The murals are back up at the future home of the South Berwick Library on Young St. Here is one by Mary Lou Bagley.

]]> http://the236diner.com/2010/12/02/1222010-seen-in-south-berwick/feed/ 0 http://the236diner.com/2010/11/28/dogs-of-south-berwick-jack-the-corgi/ http://the236diner.com/2010/11/28/dogs-of-south-berwick-jack-the-corgi/#comments Sun, 28 Nov 2010 18:08:41 +0000 Molly Colman http://the236diner.com/?p=2970

This a Jack, a Corgi. Jack has a part time job as the Maitre d' at the Early Bird Cafe. Stop in and say hi to him.

Artists' murals are beginning to fill the windows of the future library.

It’s a good time to take a walk by the Young Street building that is slated to become the new South Berwick Public Library to see the first signs of the new life the building will soon enjoy.

John Klossner is coordinating the project.

Creative townspeople have stepped forward to spiff up the building, formerly St. Michael’s Catholic Church, as it awaits the transformation from a building in need of tender loving care to an energy efficient, modern library. South Berwick resident John Klossner, with support from the Friends of the Library, has organized a project to cover up the boarded up windows with murals, collages and sculptures created by local artists.

The first three murals have gone up. One, by South Berwick’s Gordon Carlisle, is a tribute to Melvil Dewey, the inventor of the Dewey Decimal system. Two others were painted by Katie Robb, a Berwick Academy student.  Fifteen artists have come forward to create windows that will be installed over the next year. Mr. Klossner sought and received a grant from NH Charitable Foundation to support the project and got donations of left over paint from townspeople at the annual Friends of the South Berwick Library book sale in May.

This outdoor art exhibit will last throughout the renovation project, and artists have been invited to donate their work to the library for future exhibitions.

So what is a gundalow?  Here’s this from www.gundalow.org:

A gundalow is a shallow drafted type of cargo barge, once common in the Gulf of Maine’s rivers and estuaries. The Piscataqua gundalow began as a simple undecked barge, first appearing in the mid 1600s, poled or rowed with long sweeps (oars). From the 1700s into the 1900s gundalows evolved into fully decked flat-bottomed cargo carriers with a cabin and lateen sail that could be lowered to “shoot” under bridges. The sail acted as an ‘auxiliary engine’ since gundalows depended on the tides to take them upriver on the rising tide and downriver on the falling tide.

Gundalows were the equivalent of today’s tractor-trailer rigs, sometimes measuring over 70 feet long and 19 feet wide. They could navigate shallow rivers, carrying freight of up to 50 tons between ocean-going schooners and the growing towns of the Piscataqua region. Raw cotton, spices and other goods from around the world were transported from the schooners to area businesses and factories.  Farm produce, oysters and fish, lumber, manufactured goods, locally made bricks, native-hewn granite, cordwood and coal were all carried on gundalows.

To learn more about gundalows in South Berwick read about the Landing Wharves of South Berwick and Capt. Gooch Cheney (1836-1895), South Berwick Gundalow Man at the Old Berwick Historical Society website.

An update about the North Berwick Farmer’s Market:  It happens every Friday from 3-6 PM in the N. Berwick Town Hall parking lot.  This Friday folksingers Courtney Brocks and Jeff Hawkinson will play from 4:30-6pm to add to the fun.  They also have a new vendor, Two Can Estates with mohair products from their Angora rabbits and goats. (Sometimes the rabbits and goats even show up at the market.)

Old Berwick Historical Society’s Living History day on Saturday was a hit.  They hosted hundreds of people, all ages, both local and from far away.  Historical interpreters in period costumes illustrated Native and French culture in the colonial period and showed what life was like in the 1600s.  Some 20 Chadbourne descendants were on hand from all over New England for the event.

On Thursday, July 16 South Berwick residents came out to see the former St. Michael’s Church building, the site that is slated to become South Berwick’s new library.  Adults and children explored the building and learned more about the project.  A book nook was a popular spot where kids made themselves at home.

Speaking of the Library, have you noticed the garden in front of our current library?  It has been a bright spot in town since very early spring and always sports a cheerful array of blooms.  Thanks to Susan Thorner for maintaining this beautiful spot.

South Berwick resident and owner of Full Circle Thrift Shop, Ashley Kehrig, makes this request:  We are especially in need of donated jewelry and childrens clothes…all sizes, and shapes gratefully accepted!  Full Circle is on Route 236 in Eliot (across the road from Dunkin’ Donuts.) Also they are having a sale:  today, all pink tagged clothing items are .25 cents and all white tagged clothing will be 1/2 price from July 22 to August 5.