Trish & Anne RV Adventures

On Friday, August 23 it was off to Berwick, ME – where we were going to stay at Bruce and Sue’s for the weekend. Ever since they moved to Berwick, we have been saying that we would visit the South Berwick houses that are owned by Historic New England together. We finally made it! Our first stop was the Sarah Orne Jewett House. The house is on the left below — it was built for the merchant John Haggins in 1774. Sarah’s grandfather moved in in 1the 1820’s and Sarah was born in the house in 1849. The house on the right is also on the property and Sarah’s family lived there from 1854 to 1877. Sarah and her sister inherited the house in 1887, and then lived there until they passed away. That’s a portrai of Sarah and the stained glass that is in the stairwell to the 2nd floor.

The home was given to Historic New England in 1930, after the death of Mary Jewett. There are pictures from the time when the Jewetts lived there, and you can see that the fireplace screen if the same one as in the picture.

You can’t tell in this picture, but this wallpaper had mica embedded in it and that made it sparkly. Amazing after over 100 years! That’s Sarah’s bedroom and her actual desk is in the upper hallway, where she could look out over the street, and get plenty of natural light. Bruce and Sue in the garden.

After the house we met Mary Beth and Mike at the driving range. It was a neat place, with tracker’s that told you how high, fast and off-line your shots were. With a little bit of watching us, and a little bit of coaching from Trish, Mary Beth had a nice solid hit on her first swing!

Then it was back to Bruce and Sue’s, where Susan prepared us a great meal. On Saturday we went over to the Wells Reserve for a walk. On the way to the beach we saw thrashers and barn swallows and at the beach we saw piping plovers along with other shorebirds.

On the way back to Berwick we stopped at the Safe Haven Thrift Shop – yes, they are actually a cat rescue organization – and here are some of the kitties that were in their “feral” room. They had kittens, but they were all kept elsewhere. And yes we made a purchase and a donation.

After a quick bite to eat back at the house, we headed out for 9 holes of golf at the Links at Outlook. It was a fun time, as long as we don’t have to talk about our scores. (No holes in one this time!)

Sunday we had a tour scheduled for the other Historic New England house that is in South Berwick – it’s called the Hamilton House. Before we went on the tour, we went for a walk in the Vaughn Woods (a different Vaughn Woods then the one we went to in Hallowell – not sure if it is the same family or not.) It runs along the Salmon Falls River, where we saw these ducks and see if you can spot the horseshoe crabs. And we got our first view of the house from across a little inlet on the river. It was perfect spot for the merchant who owned the house originally to see his ships coming into port.

There was a cottage built on the property in the early 1900’s by the Vaughn family – the internal siding was all made of doors that had been repurposed. Looking though the arbor across the garden to the side of the house – these gardens were also added by the Vaughns.

Internal shots of the house – if you look closely at closeup of the flower arrangement, you will see that it is actually made of feathers. And that is hand painted wallpaper depicting scenes of the history of the United States – it was done in the early 1900’s and still looks great.

Looking out the 2nd floor window to the garden.

After stopping for a very hearty breakfast, we drove over to Ogunquit – we couldn’t find anywhere to park to walk around downtown, so we ended up at the art museum. Love the view when you first step into the galleries. And there we are on the other side of that window checking out the mural on the back of the building. That is not a plastic bag stuck on a metal rod, but a sculpture called White Plastic Bag Memorial.

Paintings by Russell Cheney – one of his friend Howard Lathop. a Portsmouth Fisherman, and the called Miss Jewett’s Staircase or Stairway of Jewett House, This was done in 1927 and it still looks this way – too bad I didn’t get a picture to prove it.

When driving out of town we found a 15 minute parking space at the beach and took a quick look – just a reminder of why we don’t go to beaches in the summer – especially on the weekend.

Trish went home on Sunday evening, while I stayed over to have Bruce help with the electrical problem. Since replacing the GFCI didn’t fix the problem, we went to the next outlet on the circuit. It took a bit to get it out, and it was different than any outlet I had ever seen. The wires were just pushed into the connectors, without being cut and wrapped. You can see in the green circle the two connection points on each of the live wires. the problem was in the red circle. That spot was also cut and was broken. Bruce was able to use the same wire and make connections that worked, so we were back in business.

And then we played with his 3D printer to make a couple of parts – well I only watched. He made some fillers for the 2nd table post supports. We never use that table, so all the holes do is collect dust – not any more! Then he made these shims to fix some of the hard to latch locks on the outside bay doors. I’m a satisfied customer once again of the Madara “we can do anything” Shop.

New adventures coming soon, until then safe travels!