FIND US
We are open Sundays from 12-4PM from June through September.
We are located at 225 Nonotuck St. Florence, MA.
Contact us at info@davidrugglescenter.org to arrange an appointment year round.
Our mailing address is:
The David Ruggles Center PO Box 60175 Florence, MA 01062
Directions are available through Google Maps.
Public Transportation: PVTA buses go by the museum and to nearby Florence center.
ACCESSIBILITY
A wheelchair ramp allows the museum to be fully accessible on the main floor.
CURRENT EXHIBITS
David Ruggles: At the Vanguard of Liberty
“The Spirit Calls me There”: Sojourner Truth in Florence 1844-1857
Lydia Maria Child: Abolitionist
Erasmus Darwin Hudson
Northampton’s Mayor David Narkewicz in the David Ruggles room.
WALKING TOURS
Guided tours are scheduled between June and September. Check the calendar for upcoming tours.
Walk the African-American history trail in Florence and see Sojourner Truth’s house, abolitionist sites, and the site of the 19th-century utopian community in Florence. We will explain what brought a progressive, innovative group of people to Florence in the 19th century and how they influenced Florence’s development.
Watch our calendar for special tours, focusing on women’s history, the Underground Railroad, and other topics throughout the year.
Tours are free and open to the public though a suggested donation of $5 is welcome.
Special group tours are available by appointment.
SELF-GUIDED TOURS
In 1850, the small village of Florence (then Bensonville), had a higher percentage of African Americans than nearby Springfield or even other strongly abolitionist communities in New Bedford and Boston. Many in this significant if short-lived historical community were self-emancipated former slaves. Others like Sojourner Truth and David Ruggles were among the nation’s leading black activists in the struggle to end slavery.
The abolitionists and women’s rights activists, Sojourner Truth and Lydia Maria Child, lived here for extended periods. The transcendentalist educator, Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, played a key role in founding the the first free, endowed kindergarten in the United States, which continues today as the Hill Institute. These and many other women are but a few of those whose stories enrich a walk through the streets of Florence.
The video series takes you on a guided tour of the African American Heritage Trail. The trail explores the Florence of Sojourner Truth’s time, when she lived in this small Massachusetts community in the mid-1800s. We are fortunate that so many of the historic homes and buildings remain as reminders of the contributions and legacy of the many abolitionists, Underground Railroad agents, and former slaves who called Florence home in the 19th century. Courtesy of the Sojourner Truth Memorial Committee.