The Sarah Orne Jewett House is all dressed up for Independence Day. Historic New England staff used photos from the 1936 Berwick Day Parade as inspiration.

Sarah Orne Jewett House is located at 5 Portland Street in South Berwick, Me. It is open June 1 through October 15, Friday through Sunday with tours at 11 a.m., noon, 1 p.m., 2 p.m., 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.  Admission: $5, Historic New England members and South Berwick residents free.
For more information, contact  (207) 384-2454 or visit www.historicnewengland.org.

Harvey Reid at Hamilton House on Sunday, July 6

Historic New England kicks off its Sundays in the Garden Concert Series at Hamilton House with a performance by Harvey Reid on July 6.  A  local favorite, Reid has garnered national recognition as one of the treasures of American acoustic music.  Reid’s music includes a range of influences from folk to rockabilly and a vast repertoire of traditional and contemporary songs, which he weaves seamlessly together with his own compositions and wry humor.

The gardens of the Hamilton House provide a picturesque setting for these relaxed late-afternoon concerts.  Pack your picnic basket and enjoy great music in a beautiful setting.

The concert begins at 4:00 p.m.  Admission is $8 for adults, $7 for seniors, $4 for Historic New England members and children, free for Historic New England Garden and Landscape Members.  Concert goers are welcome to bring their own chair or blanket and picnicking is encouraged.  In case of rain, concerts are held in the garden cottage.

Hamilton House is open for tours the day of the concerts with tours leaving from the garden cottage at 11, 12, 1, 2, 3, and 4 pm.  House tours are $8 for adults, $7 for seniors, $4 for children, and free to Historic New England members.  The price of the house tour is not included with concert admission.

Hamilton House is located on Vaughan’s Lane, adjacent to Vaughn Woods, a mile off Route 236 in South Berwick.  For more information Historic New England at (207) 384-2454 or visit www.historicnewengland.org.

The Counting House Museum offers visitors “South Berwick’s Attic,” an exhibit of local curios from past generations, and exhibits from the 17th century Chadbourne home site. Regular weekend summer hours are from 1 to 4 pm on Saturdays and Sundays through October. Admission is free.

For over four decades, local families have been placing historic objects in the care of the Old Berwick Historical Society, who own and operate the museum in a textile factory building dating to the 1830s.

Now on display is a bridal gown of the wife of the minister of South Berwick First Baptist Church, Rev. Elisha Sanderson, who lived from c. 1863 to 1939. Their daughter, Abby Sanderson, became a missionary in Asia, and one of her hymn books is on exhibit.

Other mementos pertain to St. Michael’s Church and St. Michael’s School, the latter run in the early 1900s by the Sisters of St. Joseph. St. Michael’s Church was recently purchased by the town of South Berwick. The display also includes an old-fashioned lightning rod sold by a resident of Academy Street, models and relics of gundalows, and a typewriter used at the Cummings Shoe Factory over 100 years ago.

Another exhibit at the Counting House is devoted to the Humphrey and Lucy Chadbourne family, among the first settlers to ever live in present-day South Berwick, about 350 years ago. Remains of the family’s household items and tools from their sawmill are on display.

The Counting House Museum is also a small local history research center offering thousands of documents, photos, and historic objects gathered by local residents. The collection is under the care of local amateur historians or professionals who donate their time and will assist visitors in doing research.

Volunteers are needed to staff the Counting House Museum on occasional afternoons throughout the summer and fall. Previous experience is not required. More information is available at www.obhs.net, by calling (207)384-0000 or by writing info@obhs.net.

Are you ready to get out of the house now that the oppressive heat is gone? Here are two opportunities to enjoy the beauty of a South Berwick June day.

Landscape and Garden Tour, Hamilton House, South Berwick, Me.
Wednesday, June 11, 10-11:30
Phone: 207-384-2454
Admission: $8 Historic New England members, $12 nonmembers
Take part in a special opportunity to learn about the landscape and gardens at Hamilton House with Historic New England’s Piscataqua Region Landscape Manager Gary Wetzel. Imagine the changes in the land as wilderness yielded to a busy commercial waterfront then to farming and, finally, to formal gardens. Learn about the flowers, trees and other plants that surround Hamilton House and how Gary and his gardeners create and maintain the beautiful formal gardens. Pre-registration required.

