Newton's neighborhood historian

By Bennett Gavrish

NEWTON – Nearly 200 years ago, slaves found refuge at a small house on the outskirts of Newtonville.

Inside that same gray building today, Cindy Stone is preserving the history of the Underground Railroad.

Stone is the director of the Newton History Museum at the Jackson Homestead, where the city’s cultural and political past is put on display for citizens and outsiders.

“The challenge for me is to learn the history and then figure out how I’m going to translate it for different audiences,” said Stone, sitting at a table in one of the museum’s main exhibition halls. “It’s not just reading the information. It’s all about what you do with it.”

Stone is from Winchester, but said she was attracted to the Newton’s museum because of her background in art history and experience in the area.

Stone ran the education program at the Museum of Fine Arts before hearing about the director position at the Newton History Museum.

“I knew I probably had one more career in me, so I asked myself what I should do,” she said. “This opportunity was really nice because I thought Newton was a progressive community and I love doing community-based things. So here I am.”

Since Mayor David Cohen named Stone director in June 2006, her colleagues say she has had a meaningful impact on the museum and the city.

“When Cindy took the job, one of the ideas that she brought to the organization was to really focus on the ties between the past and the present, because that’s what history is all about,” said Melissa Westlake, the public programs manager at the Newton History Museum.

Stone’s staff members said she has drawn more attention to the museum and what it has to offer.

“She’s really taken a great leadership role in trying to make the museum more noticeable,” said Kate Bresee, a staff assistant at the museum. “Not only has she made people more aware of it in the community and in Boston, but also on a national level.”

During her time as director, Stone has organized projects such as the museum’s school programs and the purchase of historical properties in Newton.

She may also add a classroom at the back of the museum for children to do hands-on projects.
“I consider Cindy the ringmaster or conductor of this place,” said David Oliver, the museum’s director of development. “She definitely has a lot to manage and she’s continuously busy.”

And when she is not balancing budgets or reading about historical houses in the area, Stone serves as a leader to her staff of Newton experts.

“Cindy is extremely easy to work with,” said Lynette Aznavourian, the museum’s public relations manager. “She’s very positive in the way she distributes work, and she always gives us information about what’s going on at all levels of the organization.”

Stone said her favorite exhibit at the museum is a special display of pictures and memorabilia from Norumbega Park, a popular tourist destination in Newton that included an amusement park and ballroom before it burned down in 1965.

“A lot of people have fond memories of Norumbega because they had their high school prom there,” Stone said. “It’s very satisfying for me to see people come look at the exhibit and reminisce or learn something new.”