CHS was started in 1973 as a non-profit, non-political organization whose aim was and is to provide future generations with a small "window on the past" - showing through artifacts and records what life was like in this quiet farming community in the 19th Century. A marvelous glimpse of Charlestown's past is provided by the Society's 1983 reprint of "Pictures from Memory's Wall", a poem and photographs published as a booklet by Richard S. MacNamee in 1905. The entire booklet is available from our The early days section, courtesy of the Charlestown Historical Society.