The Madison Historical Society planned its Saturday, November 7 Lantern Tour around a walk across the Madison Green by lantern light. Groups of up to twenty were scheduled to leave Lee's Academy every twenty minutes between 5:00 and 9:00 p.m., guided by youth reenactors playing Madison residents from different eras of the town's past. The Society titled this year's tour "Our History, Our Stories" and built it around the town's 200th anniversary. Each group was to finish with refreshments at the Madison Center for History & Culture.
Madison was incorporated in 1826, and the Town's bicentennial page has tracked the anniversary all year. The year is ending at the same addresses where it started. The bicentennial calendar for the rest of the season sits within a few blocks of the Green: Lee's Academy at 14 Meetinghouse Lane, the Allis-Bushnell House at 853 Boston Post Road, E.C. Scranton Memorial Library at 801 Boston Post Road, and Madison Cinemas. Most of these are the town's regular November and December events, and this year they double as the anniversary.
The Last Five Weeks, Date by Date
- Friday, November 13: Madison Farmer's Market on the Town Green
- Saturday and Sunday, November 14 and 15, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.: Shoreline Arts Trail open studios, including a free stop at Lee's Academy
- Saturday, November 21, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.: Madison Historical Society Holiday Market at Lee's Academy
- Saturday, November 21, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Open house at the Allis-Bushnell House Museum
- Saturday, December 5, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.: The Chamber's Holiday Celebration along Boston Post Road
- Through Tuesday, December 15: "Painting the 13 Historic Districts of Madison" at Madison Cinemas
Lee's Academy Has Held Both Ends of the Year
The Board of Selectmen created the Madison 200 | America 250 Steering Committee to plan the commemoration and coordinate with town organizations, as Patch reported when the committee was recruiting volunteers in 2024. Rosalyn Cama chairs the committee. In its Summer 2026 newsletter, the Madison Historical Society covered the June 13 Bicentennial & Flag Day Commemoration, which was held at Lee's Academy and included her remarks.
During the summer, the anniversary spread across town. The Town scheduled a free Rising Strawberry Moon Festival at the Madison Surf Club for June 27. The Historical Society scheduled its "From Before to Beyond" gala for August 4 at the Madison Beach Hotel on West Wharf Road. Now the calendar has moved back to the Green. Five of the remaining events on the list above take place at Lee's Academy or within sight of it. The building had a busy run of Saturdays this fall: the Lantern Tour on November 7, open studios on November 14 and 15, and the Holiday Market on November 21.
The Town's October 30 community update described the Lantern Tour this way:
"As part of Madison's 200th anniversary celebration, this year's Lantern Tour brings 200 years of Madison history to life in 'Our History, Our Stories.'"
That's the pattern for the rest of the year. The Historical Society, the library, the Chamber and the Art Society are running their usual events and tying them to the anniversary.
November 14 and 15: Ten Studios, Two on Meetinghouse Lane
The Shoreline Arts Trail is a once-a-year open studios weekend. Its 45 member artists live and work in Branford, Guilford and Madison. This year it runs Saturday, November 14, and Sunday, November 15, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on both days. Visitors can see paintings, ceramics, glasswork, jewelry, sculpture, photography, printmaking, textiles, collage and woodworking.
The Trail's Madison page lists ten participating artists and their studio addresses:
- Robert Dietz, 13 Five Fields Road
- Hilary Griffin, 38 Windward Lane
- Anita Griffith and Robert Parrott, both at 120 Acorn Road
- Melissa Imossi, 12 Dogwood Lane
- Don Keene, 4 New Road #9
- Lady MacRady, 20 Maplewood Lane
- Janine Robertson, 10 Scotland Avenue
- Nikki Travaglino and Alex Wetmore, both at 14 Meetinghouse Lane
The last address is Lee's Academy. The Madison Center for History & Culture is hosting Wetmore and Travaglino there for the weekend, and the Town calendar says that stop is free and open to the public. The building that hosted the Lantern Tour one Saturday becomes a gallery the next. You could start or finish a Madison loop of the Trail on Meetinghouse Lane and stop at the Green on the way.
The Farmer's Market comes the day before. The Town describes it as running Friday afternoons from May through Thanksgiving on the Historic Town Green, and the town calendar lists it on Friday, November 13. Thanksgiving is November 26 this year, so the market season is almost over.
November 21: Two Doors Open on the Same Morning
The next Saturday puts two Historical Society buildings to work at once. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., the Society's annual Holiday Market at Lee's Academy sells gifts from local vendors. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., the Allis-Bushnell House Museum at 853 Boston Post Road holds an open house. Admission is free, and donations are welcome.
The museum is showing a pop-up exhibit on the Garden Club of Madison, covering the club's origins and the community projects its members have taken on over the years. The exhibit was also scheduled for the museum's November 7 open house. November 21 is the second chance to see it on the calendar.
The two open houses overlap by two hours, and both buildings are close to the Green. Morning shoppers at the Holiday Market can see the Garden Club exhibit before the museum closes at 1 p.m.
The Anniversary Show Is Hanging in a Movie Theater
The bicentennial exhibit with the longest run hangs at Madison Cinemas. The Madison Art Society's plein-air exhibit, "Painting the 13 Historic Districts of Madison," is up through December 15, 2026. According to the First Selectwoman's September 4 community update, it was created to celebrate the bicentennial. The update also announced a September 10 reception with a free 7 p.m. movie afterward.
Madison has thirteen historic districts, and each one appears in the show. Most of the season's other bicentennial events happen on a single Saturday afternoon, but this show is up through early December, so you can catch it before any evening showing. The same update links to a Madison 200 online store that sells shirts, totes and other merchandise to support the celebrations.
December 5: Santa Takes Boston Post Road
The Madison Chamber of Commerce lists its Holiday Celebration for Saturday, December 5, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in downtown Madison along Boston Post Road. Santa arrives on an antique sleigh and travels from Madison Hose No. 1 to the Scranton Library to greet families. The Chamber's program includes holiday music, photo spots, an appearance by The Grinch, cookie decorating with the Newcomers Club, tractor rides with Madison Earth Care, and a mailbox for letters to Santa. The listing asks families to register in advance.
The sleigh's route ends at 801 Boston Post Road. The library at that address is also hosting a bicentennial project. The Town has described a Scranton Library podcast called Madison Memories, which invites residents to record their own stories of the town. That makes the library both a stop on the holiday route and the place where the anniversary's oral history is being recorded.
The Chamber also lists a holiday Business After Hours on Wednesday, December 9, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. at Madison Prime Steakhouse, 251 Boston Post Road. The Chamber is running a toy drive with the Madison Police Department that night, and guests are asked to bring a new, unwrapped toy. Six days later, the paintings come down at Madison Cinemas, and that's the last date on Madison's bicentennial calendar for 2026.
Where the Two Hundred Years Go Next
The Lantern Tour, the Arts Trail and the Holiday Market are all regular events that would have happened in any year. In 2026, they're also how the town is marking its 200th, and those events are what residents will remember from it. Residents who want to add their own story to the Madison Memories podcast can follow the bicentennial page for details.
Jules G. Etes keeps up with Madison's calendar as closely as its market, from the Historical Society's Saturdays on Meetinghouse Lane to the paintings at Madison Cinemas. If the 200th anniversary has you wondering what your own place in Madison's history is worth today, Jules would be glad to give you a clear, local answer. Request a Free Home Valuation.
