Sarah Orne Jewett House facts for kids
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Sarah Orne Jewett House
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 Location in Maine
Location in the United States
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| Location | ME 4 and 236 South Berwick, Maine |
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| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1774 |
| Architectural style | Georgian, Greek Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 73000248 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | June 4, 1973 |
| Designated NHL | July 17, 1991 |
The Sarah Orne Jewett House is a special old house in South Berwick, Maine, Maine, United States. Today, it is a historic house museum that people can visit. This house is very important because it was the home of a famous American writer named Sarah Orne Jewett (1849–1909). Her books and stories helped define a type of writing called "regional writing" in the late 1800s. The house itself was built in 1774 and is a great example of Georgian style architecture. It is now owned by Historic New England and is open for tours.
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About the House
The Jewett House stands out in the center of South Berwick, Maine. It is a two-story house made of wood, with flat wooden boards called clapboard on the outside. It was built in 1774 for a successful merchant named John Haggins. People believe that Haggins did very well during the American Revolutionary War. This allowed him to pay for very detailed and fancy work inside the house, even though the outside looks simpler.
House Design
The main part of the house is wide, with five windows across the front. It has a hip roof, which means all four sides slope down to the walls. Three windows with small pointed roofs, called gabled dormers, stick out from the front roof. A covered porch, called a portico, protects the main front door. This porch and the dormer windows were added later, in the late 1800s. A two-story section extends from the back of the main house.
Inside the House
The inside of the house is very decorative. The entrance hall has a fancy archway with special columns called pilasters. The staircase is also very detailed. Its carved railings and posts were so complex that they reportedly took two workers 100 days to finish! The main rooms downstairs also have beautiful Georgian-style carved wood panels. The rooms are decorated to look like they did in the late 1800s. Sarah Orne Jewett's bedroom on the second floor looks almost exactly as it did when she passed away there.
History of the Jewett Family Home
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The Jewett family moved into the house in the 1820s. John Haggins, the original owner, died in 1819. His family sold the house to Theodore Jewett, who was also a merchant, in 1839. Theodore's son, Dr. Theodore H. Jewett, moved into the house in 1848. His second daughter, Sarah, who would become the famous writer, was born there the next year.
Sarah Orne Jewett's Life in the House
From 1854 to 1877, Sarah's young family lived in the house next door, which is now called the Jewett-Eastman House. Sarah Orne Jewett and her older sister Mary inherited the main house in 1887. Their younger sister Caroline moved into the 1854 house next door. Sarah and Mary, neither of whom married, lived in the main house for the rest of their lives.
After her father, Theodore Jewett, died in 1878, Sarah found comfort in her close friend Annie Adams Fields. In 1882, Sarah and Annie traveled to Europe together. They developed a very close and supportive friendship. From then on, the two women often shared their time. They would stay at the Jewett home in South Berwick, the Fields home in Boston, or a summer home in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts.
Sarah Orne Jewett's Writing
Sarah Orne Jewett became widely known for her writing after her book The Country of the Pointed Firs was published in 1896. This book helped make popular a style of writing called American literary regionalism. This style focuses on showing the unique character of a specific place, like rural southern Maine in Jewett's case, through the stories and people. Other writers, like Willa Cather, praised her influence. Sarah's books and life are still studied by scholars today.
In 1898, Jewett convinced her friends Emily Tyson and Elise Tyson to buy and restore the house. Jewett even used her home as inspiration for the setting of her book The Tory Lover in 1901.
The House as a Museum
After Sarah passed away in 1909 and Mary in 1930, the house was inherited by Caroline's husband, Edwin Eastman. He later gave the property to the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (SPNEA), which is now called Historic New England. This organization now runs the main house as a museum dedicated to Sarah Orne Jewett. The Jewett-Eastman House next door serves as a visitors center. Historic New England also looks after the Hamilton House in the same town.
The Sarah Orne Jewett House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. It was then recognized as a National Historic Landmark on July 17, 1991, showing its great importance to American history and literature.
See also
