Enlightening strolls through the downtown area. Unless otherwise provided in the tour description, tours will begin at the Springfield Museums Welcome Center, 21 Edwards St. on the Second Saturday of the month, May thru October. Tours are rain or shine and start at 10:30 am and end around noon and are free for SPT and Springfield Museums members; $5 for nonmembers.

This year, SPT is introducing some changes to the Second Saturday Walking Tours, including:

• Some tours will be held in historic neighborhoods outside of Downtown
• The tour season has been condensed from eight tours to six tours

The circumstances of this year have forced us to cancel the May and June tours. Massachusetts has entered phase three of opening, which includes the opening of museums and tours. SPT has decided to cautiously proceed with the Second Saturday walking tours based on this and by adhering to the following guidelines:

• No one should participate that is sick or feeling any COVID-19 symptoms such as fever, coughing and or trouble breathing
• Tours will be capped to a limited number of participants and participants must preregister for the tour
• Participants must wear masks that cover the nose and mouth during the tour
• Participants should avoid close contact, such as shaking hands, hugging or high-fives
• Participants should practice social distancing during the tour (except with members of the same household)

Registration

• Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis
• Registration will open for the next scheduled after the previous tour is complete
• Please do not register for more than yourself and one other person
• Register for a tour by emailing your name and up to one other name to admin@springfieldpreservation.org
• Agree to follow all the guidelines spelled out above
• You will receive a confirmation email and any additional information about the tour
• SPT and Springfield Museum members are free
• Nonmembers are $5.
• For tours not meeting at the Springfield Museums, please bring $5 in cash to the tour. Sorry, cannot accept credit cards.

2020 Schedule

• June 13 – Betsy Johnson, “Springfield Street Patterns – A Historical Look at Whether for People or Cars” POSTPONED UNTIL 2021
• July 11 – Derek Strahan, “Historic Buildings of Indian Orchard” (tour will meet in Indian Orchard neighborhood – must register to receive meeting location )
• August 8 – Ben Murphy, “History and Architecture of the Atwater Park Neighborhood” (tour will meet in Atwater Park neighborhood – must register to receive meeting location)
• September 12 – Bill Devlin “Tracking-down the railroads of old, in Springfield”
• October 10 – Bob McCarroll, “Early 19th Century Houses”