1:00 pm (Counting House Museum)
Workshop by author Joe Hardy with genealogist Beth Tykodi.
*Special offer for OBHS members -- new members always welcome

The event is free for members of the Old Berwick Historical Society, and new members are welcome to join at the door. A one-year membership donation is $20 per person or $30 for a family. 

7:30 pm (Berwick Academy)
In this lecture, art historian Deborah M. Child will retrace the journey of this dazzling circa 1770 pastel from the auction house salesroom of Sotheby's in New York back to California and finally to the Boston studio of John Singleton Copley.

7:30 pm (Berwick Academy)
Meet Mary: ocean-born and named by an infamous pirate. Her birth saved a group of Scottish immigrants aboard a ship bound for New England in 1720. Join historian Jeremy D'Entremont as he separates the facts from the fantastic legends shrouding one of New England's most enduring folk tales.

7:30 pm (Berwick Academy)
Old Bet the elephant toured the Maine frontier during the frigid year of 1816 - Maine's Year Without Summer - until her trail's end in Alfred. Bruce Tucker will present the details of Maine's only successful elephant hunt and the consequences of this sad affair.

Drawing by Marcia Oakes Woodbury of South Berwick

Bid on the Chadbourne replica plate and many more items in the silent auction

7:30 pm (Spring Hill Restaurant)
Our annual fundraiser and an evening of community fun. Everyone is invited to eat, drink, dance and bid, to support the Counting House Museum and local history programs. Wear your party clothes or historical costume. Ticket information and more details.

7:30 pm (Berwick Academy)
Author Carolyn Marvin will discuss this true story of the 1768 hanging of a Portsmouth schoolteacher, the dramatic details of Ruth's life and the cruel injustice of colonial Portsmouth's moral code.

7:30 pm (Berwick Academy)
History writer J. Dennis Robinson takes an irreverent bicentennial look at America's "Forgotten War" and its killer impact on the Piscataqua region. This illustrated lecture also tells the story of the $3 million tall ship LYNX, built in Maine and registered in Portsmouth, NH.

1:00 pm (South Berwick Village)

A one-hour walking tour listening for “village voices” from the past will be offered by the Old Berwick Historical Society on Saturday, Sept. 17.

Dubbed “Village Voices: The Tour,” the walk incorporates themes from a new exhibit by that name at the society’s Counting House Museum. The display, located in the second floor hall, traces the economic transformation of South Berwick over four centuries, using maps, photos and original objects.

Led by historical society member Wendy Pirsig, the walking tour begins at 1:00 pm in the post office parking lot on Main Street. Everyone is welcome.

Sawmilling, farming, maritime trade, shoemaking, textile manufacturing, and small business are six local livelihoods highlighted in both the exhibit and the walking tour.

“Not every town is fortunate enough to have so many remnants of past eras, right within walking distance,” said Pirsig. “In South Berwick, even with modern traffic going by and people talking on cell phones, we can learn the stories of people who lived here before, and picture their livelihoods when horses’ hooves could be heard on these streets.”

More information is available by calling (207)384-0000 or by writing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

MORE FALL PROGRAMS

Sept. 22, 2011 - Who Won The War of 1812? - Forgotten Patriot Pirates of the Piscataqua

7:00 pm (Counting House)

Enjoy a performance by Harvey Reid, master minstrel, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who has been called "one of the true treasures of American acoustic music". For OBHS members - new members are welcome.

7:30 pm (Berwick Academy)
Excavations at the new Keene Middle School site revealed the remains of four individual households from 12,000 years ago. Robert Goodby will discuss how these discoveries shed light on household organization, economy, technology, and social networks that extended hundreds of miles across northern New England at the end of the ice age.

7:30 pm (Berwick Academy)
Weaving the history of Eliot, Maine and some of its prominent families with the experiences of newcomers to that town, author Helen Goransson describes the experiences that led to the writing of her book. She will share photos and stories about the Bartlett family who inhabited her home, and, in particular, Ralph Bartlett, prominent Eliot citizen and world traveler, the ghost who made her write the book.

7:30 pm (Berwick Academy)
Mistress Mary will come dressed only in a long white linen 'shift', the basic undergarment of a colonial woman. Master Adam, dressed in 18thc clothing, will then help her to dress layer by layer in an authentic reproduction of an English gown of the c. 1760's in this unique, entertaining, educational, and light-hearted look at ladies' 18th century fashion.