Sarah Orne Jewett Walking Tour, Sarah Orne Jewett House, South Berwick, Me.
Wednesday, June 11, 1:00 - 2:30 p.m.
Phone: 207-384-2454
Admission: $5 Historic New England members, $10 nonmembers
Celebrate the life and works of Sarah Orne Jewett with a walking tour of her former haunts. With the Jewett Memorial Committee’s new Sarah Orne Jewett Walking Tour Map in hand join this guided tour on an exploration of the streetscape of downtown S. Berwick. Imagine what life was like during Sarah’s lifetime with stops at places Jewett family members knew and frequented.

“A Sailor’s Life for Me!” takes place on May 17 (rain date of May 18), 11am to 3 pm. Admission is free for Historic New England members. Non-member admission for adults is $6 and children is $4. In recognition of Armed Forces Day, kids get in free when mom or dad shows their military identification card.

A day of fun for all ages will take place at the Hamilton House in South Berwick when Historic New England presents “A Sailor’s Life for Me!” children’s festival. Hamilton House, once the location of the town’s landing, has a rich history in maritime activity including shipbuilding and involvement in the East Indies trade. Families are invited to learn about maritime history by exploring the site in search of remains of the old wharf and seeing the house Jonathan Hamilton was able to build through the wealth he accumulated as a privateer and merchant in the late 1800s. Children will enjoy craft activities including scrimshaw carving using soap, making sailor’s valentines, and knot tying. Musician and maritime interpreter Dave Peloquin will entertain with sea chanteys and cooper Ron Raiselis will demonstrate barrel making. Food will be sold on site by The Catered Event.

Hamilton House is located on Vaughan’s Lane, adjacent to Vaughn Woods, a mile off Route 236 in South Berwick. For more information contact the South Berwick Office of Historic New England at (207) 384-2454 or visit www.historicnewengland.org.

Old Berwick Historical Society Talk
Thursday, April 24, 2008,7:30 pm
Berwick Academy, Fogg Memorial Building
“The Making of Strawbery Banke “ — Author Dennis Robinson presents the compelling history of this 10 acre museum that was born out of a controversial urban renewal project, and explores the politics of preservation in a small blue collar city amid difficulties that bedevil nonprofit agencies to this day.

Admission is free . At Berwick Academy, please enter on the Fogg Memorial driveway and use the parking lot at the top of the hill. Info: phone (207)384-0000 or www.obhs.net

Old Berwick Historical Society Walking Tour of Old Fields Burying Ground
Saturday, April 26, 1:00 pm (rain date: Saturday, May 3) Free of charge

South Berwick’s former community cemetery is located near the corner of Vine and Brattle Streets. Dating from the 1600s, it contains the graves of early colonists, veterans’ from the Civil War, and soldiers of the American Revolution. The community’s main church stood here and residents worked at sawmills on the Great Works River and a shipyard near the Hamilton House.  Info: phone (207)384-0000 or www.obhs.net

The squill have covered the ground in a carpet of blue in the aisle garden behind the Sarah Orne Jewett House on Main Street.

A new self-guided walking tour brochure leads South Berwick residents and visitors down streets, past shops, houses, and other nineteenth-century sites prominent in the life of author Sarah Orne Jewett.

The public is invited to a free reception celebrating the release of the brochure at the Counting House Museum on Sunday, April 20, at 3:00 p.m. Garden historian Nancy Wetzel will read from Jewett’s “Looking Back on Girlhood,” an account of life in South Berwick in the 1850s. Refreshments will be served.

Written by the Jewett-Eastman Memorial Committee, a citizens’ group that maintains and manages Jewett’s 1854 home as the South Berwick Public Library, the brochure welcomes and informs visitors and seeks to draw local citizens downtown. It is available free at local businesses and municipal buildings.

“The tour invites visitors to stroll through this river town, as Jewett beckoned readers up its elm-lined streets in her fiction. We wanted to encourage walking traffic in the historic center at a time when South Berwick is working to revitalize,” said JEM member Nina Maurer. (more…)

Television is usually bad and with the writers’ strike it’s even worse. If you are sick of sitting home watching reruns or ill-conceived reality shows, here’s an alternative.

Thurs., January 24 - 7:30 pm, Berwick Academy, South Berwick

Old Berwick Historical Society presents

Placenames of South Berwick

The Slide Show

Wendy Pirsig of the Old Berwick Historical Society presents highlights from the new book, Placenames of South Berwick, with maps, photos and historical anecdotes about every corner of South Berwick.

Admission is free. The program will be held at Berwick Academy’s Fogg Memorial building on Academy Street. Enter at the Fogg Memorial driveway and use the parking lot at the top of the hill. For more information, e-mail infoobhs.net or call 207-384-0000.

It is a wonderful day for a stroll around Hamilton House.