Fall 2025 Conference

Ancient Places, Living Histories: Stones, Stories, and Settlement

November 7 - 9 in Bridgewater Massachusetts

The Fall 2025 NEARA Conference will be at the Moakley Center Auditorium of Bridgewater State University in Bridgewater Massachusetts on the second weekend of November. We have reserved a block of rooms at the Holiday Inn Express in Middleborough MA.

The Bridgewater area is rich in history and prehistory, with weirs, grinding stones, petroglyphs, stone walls and chambers, historic inscriptions, pulpit rocks, "praying village" sites, and many landmarks associated with King Philip's War.

Conference Speakers

Speakers will include:

The featured speaker on Friday will be Dr. Ian Saxine, Rethinking Plymouth–Wampanoag Relations in Early Massachusetts.

The keynote speaker after the Saturday banquet will be Dr. Sara Baires, Cahokia's Emergence and Urbanism.

The conference committees are always looking for good speakers. Help us by recommending a great presenter at: Suggest a Speaker

Field Trips

Friday field trips are currently planned for King Philip's Rock, for Indian Head River, plus an explore-on-your-own-schedule tour of the Bridgewater area.

Sunday field trips are currently planned for Middleborough and Lakeville, for Foxborough State Forest, and for Bournedale and Plymouth.

Field trip information will be emailed to conference registrants about one week before the event.

Conference Registration

The cost of the conference until November 1st:

Registration can be online or by USPS mail with a check. USPS mail must arrive by October 31st. Online registration will be available soon.

After the banquet registration cutoff date of November 1st, online-only conference registration will cost $100, until November 6th.

Finally, on-site registration for the conference is still possible but will cost $105. Signing up for the banquet will not be possible then, nor any time after November 1st.

Brunch at the campus dining commons will be available for attendees for $11. The rooms at the Holiday Inn Express also include breakfast.

Remember: the banquet sign-up cutoff date is November 1st.

Reserving a hotel room

The Holiday Inn Express is at: Holiday Inn Express, 45 Harding St, Middleborough MA (Google Maps).

A block of hotel rooms is reserved for NEARA until October 10th. The room rate, $129 per night (plus taxes), includes breakfast. The rooms include a single king bed or two queens.

Book a room at the IHG web site for the NEARA Fall 2025 Conference. Or call 888-465-4329 for reservations and mention NEARA for the room block rate.

Remember: the hotel cutoff date for the NEARA Fall Conference rate is October 8th.

This page will be updated as new information arrives.