Historic New England: Sarah Orne Jewett Virtual Tour
Last August, I visited Sarah Orne Jewett House & Visitor Center in South Berwick, ME, a property of Historic New England. At that time, I experienced a disjointed and unpaced tour. Hoping to better capture the spirit of the house and gain more information, I signed up for a members-only virtual tour held via Zoom on Thursday, March 9 at 6:00 p.m. and was not disappointed! This version of the tour was presented by Marilyn Keith Daly, the site manager of the two South Berwick, ME houses for HNE, the other being Hamilton House. The Jewett House was last curated by HNE employee Nancy Carlisle in 2018.
Daly began with an overview of the house before it became the property of author Sarah Orne Jewett. Her home was built in 1774, and Jewett was born in the house in 1849. The house belonged to her grandfather. Her childhood home next door, which now serves as the visitor center, was built in 1854 when Jewett was 5 years old. Jewett grew up with her older sister Mary Rice Jewett and her younger sister Caroline “Carrie” August Jewett Eastman, coincidently with the same names as the sisters of another American author, Laura Ingalls Wilder. The site was more rural at this time, and the road was sometimes filled with cows. Jewett would sit on the picket fence in front of the houses and watch the townspeople go by. Like many children, she drew pictures of her home, and these are preserved in the HNE collection. The favorite part of her garden were the lilacs, which bloomed every June.
Jewett did not enjoy school and spent more time reading than study. Her lifelong rheumatoid arthritis kept her from the classroom, although it did not prevent a vibrant traveling and social life. Jewett went on home visits with her father, the local doctor. She kept a detailed diary named Phoebe and wrote hundreds of letters to friends and family members, much of which is preserved in the HNE collection. She loved nature, calling herself a “wild thing”, and enjoyed riding horses, along with adopting dogs and cats. Later in life, she wrote an essay called “My School Days”, where she describes caring “more for the outside of the school than the inside”. Jewett was discomforted by traditional female gender roles in Victorian society, once comparing a cousin’s weddings to her death. Above all, Jewett wanted to be famous, and she would get her wish.
Jewett’s first work was published in the Atlantic Monthly under the editorship of William Dean Howells. She went on to write the books Deephaven, A Country Doctor, Country of the Painted Firs, and The Tory Lover. These books inspired other women, with Emily Tyson decorating a room at Hamilton House in a Tory Lover theme, and author Willa Cather naming Country of the Painted Firs as one of her top three American novels. Sarah Wyman Whitman designed the book covers for later books, along with a beautiful stained glass daffodil that hangs in the window on the landing between the first and second floor in Jewett House.
The Jewett sisters, called “The Doctor’s Girls” after their physician father, sentimentally preserved their comfortable family home by decorating it in a mix of American styles. The front hall of Jewett House was a mix of Georgian architecture, Arts & Crafts style floral wallpaper, and carpets designed by Arts & Crafts style designer William Morris. The fireplaces were decorated with Georgian era delft tiles with mantels and walls paint with bright colors, like Pompeian Red.
The dining room showcases a vibrant cobalt blue wallpaper, distinctive sideboard, and “a power of china” collected by the four wives of Jewett’s grandfather. Jewett memorialized the room in her book, Deephaven. An illustration appearing in the book, drawn by her friend Marcia Oakes Woodbury, clearly depicts the room. Another artifact of interest is a pair of owl salt and pepper shakers, given by her Newport and Boston friends because of her nickname “Owly”. Moving to the next room, the parlor was a place for Jewett to invite luminaries from the Boston literary world into her home, as this was considered the most public room in the house. A table at the center of the room had trinkets from Jewett’s life, including shells, rocks, books, and a child’s shoe alluding to her childlike personality.
Jewett was very free for a women in Victorian Era New England. She never had a “gentleman of interest”, always preferring ladies. When abolitionist poet John Greenleaf Whittier nosily asked why she was not married, she explained that she did not want a husband but a wife. Early in her career, the protagonist of Deephaven was called Kate Lancaster, likely named for her friend Kate Di Costa Birckhead, who did not reciprocate Jewett’s affection. Later in life, Jewett split her time between her South Berwick house, the home of her partner, Annie Adams Fields, on 148 Charles Street in Boston, and Fields’ other home in Manchester-by-the-Sea.
Fields was the widow of publisher James T. Fields, who had owned an additional home in Portsmouth, NH. They created the “Waterside Museum” in their Boston home, inviting authors like Charles Dickens, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Ralph Waldo Emerson to their salons. At this time, Fields was known as the “Flower of Boston Society”. Educated at George Emerson School for Girls, she was a poet, literary agent, suffrages, and advocate for women’s education, especially for medical schools. When Fields was devastated by her husband’s sudden death, and Jewett visited to over condolences, planning to a period of one to three weeks, but actually remaining for three months.
Back on the second floor of Jewett House, a desk in the hall served as Jewett’s writing station. The desk was inherited by relatives after her death but purchased at auction by HNE in 2010. Jewett, her two sisters, and her beloved nephew Theodore Jewett Eastman, also called Teddy or Stubby, each had a bedroom or chamber. As the oldest, Mary Rice Jewett took Best Chamber, once kept by their grandfather. Inside the room is a rare example of surviving flocked wallpaper, much like the reproduction wallpaper found at Moffatt-Ladd House in Portsmouth, NH. Teddy Jewett look Dining Room Chamber. The Library Chamber served as a guest bedroom, where Sarah Jewett hung a picture of French novelist George Sand.
Sarah Jewett’s own bedroom was preserved after her premature death in 1909. Several years before, in 1902, she was thrown from a carriage on an icy road, which worsened her chronic health conditions and triggered series of strokes. The family did not touch the SOJ initials that she etched in the window, her portraits of Annie Fields, and the multiple mirrors hung around the room so she could see Fields wherever she looked. While the curators insist that the stylized wallpaper does not have additional hidden SOJ initials, the Arts & Crafts style wallpaper made of a gold background and stamped on moss green ink is still a stunning decorative feature.
I appreciated the glimpse at other people who lived and worked in the house and in the community. Featured people including the Irish-American Galvin sisters who served as domestic help, and John Tucker who worked as the wood cutter and caregiver for the horses. Nearby in the Portsmouth and Kittery area, Celia Thaxter cared for her chronically ill mother and son while running a hotel and painting ceramics in her spare time, much like a modern day Etsy mom.
All in all, this tour had excellent pacing and slides, along with a knowledgeable guide. The images were clearly annotated, so viewers could look them up in the HNE collections database if desired. While I would have preferred to learn more about the architectural and decorative features of the house, I feel as though I better understand the life of the famous homeowner.
Abby Epplett’s Rating System
Experience: 7/10
Accessibility: 7/10