organization that offers visitors and members an experience unlike any other in New England.
