Hamilton House Garden, South Berwick, ME
Gardens of the Isles of Shoals and of the Hamilton House in South Berwick will be the subject of an illustrated lecture at 7:30 pm Thursday, April 23 at Berwick Academy’s Jeppesen Science Center on Academy Street, South Berwick. The program, “Shoals and Tidewater,” is presented by the Old Berwick Historical Society. The lecture is free, and refreshments will be served by volunteers
Landscape historian Nancy Mayer Wetzel of South Berwick will talk about the two preeminent turn-of-the-last-century New England gardens, which are connected by 25 miles of salt waterways — Celia Thaxter’s garden on the Isles of Shoals, and Emily Tyson and Elise Tyson Vaughan’s garden at Hamilton House on the Salmon Falls River.
Wetzel will use stories and vintage photos to portray the 19th century garden makers, Thaxter and the Tysons, and the 20th century garden restorers, Shoals Marine Laboratory of Cornell University and Historic New England.
The talk will also feature the works of Childe Hassam, Sarah Orne Jewett, Karl Thaxter and Paul J. Weber for House Beautiful Magazine. These artists and writers immortalized the gardens as kingdoms by the sea in paintings, literature, photographs and publications.
Wetzel lectures and writes on turn-of-the-20th century garden history and the notable plantswomen of that period. She is a landscape gardener whose practice has included two of the gardens in her slide programs, those at Hamilton House and Jewett House, museum properties owned by Historic New England. She has also been a contributing author to several books.
This event is part of the Old Berwick Historical Society’s 2009 series of talks, walks and historical events. The series, supported by a member donations and a grant from Kennebunk Savings Bank, includes seven monthly evening presentations as well as other local history events around South Berwick, including the society’s Counting House Museum.
More information on all the Old Berwick Historical Society’s programs is available at info@obhs.net, or by calling (207) 384-0000.
