The Mathews Museum opens Saturday to kick off the 2025 season, with an exhibit on loan from Hampton Museum exploring the role played by Fort Monroe in accepting and harboring runaway slaves during the Civil War.

A release from the museum states that “The exhibit looks at the lives of people who came to Hampton, and who in many ways became political activists by moving toward freedom.”

In addition, an exhibit of handmade quilts from members of the Bay Quilters of Mathews and other county residents opens Saturday, to remain in place through March.

Also this weekend, as the museum observes Black History Month, are performances at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Cobbs Creek Arts Center, 61 Cobbs Creek Lane.

The afternoon features the Men’s and Women’s Choruses from Ebenezer Baptist Church, Cobbs Creek, as well as classically trained vocalist Joshua Allen of Richmond, who will sing and play sacred and secular selections on his handmade instruments.

The following weekend, the museum, located at 200 Main Street in Mathews, will further explore the Fort Monroe connection in a movie, “Freedom’s Fortress.” The movie starts at 7.

Public input

Also on Feb. 7, the museum will ask the community’s input for 2025 in an open meeting that starts at 5:30.

Additional upcoming events planned by the museum include May Faire 2025, with a theme “A Rural Life: Country Stores, Post Offices and Wharfs” on two days this year, May 2 and 3.